Grenada’s Endangered Archives (part 7)

Grenada’s endangered archives programme (EAP295)

Update: Transcription from Grenada’s Archives Published

Dr Laurence Brown (University of Manchester) has published a 73 page transcription of images from “Court of Oyer and Terminer for Trial of Attained Traitors record book 1796” [part of Grenada’s endangered archives digitised series EAP295/2/6/1]. It includes notes, the transcription and an alphabetical list of names from 1796.


[eap295_2_6_1_transcription.pdf]
Download

Note: A page is missing between 037 and 038 (it was never copied). It containes trial information for 8th August 1796.

Remember to check out the latest by joining our Facebook Group at Grenada’s Endangered Archives
« Prev Page | Next Page »

Read More

Grenada Heritage At Risk: Carriacou cemetery vanishes

Rising seas swamp a cemetery on Carriacou, Grenada.

The Good News

One of Grenada’s most important commodity is Tourism.  All our other resources are equally important and of cause should be regarded hand-in-hand with our Tourism Resources.  On the 9-11 of July 2014 the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) held the 3rd Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism here at St. George’, Grenada. This event brought together over 150 ‘green’ experts and practitioners, including hoteliers, real estate developers, operators, investors, and others within the tourism industry committed to (or considering) new sustainable models of marine, coastal, and island tourism development and management.  Over 40 of these international tourism experts spoke on various aspects of sustainable coastal and marine tourism and the event was even represented for us by our Minister of Tourism and Alexandra Otway-Noel, who bolstered Grenada’s enthusiasm for a sustainable future through tourism, and stating action is already underway. View the Symposium Proceedings.

The Down Side

Sadly none of this covered our Historical or Heritage acpects of the island of Grenada – a very important commodity for tourism, our island community and the education of our young.

“Natural.” “Eden.” “Genuine.” “Safe.” “Paradise.”  “Pristine.” “Unspoiled.”

Russ Jarman Price was telling the audience at this international symposium that these and many other words had been offered to describe our island nation of Grenada. Collecting such descriptors was one step in the process that his team used in coming up with its new “Pure Grenada” marketing campaign. The new brand had provoked local controversy, even though the “pure” theme is intended to help spur Grenada into becoming a model of sustainability for the region – you will see it used all over Grenada’s new tourism site.

The conference represented the Grenada’s next step in staking out that claim: A three-day symposium on Innovations in Coastal Tourism, held this month at St. George’s University in Grenada. CREST, the U.S.-based Center for Responsible Travel, organized it. Symposium discussions moved along two closely related tracks: How to practice coastal tourism more responsibly in a world of rising seas, declining ocean quality, and growing tourism pressures, and more specifically, how to do so in Grenada and the Caribbean. (Shockingly Jonathan Tourtellot also spoke at the symposium, but the compete Caribbean development fund covered his travel expenses.)
Jarman Price was sensitive to the audience, the majority of cause Grenadian – the Ogilvy’s campaign “Pure Grenada: Freedom to Wonder” had been systematically thought out. For those who don’t know he is the Executive Creative Director for Inglefield/Ogilvy & Mather Ltd (the Caribbean part of global advertising giant Ogilvy) and a local resident.

Many have encouraged Grenada for several years to adopt a geotourism approach focused on its numerous unique qualities (though they constantly forget Heritgage) and the Pure Grenada was characterized as a geotourism rebranding campaign when Ogilvy introduced it in February of this year. National Geographic Society have defined geotourism as “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.” A great fit for Grenada.

Unfortunately, things had not gone smoothly back in February.

Symposium speakers Andy Dumaine and Todd Comen check out a bin of nutmeg husks, from which mace is made, at the Belmont Estate.

Jarman Price admitted, the new brand rolled out “in isolation,” with the usual inadequate community preparation. Partly because of that—rebrandings often get public push-back anyway—a storm of controversy arose. Many Grenadians objected, mistakenly assuming the new slogan was intended to replace Grenada’s long-standing identity as the “Spice Island,” a nod to its many nutmeg trees. After much politically hyped debate, PM Keith Mitchell himself had to intervene, yielding the camel-like compromise “Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean” – oh how we continue to show our ignorance!
Make of that what you will. The intent of Pure Grenada was to underscore what is considered the real reason to visit: The island is one of the last to offer a broad and authentic Caribbean travel experience. Grenada still has beauty, a benign climate, rich culture and heritage, good beaches, still-viable nature on land and in the sea, and relative freedom from intrusive mass tourism.

Can Grenada Pull It Off?

The question is whether our country can retain and build on that distinction. Like other islands, Grenada copes with numerous challenges—overfishing, sand mining, unemployment, irresponsible development, care-less attitute to heritage, limiting-unencompassing education. Take for example the terrible loss of our wave-swamped cemetery on our sister island of Carriacou – it has become an emblem for the Caribbean’s accelerated sea level rise. Certainly since the financial crisis, but truely even before the 1970′s, our government has basically been financially broke, and many of us Grenadians are therefore eager to grab at any economic opportunity, sustainable or not – with no care for the longer term stategies to protect our island and including our heritage for our youth (those who will become custodians in long after we’re gone).

Sockingly at the Symposium we were reminded that someone on Carriacou had chopped down about seven acres of mangroves to make room for a big new marina!  That environmental insult, which most certainly contributed to the demise of one of ancient cemeteries, was mentioned repeatedly at this symposium—a pimple of the face of Pure. In ignorance apologists often argue for a “balance between growth and conservation” in such cases. Sustainable marketing consultant Andy Dumaine grumbled when he heard that: “It’s not an either-or”. Other endangered cemeteries are Mt. Airy cemetery in St. Paul’s and the church yard cemetery of St. Paul’s Anglican Church (the graves are literally sliding down an embankment into a ravine).

