Box Slavery Families Alan Payne June 2019
The West of England was deeply involved in the slave trade. Most of the young men and women who were captured in West Africa were shipped directly to Jamaica for the sugar and rum plantations and to the southern states of USA for the cotton and tobacco areas. It was the last leg of those journeys that involved Bristol because the boats stocked up with goods and raw materials in Jamaica, which they brought back to Bristol before embarking on the next voyage to collect slaves. Many plantation families settled in the West Country to control their part of the trade. This story concerns those who lived in Box and were slave owners in Jamaican plantations.
I came across the names Redwar and Turner in my research into Box's Georgian history. The Redwar family have a monument in Box Church and I found Dutton Smith Turner's name when he was listed as the owner of Ashley House in 1807.[1] The advert for selling the house contents referred to his moving to the West Indies, so I followed up the story of the families, starting with the Redwar history.
I came across the names Redwar and Turner in my research into Box's Georgian history. The Redwar family have a monument in Box Church and I found Dutton Smith Turner's name when he was listed as the owner of Ashley House in 1807.[1] The advert for selling the house contents referred to his moving to the West Indies, so I followed up the story of the families, starting with the Redwar history.
Redwar Family Henry Redwar was a resident plantation-owner in Jamaica and the founder of a family estate there. He was born in Barbados and later owned two large plantations at Pedro Park Penn, on the border of the provinces of St Ann and St Catherine, and the Dunbarton estate, St Ann. He married Elizabeth Gibbons Lewis and they had three sons and seven daughters. When he died, aged 46, at Spanish Town in 1798, Elizabeth Redwar returned to England and we can see from epitaphs in Box Church that she first set up home at Middlehill House, Ditteridge. We get one insight into the family with the epitaph in Box Church which records the death of two of Elizabeth's children in 1807. William Redwar, aged 24, died in Jamaica on 8 November that year and Henry Jnr, aged 19, died at Middlehill on 27 December 1807. Right: Memorial in Box Church (courtesy Carol Payne) |
We might speculate that Elizabeth's children visited her there or lived with her and that the house was used for winter accommodation in the Bath social season. She later moved into Bath. We have supporting evidence of the family's Bath connection through the lives of two of Elizabeth's daughters, both of whom were buried there. Harriet Gibbons Redwar returned from Jamaica after two marriages to die in Bath in 1841.[2] And the oldest child, Mary Gale Redwar, born in 1776 at St Catherine, Jamaica died at Bath in 1822. It was she who developed a second connection with Box through her marriage before 1796 to Dutton Smith Turner, another Jamaican plantation-owner.
Dutton Smith Turner
Dutton Turner's family were sugar plantation owners in Jamaica in the 1800s.[3] Dutton appears to have been born in Clarendon province in 1755 to parents, Thomas and Sydeppe, both of whom were also probably born there.[4] The records of their children's births confirm that Dutton and his mother lived in Box between at least 1801 and 1803, probably as late as 1807. Two of Dutton's children were born in Box: Robert born 1801 and Eliza Jane born 1803. Dutton died on 2 October 1816 recorded in The Bath Chronicle as formerly of Ashley House, in his 62nd year.[5] |
We can see just how wealthy the family were from an advertisement in the local newspapers when they sold their possessions on leaving Ashley House in 1807.[6] All the neat, elegant and nearly new household furniture was up for sale, a variety of animals, mostly domestic or pets, including a very beautiful two-year old Alderney heifer in calf by very superior bull (lately Mr Wiltshire's) .. a Milch (sic) cow, capital bay hunter rising five years old, handsome she mule, a two-year old donkey, broke in to carry a lady and so on. The family had already packed up and gone to the West Indies leaving their animals and possessions to be sold out of Ashley House which they rented. The notice of Dutton's death includes another fascinating detail: and on the north side of the island, Mr William Slade, formerly of Hendley (sic) Farm, Box. Unfortunately this is before the Jamaican records have been fully researched and I could find nothing more about this additional Box person on a Jamaican slave plantation.
