My new book, Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance and Caribbean Slavery, tells the stories of nine women who inherited people and plantations in the Caribbean and brought that wealth to Britain under cover of matrimony. Read on for a taste of their dramatic and varied stories...
Chapter One: SARAH NEWTON (1723- 1794)
The Newton family owned people and plantations in Barbados from the 1640s. Sarah married Sir Lister Holte of Aston Hall, Warwickshire, now overshadowed by the Aston Villa FC stadium. (The Holte End Stand in the stadium is named after the family.) Archaeological excavations of the Newton estate burial ground provide a unique insight into its workings and the everyday lives of the enslaved, revealing extremely low life expectancy, multiple injuries, disease and malnutrition. Their lives are further illuminated by detailed reports sent back to England by a series of overseers, and include the incredible story of Betsy Newton, who escaped the plantation and travelled all the way to London to confront her enslaver and demand freedom for herself and her children.
The Newton family owned people and plantations in Barbados from the 1640s. Sarah married Sir Lister Holte of Aston Hall, Warwickshire, now overshadowed by the Aston Villa FC stadium. (The Holte End Stand in the stadium is named after the family.) Archaeological excavations of the Newton estate burial ground provide a unique insight into its workings and the everyday lives of the enslaved, revealing extremely low life expectancy, multiple injuries, disease and malnutrition. Their lives are further illuminated by detailed reports sent back to England by a series of overseers, and include the incredible story of Betsy Newton, who escaped the plantation and travelled all the way to London to confront her enslaver and demand freedom for herself and her children.
Chapter Two: FRANCES DALZELL (1729- 1778)
The mixed-ancestry illegitimate daughter of a woman born enslaved in Jamaica, Frances moved to London and married a Scottish aristocrat: the Hon. George Duff. In 1738 her mother Susanna petitioned the Jamaica Assembly to grant her and her daughters, Frances and Mary, ‘the same rights and privileges with English subjects born of white parents’. The size of Susanna’s inheritance was exceptional, making her one of the wealthiest mixed-heritage women in the island’s history. Frances (with her brother Robert) inherited her father’s estates and 133 enslaved people. Letters to her agents in Jamaica show that she was a shrewd businesswoman, with extensive knowledge of how to run a plantation. She even sent detailed instructions on the design of the brand she wanted to be seared into the skin of the people she enslaved.
The mixed-ancestry illegitimate daughter of a woman born enslaved in Jamaica, Frances moved to London and married a Scottish aristocrat: the Hon. George Duff. In 1738 her mother Susanna petitioned the Jamaica Assembly to grant her and her daughters, Frances and Mary, ‘the same rights and privileges with English subjects born of white parents’. The size of Susanna’s inheritance was exceptional, making her one of the wealthiest mixed-heritage women in the island’s history. Frances (with her brother Robert) inherited her father’s estates and 133 enslaved people. Letters to her agents in Jamaica show that she was a shrewd businesswoman, with extensive knowledge of how to run a plantation. She even sent detailed instructions on the design of the brand she wanted to be seared into the skin of the people she enslaved.
Chapter Three: MARY RAMSAY (1719-1788)
Mary Ramsay was born in Alloa, Scotland but moved to Kingston, Jamaica at the age of two, returning to Britain aged 20 after her father’s death. She not only inherited Jamaican property and people worth £20,000 through her father and uncle, but her husband Richard Oswald was a major trader in enslaved Africans, supplying thousands of Africans to Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and the Caribbean from Sierra Leone. The couple bought swathes of land in the Ayrshire countryside south of Glasgow and built a grand house, Auchincruive. Mary’s portrait by Zoffany now hangs in the National Gallery. Richard Oswald was chosen to negotiate the peace treaty with the Americans at the end of the Revolutionary War; Mary hosted the American delegates - Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay.
Mary Ramsay was born in Alloa, Scotland but moved to Kingston, Jamaica at the age of two, returning to Britain aged 20 after her father’s death. She not only inherited Jamaican property and people worth £20,000 through her father and uncle, but her husband Richard Oswald was a major trader in enslaved Africans, supplying thousands of Africans to Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and the Caribbean from Sierra Leone. The couple bought swathes of land in the Ayrshire countryside south of Glasgow and built a grand house, Auchincruive. Mary’s portrait by Zoffany now hangs in the National Gallery. Richard Oswald was chosen to negotiate the peace treaty with the Americans at the end of the Revolutionary War; Mary hosted the American delegates - Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay.