Indeed, Dr. Angus Friday, our current ambassador to the United States and Mexico, encouragingly believes sustainability is economic opportunity. He sees Grenada as taking a global lead in renewable energy and conservation for small island nations. While diplomatically not mentioning those missing mangroves, he argued, “Our natural capital is principal in the bank. We need to weave this into our DNA”. This implies that Good businesses don’t invade principal.  Is Friday in the minority when he hopes that Grenada can develop in a way that disrupts the standard model of Caribbean tourism—“Become the Airbnb of responsible travel”.

Let us hope it can be done and the symposium itself seemed quite successful. (Presentations here.)
At a geotourism meeting the next day, it became clear that many of our boutique hotel owners that dominate the Grenada tourism market don’t want to see huge all-inclusive resorts or more big cruise ships. But tourism growth is so much more than these two areas.  At a rural exposition on another day, many of our local artisans and ‘entrepreneurs’ took the opportunity to show off wares unique to our island, keen to grow their businesses through ‘responsible tourism‘. They had set up their booths at Belmont Estate, which itself has become one of our well-known agritourism attractions in the Caribbean.

Local entrepreneur Modesty makes Grenadian-themed fashions and hopes to add employees.

And what about those spices? Grenada’s big three are nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon. One visitor  remembers landing at the Grenada airport long ago, entering the terminal, and immediately smelling these telltale scents. However the Symposium visitor detected no such pleasant odor when they arrived this time.  What an opportunity missed, and an other aspect of our heritage dies!  Research tells us that the brain’s wiring for memories and for smells are directly linked one another. Why not once again suffuse the airport arrival and departure halls with delicious fragrance?  Do that, and every time for years after, when we former visitors smell cinnamon on a roll or nutmeg in the eggnog, we’ll remember:
Ah, Grenada.

	Contibutor Jonathan Tourtellot of National Geographic Traveler
	CREST is a non-profit research instituteat Stanford University (Washington, DC) founded in 2003.

Read More

Grenada Heritage: Biographies

Introduction

A biography is a history of a person’s life. A biography may give you birth, marriage, and death information and the names of parents, spouse, children, or other family members. Use the information from a biography cautiously because there may be inaccuracies.

You may locate individual or family biographies in the Surname Search of the Family History Library Catalog.

Biographies have been gathered and published in collections of biographies, sometimes called biographical encyclopedias or dictionaries. These usually include only biographies of prominent or well-known subjects. However, some collections of biographies are of specific groups such as ministers, musicians, painters, poets, radicals, or writers.

It is important to note that currently there is little in the way of individual or collective biographies on individuals born in Grenada or for those who have had great influence or participation in Grenada politically, socially, or otherwise. One would hope this will change in the future.

If your ancestor played an important part in a group or occupation, do a Place Search for Grenada in any British, Scottish, Canadian, North American, and Latin American biography archives, since people of note may be recorded in these. Although Grenada has little to do with Latin America many historical groups have collected Caribbean information which can include biographical details from Grenadian figures. Little work has been done on collections of biographies of African, Indian, or Portuguese descendant who have lived and died on Grenada’s islands.

Sources

For prominent historical figures, leaders, artists, businessmen, or religious the following sources may help:

• American National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. (Print) ANB.org ($).

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OxfordDNB.com ($)

• Who’s Who UKwhoswho.com ($)

Some Prominent Names

This is a small list of prominent figures in Grenada’s long history – it is neither definitive nor complete. Further, it must be noted that, as is the case with all biographies, those listed here are neither the complete truth nor the whole life of the given individual.

Name (A)	Biographical link
Arthur, James Stanley (1923–2010)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Augustine, Fennis Lincoln	Oxford University Press, 2014

Name (B)	Biographical link
Beharry, Johnson (1979–)	Damian Lynch, Garrick Hagon, and Nick Cook. Barefoot Soldier. Sphere, 2006
Benjamin, John (1934–2010)	The Cultural Biographies of John Benjamin & Fernande Laas. S.l: s.n, 1990
Bishop, Maurice Rupert (1944–1983)	Howard, Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009
Blaize, Rt. Hon. Herbert Augustus (1918-1989)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Brizan, George Ignatius (1942–2012)	Brave Young Grenadians: Loyal British Subjects…. Trinidad & Tobago: G. Brizan, 2002
Browne, Charles Macaulay (1885-)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Butler, Tubal Uriah (1897–1977)	O, Nigel B. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
Bynoe née Gibbs, Dame Hilda Louisa, DBE (1921–2013)	Collins, Merle. The Governor’s Story: The Authorized Biography of Dame Hilda Bynoe, 2013

Name (C)	Biographical link
Charter, Joseph Stephen (1943-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Clyne, Reginald H. (1891-1974)	Against the Currents. S.l: s.n., 1996
Coard, Frederick McDermott D. (1893-)	Bitter-sweet and Spice: These Things I Remember. Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1970
Coke, Rev. Thomas (1747–1814)	A Journal of the Rev. Dr. Coke’s Third Tour Through the West Indies. London: G. Paramore, 1791
Collins, Merle (1950-)	Bloom, Harold. Caribbean Women Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997
Cugoano, Ottobah	Narrative of the Enslavement of Ottobah Cugoano…. Chapel Hill, N.C.:, 1999

Name (D)	Biographical link
Davis, Hon. Sir Maurice Herbert (1912-1988)	Oxford University Press, 2014
De Gale, Sir Leo Victor (1921-1986)	Oxford University Press, 2014

Name (E)	Biographical link
Ellis, George (1753-1815)	J, M R, and Mills Rebecca. Ellis, George. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004

