6. BIBLIOGRAPHY Boyd Alexander, England's wealthiest son: a study of - PDF document

in the University of Exeter Library Introduction to the MICROFORM ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS British Records relating to America Introduction to the First published in Great Britain 1977 by Microform Academic Publishers Main Street, East Ardsley, Wakefield WF3 2AP, UK T: +44 (0)1924 825700 F: +44(0)1924 871005 E: MAP@microform.co.uk W: www.microform.co.uk/academic Copying of this Guide The contents of this guide may be copied for the purpose of private study and research in accordance with the principles of “fair dealing” and “library privilege” established in copyright legislation. A digital version of this guide appears on the publisher’s website, to which institutions may freely link in their library catalogues for reference by their users. Enquiries concerning any reproduction falling outside the scope of the principles mentioned above must be addressed to the publisher. Copyright © Microform Academic Publishers, 1977 1. PROVENANCE The material on this microfilm, consisting of approximately 400 documents concerned chiefly with the Jamaican plantations and slaves of the Gale and Morant families, came to be deposited in the Library of the University of Exeter in 1966 through the agency of Professor Christopher Platt, then of the Department of History. Included in the Gale-Morant Papers are letters concerning plantations and other business, plantation and pen accounts, lists of negro slaves and cattle, annual accounts of the increase and decrease of slaves and cattle, shipments of sugar and rum, invoices of sundries shipped to Jamaica, crop accounts, account currents, surveys and plans, deeds, bonds, wills, insurance policies, chancery cases, interest accounts, pedigrees and photographs. The papers concern the family and business affairs of the Gale and Morant families from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries with a concentration of materials in the years from 1765 to 1835. Besides the papers, the collection includes a wallet containing photographs taken in 1925 of Mount Hindmost's great house, Gale's Valley sugar works, York dam and the market place at 2. THE GALE AND MORANT FAMILIES AND THEIR HOLDINGS From apparently yeoman and artisan origins, the Gale and Morant families came to Jamaica in the seventeenth century and in the course of several generations acquired sugar plantations and slaves which enabled later generations to return to England and merge with the landed gentry. Major John (or Jonathan) Gale (1637-89), third son of Robert Gale of Akeham (?Acomb near York), went as a youth to Jamaica in 1655 and was buried there in 1683. John Morant settled in Jamaica soon after the English occupation of the island in 1655 and died there in 1683. Jamaica, in the age of Henry Morgan and his buccaneers, was a raw frontier which approached a Hobbesian state of nature as men competed with each other and struggled with nature to carve plantations out of jungle. 'There is not six families who are well descended as gentleman on the whole island', wrote Reverend William May, Rector of Kingston, about 1720. 'The great Colonel Gale, his father was a horse-catcher, for all his prodigious Estate, and he is nevertheless as illiterate as his father was'. May wrote that 'John Morant, mentioned Councillor, was brought up a shoemaker, is a moral man. Pretended to be of the Church, but vehement for the country principles; therefore variable, and a fit tool to these mentioned before, for any new emergency, to pull down the Church, &c'.Two marriages linked the third and another the fourth generation of Gales and Morants of Jamaica. Two daughters of the Hon. John Morant of Clarendon and Vere, Custos, married Gales who were related as first cousins. Gibbons Morant married Jonathan Gale, third son of Colonel Jonathan Gale of Fullerwood who was, in turn, eldest son of Major John (or Jonathan) Gale. Elizabeth Morant (d.1740) married the Hon. John Gale of Withywood (d.1749/50), eldest son of Isaac Gale who was, in turn, fourth son of Major John (or Jonathan) Gale. In the fourth generation William Gale (d.1784), son of the Hon. John and Elizabeth Gale, married Elizabeth (d.1759), daughter of John Morant.Both families accumulated great wealth and political influence in Jamaica and England. One measure of wealth is afforded by records of landholdings. The Quit Rent Book for the year 1754 lists the landholders and the number of acres owned in Jamaica. John Morant claimed 