Chapter Four: JANE CHOLMELEY (1744-1836)
Jane Austen’s miserly aunt, who was put on trial for shoplifting lace from a shop in Bath, Jane (Jenny) Cholmeley was born in Barbados, the daughter of Robert Cholmeley a Lincolnshire-born lawyer in Bridgetown and his wife Ann. Her mother came from the Willoughby family, some of the island’s earliest Governors. In 1764, Jenny married James Leigh-Perrot, whose sister Cassandra Leigh, was mother of the famous novelist, Jane Austen. Jenny and James spent their summers at Scarlets, Berkshire and their winters in Bath. In 1797, their niece, Jane Austen, aged 22, came to stay with them and began writing Northanger Abbey. Critics have identified Jenny as the inspiration for some of Austen’s less appealing characters: Mrs. Allen in Northanger Abbey, Aunt Norris in Mansfield Park and Lady Denham in Sanditon. Jenny and James became very rich, and Jane Austen and her siblings hoped for an inheritance, which never came. Jenny lived to over 90, keeping her relations guessing over which of them would inherit her huge fortune.
Jane Austen’s miserly aunt, who was put on trial for shoplifting lace from a shop in Bath, Jane (Jenny) Cholmeley was born in Barbados, the daughter of Robert Cholmeley a Lincolnshire-born lawyer in Bridgetown and his wife Ann. Her mother came from the Willoughby family, some of the island’s earliest Governors. In 1764, Jenny married James Leigh-Perrot, whose sister Cassandra Leigh, was mother of the famous novelist, Jane Austen. Jenny and James spent their summers at Scarlets, Berkshire and their winters in Bath. In 1797, their niece, Jane Austen, aged 22, came to stay with them and began writing Northanger Abbey. Critics have identified Jenny as the inspiration for some of Austen’s less appealing characters: Mrs. Allen in Northanger Abbey, Aunt Norris in Mansfield Park and Lady Denham in Sanditon. Jenny and James became very rich, and Jane Austen and her siblings hoped for an inheritance, which never came. Jenny lived to over 90, keeping her relations guessing over which of them would inherit her huge fortune.
Chapter Five: MARTHA BAKER (c. 1747-1809)
The daughter of John Baker of Chichester, Solicitor-General for the Leeward Islands, and owner of estates on St Kitts, St Croix and St Vincent. Martha married Henry Swinburne, of Hamsterley Hall, co Durham. They embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, befriending local literati, English travellers, and royalty - Maria Theresa of Austria and her daughter Marie Antoinette. Martha inherited her father’s estate in St. Vincent, alongside her brothers, but by 1783 the property had been ‘devastated and utterly laid waste by the French and Caribs’. Through the influence of Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI granted Martha all the uncultivated lands on the island of St Vincent owned by the French crown in compensation. When the island was ceded to the British, the Swinburnes were forced to sell their property, at less than its value, to the British Government. Martha continued to appeal the decision to her dying day. Martha was living at Versailles in 1789 during the early days of the French Revolution, from where she made a dramatic last-minute escape. In 1801 Henry accepted the lucrative post of auctioneer (including overseeing the sale of enslaved people) in Trinidad. His time in office there coincided with the brutal regime of Governor Thomas Picton, hero of Waterloo, who is the only Welshman buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.