Name (G)	Biographical link
Gairy, Sir Eric Matthew (1922–1997)	Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Gentle, Eileen	Before the Sunset: A Memoir of Grenada. Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec: Shoreline, 1999
Gibbs, Oswald Moxley (1927-1995)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Glean, Sir Carlyle Arnold (1932-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Graham, Sir Samuel Horatio (1912–1999)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Grant, McGodden Kerensky “Cacademo” (1917-1982)	Brathwaite, Shirley R. Cacademo Grant: Hero of the People’s Revolution. St. Georges: Printed by Government Printery, 1983
Granger, Winifred	Held Captive: Memoirs of a Caribbean Woman. Trinidad: Phyllis Andrews, 2012
Grenada, 15 Dedicated	15 Dedicated Men and Women Who Have Served Their Country. National Democratic Congress Presents. Grenada: s.n, 1990
Grenada, Colonial Administrators	Colonial Administrators and Post-Independence Leaders in Grenada Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005

Name (H)	Biographical link
Henry, Sir Denis Aynsley (1864–1925)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Herb, Ras	Rehabilitation or Death., 1991
Hughes, Alister Earl Hewitson (1919-2005)	Lewis, Paula. Alister Hughes: Glimpses into the Life of a Great Grenadian. St. Patrick, Grenada: Belmont Estate Heritage Foundation, 2004
Hutchinson, Leslie Arthur Julien ‘Hutch’ (1900-1969)	Breese, Charlotte. Hutch. London: Bloomsbury, 1999

Name (K)	Biographical link
Keens-Douglas, Richardo (1953-)	Solomon, Frances-Anne. Believe – with Richardo Keens-Douglas. Toronto, Ont: Literature Alive Corp, 2005
Kent, Dr. Edward Roy (1920-2009)	Kent, Edward, and Susan Payetta. Up Before Dawn. Grenada: Sail Rock Publishing, 2011

Name (L)	Biographical link
Lewis, Sir Arthur (1915-1991)	Transcript of the World Exclusive Radio Programme: Sir Arthur Lewis, His Life, Achievements and Thoughts. Castries, St. Lucia?: R. Lalljie, 1993
Lorde, Audre Geraldine (1934–1992)	James, D S. Lorde, Audre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Name (M)	Biographical link
Mackenzie, Lt-Gen. Colin (1806-1881)	A, J A, and T S. Roger. Mackenzie, Colin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
MacQueen, James (1778-1870)	Gordon, Goodwin, and Baigent Elizabeth. Macqueen, James. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Marryshow, Hon. Theophilus Albert (1887-1958)	Sheppard, Jill. Marryshow of Grenada: An Introduction. Grenada: s.n., 1987
Marshall née Burke, Valenza Pauline ‘Paule’ (1929-)	Triangular Road: A Memoir. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2009
Mcintyre, Sir Meredith Alister (1932-)	Oxford University Press, 2013

Name (P)	Biographical link
Palmer, Sir Reginald Oswald (1923-)	Oxford University Press, 2013
Paterson, Nicholas Julian (1867-)	Oxford University Press, 2014
Phillips, Harold Adolphus (1929–2000)	James, McGrath. Phillips, Harold Adolphus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012
Pigott, Sir Arthur Leary (1749-1819)	R, A M. Pigott, Sir Arthur Leary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Pitt, David Thomas (1913-1994)	Mike, Phillips. Pitt, David Thomas, Baron Pitt of Hampstead. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Protain, Gertrude Isobel (-2005)	Compton, Shadel N. Gertrude Isobel Protain: Glimpses into the Life of a Great Grenadian. St. Patrick, Grenada: Belmont Estate Heritage Foundation, 2004
Purcell née Orgias, Joan M. (1942-)	Memoirs of a Woman in Politics: Spiritual Struggles of Joan M. Purcell. St. George’s, Grenada, W.I: J.M. Purcell, 2007

Name (R)	Biographical link
Robertson, James Burton (1800-1877)	Thompson, Cooper, and Lloyd Myfanwy. Robertson, James Burton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Roux, Phillippe de	Le Marquis de Casaux, un Planteur des Antilles, Inspirator de Mirabeau. Paris: Société de l’histoire des Colonies Françaises; en vente: Libraire Larose, 1951

Name (S)	Biographical link
Scoon, Sir Paul Godwin (1935–2013)	Survival for Service: My Experiences As Governor General of Grenada. Oxford, England: Macmillan Caribbean, 2003
Shrewsbury, Rev. William James (1795–1866)	Memorials of the Rev. William J. Shrewsbury. London: Hamilton, Adams, 1867

Name (W	Biographical link
Watts, Sir John Augustus Fitzroy	Oxford University Press, 2013
Wharton, Arthur (1865-1930)	Phil, Vasili. Wharton, Arthur. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
Williams, Eric Eustace (1911-1981)	Palmer, Colin A. Eric Williams & the Making of the Modern Caribbean. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006
Williams, Sir Daniel Charles (1935-)	Oxford University Press, 2013

You may find some collections under the localities listed above and then the subject “GENEALOGY.”

____
Author: Ric Greaves

Read More

Grenada Heritage: Our Plantations – part 3

James Evan Baillie

We know little of the man as a person, however, we can see from the records that he was a very astute businessman that would not seem out of place in a modern-day big-city financial sector only to be given accolades for his cleaver choices.  Only in hindsight, giving the context in which he and his family made financial acquisitions and the period they are set will the modern reader consider possibly branding James Evan Baillie (and his family) as tyrants dealing in the assets of slavery. Maybe today some stone-casters would even set up a “Nuremberg trial” or a “McCarthy Committee” to pursue their decedents?

