The Glorious Revolution, Colonial Legislatures and Franco‐Jacobite Forfeitures in the Leeward Islands, 1688–1727*

Abstract The Glorious Revolution had a profound impact on the English overseas territories in the Caribbean. In 1689, a series of Jacobite risings took place in the Leeward Islands seeking to reverse the accession of King William III and Queen Mary II. The risings were led by Irish Catholics and drew support from the deposed Catholic King James II's French allies. Using the case study of St Kitts, this essay examines how Protestant planters exploited the Revolution and its aftermath to seize control of the island's representative institutions by exploiting structural changes in the English empire and the forfeiture of French and Irish Catholic colonists’ property. In the years following the Revolution, the legislature of St Kitts passed acts securing the forfeited property of settlers who had supported the deposed king and the French capture of the island. Leading Protestant planters later played a pivotal role in gaining the properties of colonists in the French half of the island ceded in 1713. In doing so, they transformed St Kitts into a sugar cane monoculture and leading sugar producer in the Lesser Antilles. This article thus highlights the significance of forfeiture in the post‐revolutionary politics of the Leeward Islands, the part it played in limiting the power of Irish Catholics and its wider role in shaping the region's political and economic landscape.