The daughter of John Baker of Chichester, Solicitor-General for the Leeward Islands, and owner of estates on St Kitts, St Croix and St Vincent. Martha married Henry Swinburne, of Hamsterley Hall, co Durham. They embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, befriending local literati, English travellers, and royalty - Maria Theresa of Austria and her daughter Marie Antoinette. Martha inherited her father’s estate in St. Vincent, alongside her brothers, but by 1783 the property had been ‘devastated and utterly laid waste by the French and Caribs’. Through the influence of Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI granted Martha all the uncultivated lands on the island of St Vincent owned by the French crown in compensation. When the island was ceded to the British, the Swinburnes were forced to sell their property, at less than its value, to the British Government. Martha continued to appeal the decision to her dying day. Martha was living at Versailles in 1789 during the early days of the French Revolution, from where she made a dramatic last-minute escape. In 1801 Henry accepted the lucrative post of auctioneer (including overseeing the sale of enslaved people) in Trinidad. His time in office there coincided with the brutal regime of Governor Thomas Picton, hero of Waterloo, who is the only Welshman buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Chapter Six: JANE JARVIS (1772-1796)
Jane Jarvis was the twentieth of the twenty-one children of Thomas Jarvis, a former chief justice and Member of the Council of the Island of Antigua, proprietor of one thousand acre estates in the parishes of St. John, St. George, Long Island and Bird Island. Jarvis’s global story - from Antigua to Bombay, to Macao, to Australia and back to the Isle of Mull in Scotland - casts light on the myriad connections between English endeavours in the West and East Indies. Aged twenty, Jane travelled to Bombay as a companion to her sister Dorothea, where she met a dashing young Scottish army officer, Lachlan Macquarie. When she died young from tuberculosis, Lachlan inherited Jane’s £6,000 fortune and used it to buy an estate on the island of Mull, which he named Jarvisfield in her honour. Later, he remarried and became Governor of New South Wales (1810-1822) where he ordered punitive, genocidal, expeditions against Indigenous Australians. Several places in Australia still bear Jane’s name today.
Jane Jarvis was the twentieth of the twenty-one children of Thomas Jarvis, a former chief justice and Member of the Council of the Island of Antigua, proprietor of one thousand acre estates in the parishes of St. John, St. George, Long Island and Bird Island. Jarvis’s global story - from Antigua to Bombay, to Macao, to Australia and back to the Isle of Mull in Scotland - casts light on the myriad connections between English endeavours in the West and East Indies. Aged twenty, Jane travelled to Bombay as a companion to her sister Dorothea, where she met a dashing young Scottish army officer, Lachlan Macquarie. When she died young from tuberculosis, Lachlan inherited Jane’s £6,000 fortune and used it to buy an estate on the island of Mull, which he named Jarvisfield in her honour. Later, he remarried and became Governor of New South Wales (1810-1822) where he ordered punitive, genocidal, expeditions against Indigenous Australians. Several places in Australia still bear Jane’s name today.
Chapter Seven: ELIZABETH VASSALL (1771-1845)
The Vassall family could trace their Jamaican ties back to when the English first occupied Jamaica in 1655, but they were also colonists in North America and Barbados from the 17th century. Elizabeth’s first husband, Sir Godfrey Webster, owned Battle Abbey in Kent. Her second husband was Lord Holland of Holland House. As Lady Holland, Elizabeth developed a key political role as the hostess of the Holland House set. Their circle included a host of Whig politicians, the Dukes of Bedford and of Norfolk; and literary figures such as Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Byron, and later, Charles Dickens. Elizabeth was complicit in Lord Holland’s opposition to the abolition of enslavement in the 1830s, and successfully claimed for compensation when slavery was abolished in 1834. (The Cabinet decision to award £20m compensation to enslavers was taken at Holland House after dinner.) Extensive correspondence with Jamaican agents during enslavement and the apprenticeship period that followed, allows us glimpses into the lives of the people the Hollands enslaved, including Mrs. Phillis, Elizabeth’s ‘foster sister’- whose mother had nursed her as a baby; and a carpenter who had caricatures of Lord Holland pinned to the wall of his home.
The Vassall family could trace their Jamaican ties back to when the English first occupied Jamaica in 1655, but they were also colonists in North America and Barbados from the 17th century. Elizabeth’s first husband, Sir Godfrey Webster, owned Battle Abbey in Kent. Her second husband was Lord Holland of Holland House. As Lady Holland, Elizabeth developed a key political role as the hostess of the Holland House set. Their circle included a host of Whig politicians, the Dukes of Bedford and of Norfolk; and literary figures such as Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Byron, and later, Charles Dickens. Elizabeth was complicit in Lord Holland’s opposition to the abolition of enslavement in the 1830s, and successfully claimed for compensation when slavery was abolished in 1834. (The Cabinet decision to award £20m compensation to enslavers was taken at Holland House after dinner.) Extensive correspondence with Jamaican agents during enslavement and the apprenticeship period that followed, allows us glimpses into the lives of the people the Hollands enslaved, including Mrs. Phillis, Elizabeth’s ‘foster sister’- whose mother had nursed her as a baby; and a carpenter who had caricatures of Lord Holland pinned to the wall of his home.