Born in 1781, he was the son of Evan Baillie (1742-1835), the merchant of Bristol and Dochfour, Inverness and Mary Gurley (daughter of Peter Gurley of the island of St. Vincent).

James became a London and Bristol merchant and banker (of the firm Baillie, Ames & Baillie), and was a major and astute recipient of slave compensation across the Caribbean.

James is described as thus by Rubinstein: "His family moved from being successful West Indies planters to bankers in Bristol". ¹  This was in 1812 when James had become a partner with his brother, Colonel Hugh Duncan Baillie (of Red Castle and Tarradale), as the two took over the management of the family firm (now 'Bristol Old Bank') on the death of his eldest brother Peter.

In 1829 James ‘acquired’ Redland Court mansion (Bristol, England) and 150 acres surrounding farmland from Sir Richard Vaughan, following Vaughan's bankruptcy. This was because six years earlier Vaughan had mortgaged the estate to their company Elton, Baillie & Co (the Old Bank).
James later became a Member of Parliament (Whig) for Tralee (1813-18) and then in the 1830 Parliamentary elections for Bristol (1830-35), James Baillie and Edward Protheroe both stood for the Whig seat in Bristol (Bristol had two Members of Parliament, and the two seats were divided between the Tory party and the Whig party: voting at this time was not very democratic). Protheroe, whose family were involved in trade with the West Indies, declared himself opposed to slavery. Baillie, also from a West Indian trade family, supported slavery. A number of leaflets were published by both candidates attacking each other and promoting their own views. In the election, Baillie won the Whig seat by 535 votes.

 

James was a large-scale purchaser of Scottish land, acquiring Glentrome in Badenoch (£7,350) in 1835; Glenelg, Western Highlands (£77,000) in two years later; Glenshiel (£24,500) the following year; and Letterfinlay (£20,000) in 1851.

He appears never to have lived at Redland Court, the occupant being William Edwards, a partner in the Old Bank 1816-52. But he left the Redland estate to his nephews Evan Baillie (of Dochfour) and Henry James Baillie (MP of Elsenham Hall Essex), plus James Leman his attorney as trustees. They sold Redland Court for development and the house is now Redland High School. ² 

James lived at 1 Seamore Place, Curzon Street Mayfair both in the 1830s and at his death on 14 Jun 1863. He remained unmarried and died leaving £120,000.

Grenada Plantations

Levera Estate Plantation, St. Patrick’s, Grenada

Levera Estate belonged to a Mr. Snell in April 1785. ³

At a later date Alexander Fraser (1759-1837, of Inchcoulter, Kiltearn, in Rosshire, Scotland) came to Grenada in the late 1790s, he was instrumental in raising money there for the Northern Infirmary in Inverness. In 1806 he purchased his Inchcoulter estate and created the village of Evanton there.  Alexander was also a friend of William Smith (of Revolution Hall) and was mentioned in his Will to receive £2000.  It is certain that in 1825 Alexander owned plantation Levera Estate.

Following the act of 1811 abolishing the slave trade the colonies instituted registers of negroes lawfully held in slavery. A further act of 1819 established an Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves in London, England.  Finally in 1834 slavery was abolished in British colonies and to ensure it effectiveness the act of 1833 provided a sum of £20 million to ‘compensate slave proprietors'. Its distribution was entrusted to a Slave Compensation Commission which began to meet in October 1833 and was terminated at the end of 1842.

On the 9th November 1835 Alexander Fraser (as owner-in-fee) made a contested claim to this Slave Compensation Commission.  It was for 94 slaves at Levera Estate for £2759 1s 0d.  However a successful counterclaim came from Hugh Duncan Baillie, James Evan Baillie and George Henry Ames, all of the City of Bristol, as 'Assignees for the whole compensation money'. ⁴

Hermitage Estate Plantation, St. Andrew's, Grenada

Alexander was also in charge of the Baillie’s plantation Hermitage, and was described, at this time, as a ‘planter of experience’. He was probably also a member of the Grenada Council. He  married Evan Baillie’s niece (Emilia Duff of Muirton) ‘some years ago’ and when his son was born in Grenada in 1800/01 the couple named the child Evan Baillie Fraser (1800-91). ⁵

By 1807 he was regularly described as ‘late of Grenada’ indicating that he was now resident in the UK. In 1812, with the death of Evan Baillie, Alexander Fraser entered into a partnership with Evan Baillie’s third son, James Evan Baillie, trading as JE Baillie, Fraser & Co of London. This company, dissolved in 1820, consisted of James Evan Baillie, Alexander Fraser, Hugh D Baillie, George H Ames and George Fowler. ⁶

On the 23rd January 1836 a compensation claim was made for 149 slaves at Hermitage Estate for £4030 4s 3d by Evan Baillie (who we know was by this time deceased), as trustee on behalf of the proprietors of the Estate.

The previous part-owners were Colin Chisholm (MD of Bristol d.1825) and the Baillie brothers’ father James Baillie (MP of Bedford Square and Ealing Grove, d.1793).

A failed counterclaim was attempted by fishmongerer Rowland Ryley (of 3 Orange Street, Red Lion Square, England), based on a grantee of an annuity of £185 18s, secured by assignment of a legacy bequeathed by the Will of James Baillie Snr.  In this case J. H. Forbes acted as agent for the Baillies and secured the counterclain in their favour. ⁷

John Sleeper, in 1860, declared “The Hermitage was one of the finest plantations in Grenada. It was pleasantly situated on elevated ground, a few miles from the sea shore, and was the residence of Mr. Houston, a gentleman of great respectability, who was attorney for the for the estate, and also the plantation adjoining, called Belmont.”  The previous owner, an Englishman name Bailey (sic) “had spared no expense in stocking the grounds with fruits of various kinds…”.  Sadly Houston had the axe freely used to chopped down all of these trees to make way for sugar cane crop. ⁸

Revolution Hall Estate Plantation, St. John's, Grenada

The Revolution Hall Estate, at the time overseen by Joseph Barlow, existed during the 1795 ‘insurrection’. It was described in 1845, as “a rich, fertile sugar estate, about two or three miles from the neat looking village or town of Goyave (sic)”.