Although most of her children settled in Jamaica, Mary Turner preferred to live in England, probably wanting to be close to her mother who lived at Seymour Street, Bath.[7] Both were recorded in a memorial inscription in Walcot Church, Bath:
In memory of Mary Gale Turner, relict of Dutton Smith Turner of Clarendon, Jamaica, Esq and eldest daughter of the late Henry Redwar Esq of Dunbarton Estate, in the same island. She died in this city on the 16th of March 1822 aged 45. Also Elizabeth Gibbons Davis, whose remains are deposited in the same vault in this churchyard with her late daughter the above Mary Gale Turner, died May 7th 1825 aged 71.
Some of Dutton's children had fascinating careers, advantaged by wealth and family connections but also people of ability in their own right. Edward Turner was educated at Bath Grammar School, and later at the Medical School of Edinburgh University. Edward was reputed to be a very clever boy. He was born in Jamaica, of pure English blood, eldest son of a prosperous island proprietor there, in the thriving slavery days of our West Indian colonies.[8] Edward remained in Bath working as a doctor until he switched career to become a chemist, author of an important chemistry textbook and appointed the very first professor of chemistry at University College London in 1827, a very distinguished career.[9]
The Plantations
We can see how fabulously wealthy the Redwar and Turner families were in Jamaica. The Dunbarton estate acquired by Henry Redwar was a sugar and rum plantation in St Ann province. At times it was also involved in copper extraction and as a cattlemill. In 1820 the sugar plantation purchased enslaved persons from Robert Jones of St Ann's and the total number of slaves was registered as 396 the following year. By 1832 the number had reduced to 192. The sugar plantation was separate from the family home, called Pedro Farm, converted into a cattle plantation. In 1819 Pedro Farm was listed as having 48 enslaved people and a stock of 223 animals.
Pindar Valley, the plantation owned by Sarah Elizabeth Turner, wife of James Wright Turner, was another sugar and rum plantation. It had previously been owned by Arthur Iredell and James Wildman. At times the estate was merged in the register with other plantations purchased from Arthur's Seat Estate in Clarendon since 1829 when they were registered by Mr Bright Esquire. In 1832 there were 81 slaves registered, 50 females and 31 males.
Slave Compensation Act, 1837
Both of the Box families were entitled to a financial award when slave ownership was abolished in 1837, based on slave-owner numbers registered in 1834. By then the plantations had been substantially divided, some held on trust for the daughters, some acquired directly in addition to the family estates, some slaves held personally by individuals.
The division of the Redwar and Turner estates was confused by marriage and the close connection of the families. The Turner estate at Dunbarton, St Ann, is a good example of that complexity.[10] Part of the estate was registered in total as 194 enslaved persons, evaluated as worth £2,956.15s.6d (in today's money £300,000). It was split in one-sixteenths across the family, most of whom were no longer resident in the Caribbean. Some portion went to the Bath trustee of the marriage settlement of Harriet Redwar and her first husband, George Coleman; another portion went to Harriet Redwar who was living in Boulogne, France, and her second husband, John McNaught, of Clarendon. Other portions went to John Fairfell Smith and Caroline Cydippe Turner; Mary Ann Turner; Sarah White Turner; James Wright Turner and William Dutton Turner; Eliza Jane Turner and John McGlashan who were in Edinburgh; and Wilton Turner.
William Turner was also the owner of five enslaved persons in Clarendon, Jamaica, inherited from his wife Mary Trench and of nineteen slaves in St Catherine, Jamaica, and at Pindar's Valley, Clarendon, part of the marriage settlement of his brother James Wright Turner. Even though she did not live in the Caribbean, Mary Ann personally owned two slaves in Clarendon, Jamaica. The inter-breeding of the slave-owning families and their existence in the West Indies was a far cry from life in Box, but their wealth crossed the boundaries and became part of the village story.
Conclusion
The Redwar and Turner families give us an insight into Georgian slave ownership and are definitive evidence of the involvement of a few Box residents. Although a century later, their stories help us to understand the role of the people who funded the building of the workhouse and the charity school and the rebuilding of Box Church earlier in the Georgian period.
Box was not exceptional in the number of slave owners resident here. University College London has a major project, called "Legacies of British Slave-ownership" (from which many of the details in this article have been obtained), which estimates that between 10% and 20% of Britain's wealthy families had significant links to slavery. It is not an aspect of our history to be proud of, but we should not just ignore it because we need to learn about our failings in the past to ensure similar issues are not repeated.