Chapter Eight: ISABELLA BELL FRANKS (1768-1855)
Daughter of a transatlantic Jewish mercantile dynasty, Isabella grew up in Teddington. She converted to Christianity to marry William Henry Cooper, son of a famous politician. However, after her-hoped for inheritance proved illusory he ran off with his lover, Lady Cadogan, returning twenty years later, having been interned in France by Napoleon . Aged 64, Isabella finally inherited the Jamaican estate, and a vast property at Isleworth. Now Lady Cooper, she worked on improvements there, aided by King William IV. Isabella inherited the West Indian estates shortly before enslavement was abolished in 1833, but continued to take a lively interest in the plantations and the compensation process. Isabella’s trustees also received £6,379 12s 5d in compensation for the 336 people she enslaved in Jamaica. In the 1840s, indentured labourers from Sierra Leone arrived to replace workers who had gained their freedom. Their experiences reveal that emancipation was not a happy ending to the Caribbean story.
Daughter of a transatlantic Jewish mercantile dynasty, Isabella grew up in Teddington. She converted to Christianity to marry William Henry Cooper, son of a famous politician. However, after her-hoped for inheritance proved illusory he ran off with his lover, Lady Cadogan, returning twenty years later, having been interned in France by Napoleon . Aged 64, Isabella finally inherited the Jamaican estate, and a vast property at Isleworth. Now Lady Cooper, she worked on improvements there, aided by King William IV. Isabella inherited the West Indian estates shortly before enslavement was abolished in 1833, but continued to take a lively interest in the plantations and the compensation process. Isabella’s trustees also received £6,379 12s 5d in compensation for the 336 people she enslaved in Jamaica. In the 1840s, indentured labourers from Sierra Leone arrived to replace workers who had gained their freedom. Their experiences reveal that emancipation was not a happy ending to the Caribbean story.
Chapter Nine: ANNA SUSANNA TAYLOR (1781-1853)
A true riches-to-rags story. Anna Susannah Taylor was heiress to the richest man in Jamaica, but married a man so profligate, he managed to spend her entire fortune. Her uncle, Simon Taylor, owned four sugar plantations and five cattle ranches (including Prospect Pen - now the official residence of the Jamaican Prime Minister) and enslaved over 2,000 people. Anna Susannah married George Watson. George became an avid art collector, acquiring works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Reynolds, and Hogarth. They purchased a town house in Cavendish Square, spending £48,000 on its decoration and a country seat at Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, where they held lavish parties and were visited by the young Princess Victoria. George ran for Parliament, and was elected as MP for Newport, Isle of Wight (and later MP for Seaford, East Looe and Devises) a vocal opponent of the abolition of enslavement. When bankruptcy loomed, much of the furniture from Cavendish Square was sold to George IV to refurbish Windsor Castle. In 1832, the family fled to the Netherlands, then Germany, then a debtors’ sanctuary in Edinburgh to evade their creditors. Anna Susannah remained in control of the Jamaican estates until her death in 1853, however, and the Watson Taylor family continued to live and hold land on the island well into the 20th century.
A true riches-to-rags story. Anna Susannah Taylor was heiress to the richest man in Jamaica, but married a man so profligate, he managed to spend her entire fortune. Her uncle, Simon Taylor, owned four sugar plantations and five cattle ranches (including Prospect Pen - now the official residence of the Jamaican Prime Minister) and enslaved over 2,000 people. Anna Susannah married George Watson. George became an avid art collector, acquiring works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Reynolds, and Hogarth. They purchased a town house in Cavendish Square, spending £48,000 on its decoration and a country seat at Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, where they held lavish parties and were visited by the young Princess Victoria. George ran for Parliament, and was elected as MP for Newport, Isle of Wight (and later MP for Seaford, East Looe and Devises) a vocal opponent of the abolition of enslavement. When bankruptcy loomed, much of the furniture from Cavendish Square was sold to George IV to refurbish Windsor Castle. In 1832, the family fled to the Netherlands, then Germany, then a debtors’ sanctuary in Edinburgh to evade their creditors. Anna Susannah remained in control of the Jamaican estates until her death in 1853, however, and the Watson Taylor family continued to live and hold land on the island well into the 20th century.