On the 9th May 1836 a claim was made on 168 slaves at Revolution Hall Estate for £4210 16s 8d this belonged to Richard Oliver Smith, owner-in-fee, mortgaged by him on his second marriage.  However successful counterclaims by the Baillie brother, as mortgagees and assignees of a legacy of £580 and upwards and his mortgagers back in England for £4105 meant he gained nothing. ⁹

Richard Oliver Smith (May 1788 - ????) lived n Britain from c. 1793 to 1833. He was the illegitimate son of the Grenada slave-owner William Smith and Sarah Jean (or Dean, then ‘living with’ him) in Grenada.

His father Williams’ Will dated 15 July 1793 (registered 08 November 1794, but with handwritten note on margin 'proved 30 April 1803') shows an annuity of £150 later £700 to his lawful wife Elizabeth Smith (with a claus to revoked it if challenges); Sarah Jean was to stay in the house at Revolution Hall, £100 currency immediately, annuity of £150 sterling. £2000 sterling left to pay interest to children 'being known and called by the descriptions following 'Mary Smith now in England and Grace Smith in Grenada', and to Richard Oliver Smith 'now in England aged 5 years and 2 months'.

He was first married to a Harriet Gee in St Pancras (London, England, 21 August 1806) with whom he had a daughter Emily (b. 1808 Chelsea, Middlesex). Richard divorced Harriet for adultery an on 18 August 1819 married for a second time, to Mary Broderip (daughter of Edmund Broderip), in St. Cuthbert Church, Wells, Somerset, England. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Georgiana (bapt. 1828 Exeter, Devon). ¹⁰

A set of accounts for the Revolution Hall Estate exists for the year 1821 (held at the Burke Library, Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y.) the 50 pages are accompanied by a copy of the conveyance of Revolution Hall to William Smith (dated 1771) and also by copies of letters to William Smith about the unprofitability of the plantation in the years 1832-33.  The Account book deals with maintenance, supplies, shipments of rum, and wages and includes lists of slaves on the estate on 31 December 1821, giving name, occupation and age of each. It also lists livestock.

Identified as of Gower Street on 23 July 1822 when Richard served as trustee for a marriage settlement and on 18 February 1833 a quitclaim appears between Richard and his fellow trustees (Rogers Weatherall and Francis Broderip) where Richard is 'released from trusteeship' to live in West Indies when it appears to have moved to Grenada c. 1833.  The couple possibly had a son as well, Richard Joseph Sanderson Smith ( c. 1837 Trinidad), who went on to marry Pauline Josephine Nicholson in Middlesex in 1859. ¹¹

His first daughter Emily Smith went on to marry Rev. John Nurse in Grenada in 1835.




Known Family Relationships – father Evan Baillie (1741-28 Jun 1835), brothers Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777-21 Jun 1866), first cousins Hugh James Baillie (1786-????), Alexander Baillie (13 Nov 1777-24 Jan 1835), Janet Higgins (née Baillie, 1773-1841), Colin Campbell Lloyd (née Baillie, 1781-1830).

______

Sources

1. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1863/2.
2. Bristol Record Office 6682/40 for Baillie's involvement, and deeds of Redland High School purchase.
3. Laws of Grenada and the Grenadines: From the Year 1766 to the Year 1852, No.XVII p.48
4. Parliamentary Papers p. 99. T71/880: claim 690.
5. David Alston, Slaves and Highlanders, www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=225176.
6. London Gazette, thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/17703/page/986, 05/05/1821.
7. Parliamentary Papers p. 312. T71/880: claim 701.
8. Jack in the Forecastle, John Sherburne Sleeper, 1860, p.342-3.
9. Parliamentary Papers p. 312. T71/880: claim 591.
10. Familysearch batch no. M51385-3, I01821-5 and C05051-2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812
11. Settlement, quitclaim and mortgage P89_TRI/130 1822-1835.
    
     

Read More

Grenada Heritage: Our Plantations – part 2

The village of Baillie’s Bacolet, Saint David’s in the south-east of Grenada, more commonly referred to as simply Bacolet is named after the plantation that once stood in the area. We also mention plantations of Hermitage Estate in Saint Patrick’s north of the island, and Mount St. Bernard Estate in Saint Andrew’s east of the island, and Chemin Estate in Saint George’s south of the island.

Some of the family connections to this plantation are outlined here.

James Baillie born about 1737 was the second son of Hugh Baillie of Dochfour, Inverness, and brother of Evan Baillie (1742-1835). He married in Grenada on 26 April 1772 ¹, Colina, daughter and co-heir of Colin Campbell of Glenure (Argyll, Scotland), factor of the forfeited Stewart estates in Argyll and victim of the famous Appin murder in 1752. This meant that Colin[a] Campbell Baillie was the first cousin of James Evan Baillie and Hugh Duncan Baillie.

James and Colin[a] had three sons and three daughters. Between 1755 and 1771 the family lived in the West Indies, mainly at Grenada and St. Kitt.  Then in 1765 he and his elder brother Alexander became joint-owners when they purchased a 400-acre plantation in Grenada in 1765 and known as The Hermitage and the plantation Mount St. Bernard.