Although most of her children settled in Jamaica, Mary Turner preferred to live in England, probably wanting to be close to her mother who lived at Seymour Street, Bath.[7] Both were recorded in a memorial inscription in Walcot Church, Bath:
In memory of Mary Gale Turner, relict of Dutton Smith Turner of Clarendon, Jamaica, Esq and eldest daughter of the late Henry Redwar Esq of Dunbarton Estate, in the same island. She died in this city on the 16th of March 1822 aged 45. Also Elizabeth Gibbons Davis, whose remains are deposited in the same vault in this churchyard with her late daughter the above Mary Gale Turner, died May 7th 1825 aged 71.
Some of Dutton's children had fascinating careers, advantaged by wealth and family connections but also people of ability in their own right. Edward Turner was educated at Bath Grammar School, and later at the Medical School of Edinburgh University. Edward was reputed to be a very clever boy. He was born in Jamaica, of pure English blood, eldest son of a prosperous island proprietor there, in the thriving slavery days of our West Indian colonies.[8] Edward remained in Bath working as a doctor until he switched career to become a chemist, author of an important chemistry textbook and appointed the very first professor of chemistry at University College London in 1827, a very distinguished career.[9]
The Plantations
We can see how fabulously wealthy the Redwar and Turner families were in Jamaica. The Dunbarton estate acquired by Henry Redwar was a sugar and rum plantation in St Ann province. At times it was also involved in copper extraction and as a cattlemill. In 1820 the sugar plantation purchased enslaved persons from Robert Jones of St Ann's and the total number of slaves was registered as 396 the following year. By 1832 the number had reduced to 192. The sugar plantation was separate from the family home, called Pedro Farm, converted into a cattle plantation. In 1819 Pedro Farm was listed as having 48 enslaved people and a stock of 223 animals.
Pindar Valley, the plantation owned by Sarah Elizabeth Turner, wife of James Wright Turner, was another sugar and rum plantation. It had previously been owned by Arthur Iredell and James Wildman. At times the estate was merged in the register with other plantations purchased from Arthur's Seat Estate in Clarendon since 1829 when they were registered by Mr Bright Esquire. In 1832 there were 81 slaves registered, 50 females and 31 males.
Slave Compensation Act, 1837
Both of the Box families were entitled to a financial award when slave ownership was abolished in 1837, based on slave-owner numbers registered in 1834. By then the plantations had been substantially divided, some held on trust for the daughters, some acquired directly in addition to the family estates, some slaves held personally by individuals.
The division of the Redwar and Turner estates was confused by marriage and the close connection of the families. The Turner estate at Dunbarton, St Ann, is a good example of that complexity.[10] Part of the estate was registered in total as 194 enslaved persons, evaluated as worth £2,956.15s.6d (in today's money £300,000). It was split in one-sixteenths across the family, most of whom were no longer resident in the Caribbean. Some portion went to the Bath trustee of the marriage settlement of Harriet Redwar and her first husband, George Coleman; another portion went to Harriet Redwar who was living in Boulogne, France, and her second husband, John McNaught, of Clarendon. Other portions went to John Fairfell Smith and Caroline Cydippe Turner; Mary Ann Turner; Sarah White Turner; James Wright Turner and William Dutton Turner; Eliza Jane Turner and John McGlashan who were in Edinburgh; and Wilton Turner.
William Turner was also the owner of five enslaved persons in Clarendon, Jamaica, inherited from his wife Mary Trench and of nineteen slaves in St Catherine, Jamaica, and at Pindar's Valley, Clarendon, part of the marriage settlement of his brother James Wright Turner. Even though she did not live in the Caribbean, Mary Ann personally owned two slaves in Clarendon, Jamaica. The inter-breeding of the slave-owning families and their existence in the West Indies was a far cry from life in Box, but their wealth crossed the boundaries and became part of the village story.
Conclusion
The Redwar and Turner families give us an insight into Georgian slave ownership and are definitive evidence of the involvement of a few Box residents. Although a century later, their stories help us to understand the role of the people who funded the building of the workhouse and the charity school and the rebuilding of Box Church earlier in the Georgian period.
Box was not exceptional in the number of slave owners resident here. University College London has a major project, called "Legacies of British Slave-ownership" (from which many of the details in this article have been obtained), which estimates that between 10% and 20% of Britain's wealthy families had significant links to slavery. It is not an aspect of our history to be proud of, but we should not just ignore it because we need to learn about our failings in the past to ensure similar issues are not repeated.