During his time in the Caribbean, he had visited every island except Jamaica, and had also acted as attorney for other plantation owners. Shortly before the outbreak of the American war, Baillie and two partners bought, as a speculation, the 4,400 acres in St. Vincent granted to General Richard Monckton in 1773. After the war the property was sold in lots.

In February of 1790, when he gave evidence before the committee of inquiry into the petitions of opponents of abolition of the slave trade, James stated that he complained to the committee that when abolition was bruited in 1788, potential buyers of his St. Vincent lots were frightened off, and that there remained unsold about 1,400 acres, which would become worthless if abolition was carried. ²  He was sole owner of the Northbrook plantation in Demerara, and later in 1790, he bought from the Bank of England two Grenada estates, Barolet and Chemin, for £100,000, paying a deposit of £45,000, with the balance to be paid at 4 per cent interest, in seven annual instalments. He subsequently conveyed the Chemin plantation to one Samuel Mitchell of Grenada. ³

At the general election of that same year James was to have come in for Horsham (West-Sussex, England) as a paying guest of Lady Irwin, but he and her son-in-law were beaten at the polls by nominees of the Duke of Norfolk. They were seated on petition in March 1792, by which time Baillie had been appointed agent for Grenada. This was when the politician William Wilberforce (1759–1833) sat down after moving abolition of the slave trade, 2 April 1792, James, speaking ‘in a low voice’ from the government side of the House, called for the petition of the West India planters and merchants to be read and then proceeded to argue at length, largely on commercial grounds, against the ‘wild, impracticable, and visionary scheme’ of abolition. James maintained that the negroes were generally well treated and that there was ‘more wretchedness and poverty in the parish of St. Giles’ than in the whole of the British colonies. ⁴  He subsequently had the speech published. In the renewed debate on the slave trade, 1 May, he claimed to have received information that several hundred fresh slaves had recently been sold in Jamaica, and when supporting the sugar bill, 22 May 1792, he contended that the planters ‘merited the peculiar protection’ of Parliament. No further trace of parliamentary activity has been found.

In his will, dated 12 August 1793, James Baillie left the Barolet estate in trust for his eldest son and his property at Ealing (West London, England), bought from the Duke of Argyll, to his wife, along with £1,000. He directed his executors to sell his other plantations and to apply the proceeds to payment of the balance owing for Barolet (about £40,000) and to provision of annuities totalling £3,000 for his wife, cash bequests of £10,000 for each of his five youngest children and other legacies in excess of £2,000. He died 7 September 1793.

Colin Campbell Lloyd, née Baillie (1781-1830) – the daughter of Miss Colin[a] Campbell and James Baillie.

Whist a baby, her father James commissioned a family portrait by the painter Thomas Gainsburgh in 1784, it includes her parents with their four eldest children and Colin is the fourth, shown as the baby on her mother’s knee. The painting was later bequeathed by a relation, Alexander Baillie, in 1868 to the Tate Art Gallery (London, England).



Collin [sic] Campbell Baillie married Edward Lloyd at St Marylebone in London (England) on the 8th August 1816.

Unfortunately before she reached the age of 50, Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, apparently became the victim of the quack doctor John St John Long of Harley Street:

“On Wednesday morning, the 10th of November, 1830, at eleven o’clock, J. H. Gell, Esq., and a highly respectable jury assembled at the Wilton Arms, Kinnerton Street, Knightsbridge, to inquire into the death of Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, aged forty-eight, the wife of Captain Edward Lloyd, of the Royal Navy, whose death was alleged to have been occasioned by the treatment she had experienced under the hands of Mr St John Long. The jury retired for about half-an-hour, and then returned the following verdict: “The jury, having attentively and deliberately considered their verdict, can come to no other than manslaughter against John St John Long.” The coroner inquired on what grounds they found their verdict. The foreman said: “On the ground of gross ignorance, and on other considerations.” Upon this second charge Mr Long was tried at the Old Bailey on the 19th of February, 1831. The jury, however, returned a verdict of not guilty. Several ladies, elegantly dressed, remained with the prisoner in the dock throughout the day, to whom this verdict appeared to give great satisfaction. Mr Long died in the year 1834, and his body was consigned to a tomb in the Harrow Road Cemetery, where a monument was erected to his memory at the cost of his former patients, who, in an inscription, paid a handsome tribute to his talents.”

The burial of Mrs Colin Campbell Lloyd, of St Georges Hanover Square (London, England), took place on the 13th November 1830.

Trustees of the marriage settlement of Miss Colin Campbell Baillie (Sir George Young and Sir John Tylden Maxwell) made a claim on the 2^nd May 1836 to the Slave Compensation Commission (1812-1851) for the compensation for the 353 enslaved people on ‘Baillie’s Bacolet’ in St. David’s, Grenada and where awarded the sum of £8985 17s 2d.

Of cause the settlement wasn’t straight forward, a letter, dated 23 February 1836, from Hugh James Baillie (of Stone Buildings), asked how much was paid to his brother Alex Baillie, and the time of payment [T71/1609]. Then a claim against the settlemet was made by a John Wells (as receiver) which caused counterclaims from Janet Higgins (of Albemarle Street and widow of Matthew Higgins), as the assignee of a legacy under the will of their father James Baillie (1737-1793, MP of Bedford Square and Ealing Grove); Sir John Maxwell Tylden (of Milsted, Kent), and Sir George Young (of Formosa Place, Buckinghamshire), all as trustees for parties interested under the marriage settlement of our Miss Colin Campbell Baillie [T71/880].  The insident was reported in The Times on 16 July 1842 refering to Baillie versus Innes as “one of the numerous proceedings arising out of the failure of Mr Innes, who was formerly in partnership with Mr Nathaniel Winter as West India merchants” [p. 6].

In 1851, Edward Lloyd, aged 64, Captain RN, born Germany, was living at Cheltenham with his daughter Colin Campbell aged 33 and her husband Conway Whitehorne Lovesey (sometimes given as Lovesy).

Known Family Relationships – sister to Hugh James Baillie (1786-????), Alexander Baillie (13 Nov 1777-24 Jan 1835), and Janet Higgins (née Baillie, 1773-1841); niece to Evan Baillie (1741-28 Jun 1835); first cousin to James Evan Baillie (1781-14 Jun 1863) and Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777-21 Jun 1866).

______

Sources

1. Midlothian: Edinburgh Register of Marriages, 1751-1800 Volume 5. The Register of Marriages. (Edinburgh Reg. Scottish Rec. Soc. liii, 33).
2. House of Commons Sessional Pprs. of 18th Cent. ed. Lambert, lxxi.
3. See also Baillie’s will (PCC 494 Dodwell).
4. Senator, iv. 512.
5. 1631 volumes of Slave registers and records of the Slave Compensation Commission (1812-1851), CO T71/880 Grenada no. 864, NAUK.
6. Douglas Hamilton, Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic world, 1750-1820 (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2005) pp. 89-90. History of Parliament Online for details of James Baillie.
7. The Tate artworks – gainsborough, n00789.
8. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921.
9. Newgate Calendar. Notice of death including report of the manslaughter verdict in the Annual Register (1830), Vol. 72 p. 277.
10. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980; National Probate Calendar 1889.
11. 1851 census online.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan and David R. Fisher for his assistance in compiling this entry.

Read More

Grenada Heritage: Judith Philip – Her Legacies

 
 
Judith Philip was born to a French baker turned planter Honore Philip and his ex-slave wife Jeannette sometime in the late 1760s. Upon the death of her father around 1779 she, along with her seven siblings, Honore junior, Michel, Susannah, JB Louis, Joachim, Nicholas Regis and Magdalene inherited Honore and Jeannette’s accumulated property worth some 400,000 livres. This property included Lots in Grenada and the outlying islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The family was a close knit one and repeated transactions show all of the siblings interacting with one another continually throughout their lives. Judith, her brothers and sisters also had white French uncles who also lived in Grenada and who owned property. One of them, Francois was particularly prominent as a Justice of the Peace and a Protector of Slaves.

This property inheritance was divided up among the children in portions with Judith taking the main plantation – Grand Ance, Carriacou where she lived, along with several smaller parcels of land. Rapidly Judith added to this initial inheritance by buying more land from her siblings when some of them moved out of planting and others moved to Trinidad to start successful branches of the family there. Further gains were made in the late 18th century when her brother Nicholas Regis died and another family friend Louis Monque also passed away leaving his wealth to Judith and her siblings.
Sometime in the 1770s she began a relationship with Englishman Edmund Thornton (q.v.) who was then a junior attorney and plantation manager looking after estates on Carriacou. It is quite likely that at this stage it was Judith who was the wealthier of the two. While on Carriacou the couple had three children: Ann Rachel Thornton, Louis-Edmund Thornton, Magdalene Thornton.

In the 1790s with war and revolution tearing through the Caribbean the situation on Grenada had become precarious. By 1794 Edmund Thornton and Judith Philip decided to go to England. Possibly connected with this relocation was the education of their children. Judith Philip’s property, that now included not just property in Grenada and its dependencies but Trinidad as well, was placed in the hands of managers and her extended family.

This move to the UK was fortuitous. In the 1790s Judith’s younger brother Joachim, in contrast to the rest of his siblings, fell deeply into debt. In 1795, a short while after being sued by his creditors he took up with the revolutionary Julian Fedon, becoming one of his most trusted lieutenants. While it was ultimately unsuccessful, the 1795 Fedon Rebellion destroyed Grenada’s prosperity. It was to be years before it recovered to its pre 1795 levels. The British reprisals were savage and uncompromising particularly to those of mixed race who were seen as the main instigators of the conflict. Despite initially escaping, Joachim was eventually caught in 1803 and hung in the market square St Georges. Despite her brother’s involvement it is a testament to Judith Philip’s standing that she and the rest of the extended family escaped recrimination.

After purchasing a house in London at 33 Great Coram Street Judith left Carriacou and lived in London round the corner from Edmund Thornton. Judith and Edmund’s relationship became a complex one however when, in 1796, Thornton married Jane Butler the daughter of wealthy Cheshire gentry. Despite Thornton’s marriage he and Judith shared two more children together: Philip Thornton born sometime in the nineteenth century and Judith Thornton born in 1807.

In 1808 Judith left Thornton and returned to Carriacou where until her death in 1848 she remained a prominent and respected part of the Grenadian plantocracy with connections to some of the empires biggest merchant families such as the Campbells, and the Baillies. Her extensive property that included, not only the land she owned in Grenada and the house at Great Coram Street (in England) but other property in London (England) as well was divided up among her surviving children; Ann Rachel, Magdalene and Judith. Her two sons Louis Edmund (a London based merchant) and (who was training to be an attorney) died in the 1820s. Louis Edmund however had five children who also inherited from their grandmother: William Wheeler Thornton, Ellen Ann, Magdalene, Francis Catherine and Jeannette Rose Thornton. With the death in 1848 of Ann Rachel Thornton, the two surviving daughters of Judith Philip moved to London to be with their nieces and nephews. By 1855 the family had sold all the remaining property in Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Grenada and Judith Philip’s well-managed wealth was divided between them.
Following the act of 1811 abolishing the slave trade the colonies instituted registers of negroes lawfully held in slavery. A further act of 1819 established an Office for the Registry of Colonial Slaves in London, England.  Then in 1834 slavery was abolished in British colonies and to ensure it effectiveness the act of 1833 provided a sum of £20 million to ‘compensate slave proprietors‘. Its distribution was entrusted to a Slave Compensation Commission which began to meet in October 1833 and was terminated at the end of 1842.