Family Trees
Redwar Family
Henry Redwar (b 30 March 1752 in Barbados 1752 - died 1798) married Elizabeth Gibbons Lewis (b 1754 – died 7 May 1825 at Bath). Children:
Mary Gale (christened 3 October 1776 at St Catherine, Jamaica - died 16 March 1822 at Bath);
Elizabeth Crockatt was born in 1778 in Jamaica;
Sarah Full born in 1780 in Jamaica;
Katherine Lord (born in 1781 in Jamaica;
Henry Gale (born on October 4, 1784, in Saint Catherine, Jamaica - died 1788);
William Gale (christened 4 October 1784 at St Catherine - 8 November 1807 in St Ann, Jamaica). In 1806 he married Harriet Freeman whose family came from Antigua but died the following year;[11]
Harriet Gibbons (b 1787 in Jamaica - d 24 September 1841) was married twice, first to Joseph Peters Fearon, who owned the Harrietsfield estate at Clarendon, Jamaica, until his death in about 1823. She had two daughters with him, both baptised in Clarendon. She was later married to John McNaught, who took over as owner of Harrietsfield in 1826. She died in Bath in 1841;
Henry (b 1788 died 27 December 1808 at Middlehill aged 19);
Ann Elizabeth (b 1791) married Rev Wilton H Lynch, rector of Clarendon, Jamaica, and chaplain to the Honourable House of Assembly at Teakpen, Clarendon, Jamaica on 17 September 1808;
Caroline (christened 14 December 1793 at St Andrew, Jamaica). She married Lieut George Coleman, RN, on 5 December 1816.[12]
Turner Family
Dutton Smith Turner (1755 - 1816) married Mary Gale Redwar (1776-1822).[13] Children:
Edward (born Clarendon, Jamaica on 20 June 1796, died 12 Feb 1837);
William Dutton (born 28 June 1798 at Clarendon, Jamaica, died June 1858) returned to Jamaica after he qualified as a doctor and he there became the leading physician at King Street, Spanish Town.[14] He married three times, including his third wife
Mary Power Trench (1815-1862), daughter of William Power Trench (1771-1848) and Janet Stewart (1780-1864) in 1835.[15]
The Hon William Dutton Turner died in Jago de la Vega, Spanish Town, Jamaica, on 30 June 1858;
James Wright (born 22 August 1799, died 14 November 1840 in Jamaica) and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, had eight children, all baptised in Clarendon, Jamaica.[16] They lived at Teak Pen, Clarendon, the Turner family home, even though the plantation estate at Pindar's Valley was probably inherited through his wife and the Coward family. The Pindar estate was very wealthy and subject to a marriage settlement between the couple date 1825;
Robert (born Box 1801);
Eliza Jane (born Box 1803) married twice: first to George Coleman and later, on his death, to John McGlashan Esq, attorney in Jamaica on 17 January 1827.[17] They had a son, Charles Edward, baptised in Jamaica, in 1844;
Mary Anne (b Jamaica about 1807) married Heinrich Hermann von Dadelszen, of Hampstead on 28 August 1838, the same day as her sister Sarah White. The couple lived a colonial life as minister and his wife in the Indian sub-continent at Madras and Ceylon (Sri Lanka);
Caroline Cydippa (b Jamaica 1808) married John Fairfell Smith on 12 June 1830;[18]
Wilton George (b Jamaica 1810); and
Sarah White (b Jamaica 1813) married into the Hayle family on 28 August 1838.[19]
Redwar Family
Henry Redwar (b 30 March 1752 in Barbados 1752 - died 1798) married Elizabeth Gibbons Lewis (b 1754 – died 7 May 1825 at Bath). Children:
Mary Gale (christened 3 October 1776 at St Catherine, Jamaica - died 16 March 1822 at Bath);
Elizabeth Crockatt was born in 1778 in Jamaica;
Sarah Full born in 1780 in Jamaica;
Katherine Lord (born in 1781 in Jamaica;
Henry Gale (born on October 4, 1784, in Saint Catherine, Jamaica - died 1788);
William Gale (christened 4 October 1784 at St Catherine - 8 November 1807 in St Ann, Jamaica). In 1806 he married Harriet Freeman whose family came from Antigua but died the following year;[11]
Harriet Gibbons (b 1787 in Jamaica - d 24 September 1841) was married twice, first to Joseph Peters Fearon, who owned the Harrietsfield estate at Clarendon, Jamaica, until his death in about 1823. She had two daughters with him, both baptised in Clarendon. She was later married to John McNaught, who took over as owner of Harrietsfield in 1826. She died in Bath in 1841;
Henry (b 1788 died 27 December 1808 at Middlehill aged 19);
Ann Elizabeth (b 1791) married Rev Wilton H Lynch, rector of Clarendon, Jamaica, and chaplain to the Honourable House of Assembly at Teakpen, Clarendon, Jamaica on 17 September 1808;