Judith made three uncontested claims to this Slave Compensation Commission. In 1834 she registered her slaves and made her claims the following November of 1835 for 64 slaves at ‘Petit Ance Estate‘ (£1,499 18s 9d, Claim No. 912), 68 at ‘Susanna Estate‘ (£1,558 8s 5d, Claim No.944), and 143 at ‘Grand Ance Estate‘ (£3,546 17s 5d, Claim No. 948). [T71/328 p. 105]

While her two surviving daughters would die as spinsters, three of Judith Philip’s grandchildren married and had issue – William Wheeler who became a prominent Anglican Minster would die in the 1890s worth well over £30,000 pounds which was inherited by his son Edmund. Ellen Ann married the Anglican Minister Thomas Boys the brother of William Wheeler’s wife and had a least three daughters. Magdalene married a prominent academic Henry Amedroz – one their two sons was killed in the Boer war while the other died a wealthy barrister in 1917 without issue. Jeannette Rose and Francis Catherine remained as spinsters. When Magdalene Thornton died in London in the 1890s she left an estate worth over £35,000.

_______

Sources

1. Lorna McDaniel ‘The Philips: A ‘Free Mulatto’ Family of Grenada’, Journal of Caribbean History 24 (2) (1990), pp. 178-94.
2. Kit Candlin, The Last Caribbean Frontier 1795-1815 (Basingstoke, Palgrave MacMillan, 2012), ch. 1, ‘What Became of the Fedon Rebellion’, pp. 1-23.
3. ‘Carriacou Plantation Slave Registers’, 1833, pp. 2-12, T-71/319, National Archives of the United Kingdom (NAUK) and ‘Grenada Compensation’, 1836, no.780, ‘Judith Philip’, NDO 4/10, NAUK.
4. ‘Judicial Report of the Evidence in the Case of Jose’, 1834, pp.136-138, CO 101/78, NAUK.
5. Honore Philip to the Heirs of Honore Philip, 10 Sep 1785, p.50, Deeds K3, Supreme Court Registry of Grenada (SRG).
6. ‘Judith Philip to Michel Philip Release’ 26 May 1789, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Deeds: Unnumbered Box, SRG.
7. ‘Catherine Philip to the Heirs of Honore Philip Deceased’, 15 Jun 1786 pp.560-562, Deeds V1, SRG.
8. ‘Marie-Magdalaine Vigi Philip to Henry Hilaire de Moussacq’, 27 Jan 1807, pp. 61-66, Deeds S4, SRG.
9. ‘Articles of Agreement between the heirs of Honore and Jeanette Philip (Deceased)’ 7 Sep 1778, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Deeds: Unnumbered Box, SRG.
10. ‘Description of the Grenadines’, S.V. Morse, 1778, CO 101/16, NAUK.
11. ‘Philip Family Indenture’, 10 Sep 1785, Deeds K3, SRG.
12. ‘Articles of Agreement Between the Philip Family’, 10 Sep 1785, pp.51-61, Deeds K3, SRG.
13. ‘Last Will and Testament of Judith Philip’, 25 Nov 1848, Probate, 11/2105, NAUK.
14. ‘The Children of Edmund Thornton and Judith Philip to their Attorneys’, 09 Apr 1855, pp.289-292, Deeds W-C3, SRG.
15. UK Articles of Clerkship 1756-1874, ‘Philip Thornton to Stacey Grimaldi witnessed by Edmund Thornton’ 15 Feb 1816.
16. H. Gordon Slade, ‘Craigston and Meldrum Estates 1769-1841’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 114 (1984), pp. 481-537.
17. ‘Judith Philip about to Depart for England and May be Absent For Some Time Appoints Duncan Campbell, James Baillie and Suzanna Philip as her Attorneys’, 24 Jun 1794, Deeds E2, SRG.
18. ‘Judith Philip About to Depart for England Appoints Pierre Charbonne and Joseph Newton as Attorneys’, 30 May 1803, pp.492-493, SRG.
19. For Thornton’s Address and his marriage to Jane Butler see ‘Edmund Thornton sale of Morne Rouge’, 9 Jul 1814, pp.448-451, Deeds Y2, SRG.
20. ‘Joachim Philip with William Scott’ no.3288, Court of Common Pleas 1794-1796, SRG.
21. ‘Secretary of State Portland to Houston’ pp.238-242, Governors In Letters Grenada, CO 101/34, NAUK.
22. ‘Children of Judith Philip: Intention to sell’, 9 Apr 1855, Deeds W-C3, SRG.
23. ‘Last Will and Testament of Ann-Rachel Thornton’, 04/04/1849, Deeds B4, SRG.
24.  1631 volumes of Slave registers and records of the Slave Compensation Commission (1812-1851), CO T71, NAUK.

For details of the lives of her descendents, such as inheritance, estate value at death, marriage etc see the various items for the family at Ancestry.com.  We are grateful to Kit Candlin for compiling this biographical-outline.

Further Information

Absentee?             Transatlantic

Children                [With Edmund Thornton] Ann Rachel, Louis-Edmund, Magdalene, Philip, Judith (1807-)

Occupation           Planter

Religion                Roman Catholic

Relationships

Aunt                      Marie Magdalaine Vigi Philip
Niece                     Jeanne Rose Philip
Nephew                 St Luce Philip

Read More