Caroline (christened 14 December 1793 at St Andrew, Jamaica). She married Lieut George Coleman, RN, on 5 December 1816.[12]
Turner Family
Dutton Smith Turner (1755 - 1816) married Mary Gale Redwar (1776-1822).[13] Children:
Edward (born Clarendon, Jamaica on 20 June 1796, died 12 Feb 1837);
William Dutton (born 28 June 1798 at Clarendon, Jamaica, died June 1858) returned to Jamaica after he qualified as a doctor and he there became the leading physician at King Street, Spanish Town.[14] He married three times, including his third wife
Mary Power Trench (1815-1862), daughter of William Power Trench (1771-1848) and Janet Stewart (1780-1864) in 1835.[15]
The Hon William Dutton Turner died in Jago de la Vega, Spanish Town, Jamaica, on 30 June 1858;
James Wright (born 22 August 1799, died 14 November 1840 in Jamaica) and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, had eight children, all baptised in Clarendon, Jamaica.[16] They lived at Teak Pen, Clarendon, the Turner family home, even though the plantation estate at Pindar's Valley was probably inherited through his wife and the Coward family. The Pindar estate was very wealthy and subject to a marriage settlement between the couple date 1825;
Robert (born Box 1801);
Eliza Jane (born Box 1803) married twice: first to George Coleman and later, on his death, to John McGlashan Esq, attorney in Jamaica on 17 January 1827.[17] They had a son, Charles Edward, baptised in Jamaica, in 1844;
Mary Anne (b Jamaica about 1807) married Heinrich Hermann von Dadelszen, of Hampstead on 28 August 1838, the same day as her sister Sarah White. The couple lived a colonial life as minister and his wife in the Indian sub-continent at Madras and Ceylon (Sri Lanka);
Caroline Cydippa (b Jamaica 1808) married John Fairfell Smith on 12 June 1830;[18]
Wilton George (b Jamaica 1810); and
Sarah White (b Jamaica 1813) married into the Hayle family on 28 August 1838.[19]
References
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 22 October 1807
[2] The Bath Chronicle, 30 September 1841
[3] See the amazing record produced by University College, London: Dutton Smith Turner, Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633686
[4] Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHD6-PFR
[5] The Bath Chronicle, 12 December 1816
[6] The Bath Chronicle, 22 October 1807
[7] The Bath Chronicle, 10 December 1818
[8] Wikipedia and https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/329948485
[9] Wikipedia and https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/329948485
[10] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/16838
[11] The Oxford Journal, 9 August 1806 and Royal Cornwall Gazette, 16 January 1808
[12] The Bath Chronicle, 5 December 1816
[13] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633686
[14] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/39555219
[15] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/39555219
[16] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/1680011290
[17] The Glasgow Herald, 22 January 1827
[18] The Perthshire Courier, 24 June 1830
[19] London Evening Standard, 30 August 1838
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 22 October 1807
[2] The Bath Chronicle, 30 September 1841
[3] See the amazing record produced by University College, London: Dutton Smith Turner, Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633686
[4] Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHD6-PFR
[5] The Bath Chronicle, 12 December 1816
[6] The Bath Chronicle, 22 October 1807
[7] The Bath Chronicle, 10 December 1818
[8] Wikipedia and https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/329948485
[9] Wikipedia and https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/329948485
[10] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/16838
[11] The Oxford Journal, 9 August 1806 and Royal Cornwall Gazette, 16 January 1808
[12] The Bath Chronicle, 5 December 1816
[13] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633686
[14] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/39555219
[15] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/39555219
[16] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/1680011290
[17] The Glasgow Herald, 22 January 1827
[18] The Perthshire Courier, 24 June 1830
[19] London Evening Standard, 30 August 1838