4631 acres in Clarendon and 3582 acres in Vere. While only one Morant was a large landholder, several Gales were in this category. In fact, five Gales held tracts of 6000 or more acres: Henry, deceased, 16,510 acres in one parish; Colonel Isaac, 11,838 acres in three parishes; Henry, a minor, 10,065 acres in four parishes; and John, deceased, 6001 acres in four parishes.Political preferment was both cause and effect of the accumulation of great wealth. Seven of the Gales and three of the Morants were members of the House of Assembly of Jamaica. Edward Morant, who was educated at Oxford, was not only a member of the Assembly for Vere and member of the Council of Jamaica, but after his removal to England he was also Member of Parliament for Hindon 1761-8, Lymington 1774-80 and Yarmouth 1780-7. He died in 1791 at his estate at Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire. ons there', in a letter to the Bishop of London from the Rev. William May, Rector oCaribbeana, vol. III (London, 1914) pp.5-9. See pedigree of Morant and Gale families, Gale-Morant Papers, 6/1/1. PRO, London, Colonial Office 142/31. W. Alexander Feurtado, Official and other personages of Jamaica from 1655 to 1790 (Kingston, Jamaica, 1896), pp.37, 69; Gerrit P. Hudd, Members of Parliament, 1734-1832 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955) p.281. 3. THE CORRESPONDENTS The Gale-Morant Papers contain a considerable amount of correspondence between individuals in Jamaica, England and North America; much of it concerns plantations and family business affairs with occasional references to social and political life. Correspondents include planters, farmers, attorneys, managers, merchants, doctors, absentee proprietors, schoolmasters and widows. By far the greater part of the correspondence was addressed to and concerns the business affairs of William Gale (d.1784), who married Elizabeth (d.1759), daughter of John Morant (d.1734), Custos of Clarendon and Vere and Mary Pennant Morant (d.1759). Having no issue, the Jamaican estates of William and Elizabeth Gale descended to Edward Gregory Morant-Gale (1772-1854), son of Edward Morant, MP for Brockenhurst and Mary Whitehorne Goddard Morant. After William Gale's death in 1784, trustees managed the estates until about 1795 when Edward Gregory Morant-Gale reached his majority.The trustees of the estate were the partners in the London mercantile firm of Long, Drake and Long who had long served as William Gale's correspondents in such matters as the sale of plantation produce, purchase of supplies and equipment and services connected with shipping and finance. The Long family was prominent as planters in Jamaica and merchants in London included Edward Long, the planter-historian. The firm's history goes back before 1730 when Beeston Long, uncle of Edward Long, became a partner of Roger Drake, who was his brother-in-law. Their place of business in 1758 was Leadenhall Street. The second Beeston Long carried on his father's business and was a director of the Bank of England. Other partners in the period before 1830 were Samuel Long who was Beeston's son and Some of William Gale's correspondents were men of some distinction. Robert Bakewell (1725-95), of Dishley in Leicestershire, was asked to recommend a young man to manage Gale's cattle pen in Jamaica. In the course of the correspondence Bakewell writes that he was interested in trying some of the new breeds of cattle in Jamaica. Bakewell took over the management of his father's estate in 1760 and proceeded to introduce the new methods of agriculture that were becoming popular. He is especially important for his work in livestock breeding which led to larger and stockier breeds of sheep, cattle and horses. Two letters involve members of the rich and powerful Beckford family. One is addressed to William Beckford (1760-1844), who descended from several generations of Jamaican planters and London merchants. He was the son and heir of Alderman William Beckford (1709-54), who represented London in Parliament and was twice Lord Mayor. The younger Beckford was reputedly England's wealthiest son. He was, among other things, a traveller, author, correspondent, Member of Parliament, collector of books and art objects and the builder of the 'gothic' abbey at Fonthill in Wiltshire. He wrote with brilliance and produced romantic novel which was his one masterpiece.Illustrating the legal and business problems associated with inheritance of long-settled estates in Jamaica are the letters and papers concerning the business of Mrs Catherine Harding with William Gale. Mrs Harding was the widow of Dr Thomas Harding, from whom she came into possession of Weston Favell estate in Trelawney parish. The heavily mortgaged estate was involved in a chancery suit which continued for several years. The correspondence reveals that in June 1782 William Gale was living in Grafton Street, London, schoolboy in London. Pedigree of Morant and Gale families, Gale Morant Papers, 6/1/1; Leslie G. Pine, ed. Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry ed. Burke's Peerage Ltd., 1952) pp.1816-17. Robert M. Howard, Records and letters of the family of the Longs of Longville, Jamaica and Hampton Lodge, Surrey (Simpkin, Marshall, 1925) p.86. Robert Bakewell, Observations on the influence of soil and climate upon wool (London), 1808); see also (DNB), iii, 22-3. Boyd Alexander, England's wealthiest son: a study of William Beckford (Centaur Press, 1962); see also Although the papers concerning the Gale property in Philadelphia have not been inspected in any detail by the writer, it is of interest that William Gale was in New York when he received the letter of 10 October 1768 from Samuel Martin of Antigua. Martin commented on Gale's recent visit to Albany and Niagara Falls. The Philadelphia property consisted of the tenements called Dickenson's Burnt Buildings in the east of Delaware Front Street. 4. PLANTATION ACCOUNTS AND REPORTS Jamaica was the leading plantation colony in the British empire from the early decades of the eighteenth century until slave emancipation in 1838. Its physical environment was congenial to the growing of cocoa, cotton, coffee, indigo, ginger, dyewoods, sugar-canes and a variety of food and forage crops. Generally speaking, cane sugar enjoyed a comparative advantage over other crops and the island depended upon imported foodstuffs and other supplies and equipment. Sugar plantations increased in number from 429 in 1739 to 859 in 1804, after which they declined to 330 in 1854. Jamaica became the world's leading sugar colony after the Haitian slave revolt in 1791. Production soared to a peak of nearly 100,000 tons in 1805. Despite the boom of the 1790s, the sugar industry was adversely affected by the American Revolution, abolition of the slave trade, equalisation of sugar duties and slave emancipation. The fall of the planter class was marked after the peace of 1815. The Gale-Morant Papers are of particular interest for the light they cast on slavery and the life and work of Jamaica sugar estates. The sugar estates are York, Gale's Valley and Mount Hindmost and the pens or cattle ranches are St Jago and Paisley. York and Gale's Valley are contiguous and are situated on the north side of the island in the parishes of St James and Trelawney, while Mount Hindmost is in the northern part of the Clarendon parish on the south coast. The two pens have not been located but they were probably in the vicinity of York and Gale's Valley. Though no acreage figures are given, slave holdings are quite well documented. In 1820, there were 388 slaves on York, 262 on Gale's Valley, about 175 on Mount Hindmost and about 40 on the two pens, or a total of 865. The total declined to 767 in 1830. Since it is evident that the decline continued for many years, the properties probably contained more than one thousand slaves in the 1790s. York had 488 slaves in 1778, after which the number declined to 451 in 1782, 388 in 1820 and 303 in 1829. Much information is recorded in the lists of slaves which were drawn up for each property in scattered years. Of the four lists for York estate, that of 1820 gives each slave's name, age, country of origin, occupation, physical condition and value. Changes over time can be ascertained with respect to sex ratios and distribution by age, origin, occupation and, in several lists, the colour of the slaves. Annual accounts of slave increase and decrease, with some omissions, give particulars of births and deaths. Included in these accounts are the names of mothers, names and sex of infants, name and matter or cause of death. Plantation account books show such things as purchases of food, clothing and other items for the slaves and payments to doctors for medicines and attendance on salves and white book-keepers and overseers. Doctors entered into annual contracts to supply medicines and treat all of the plantation slaves on a per-head basis, except for midwifery, amputations, vaccinations and other extraordinary treatment. Combining farm with factory and being linked by sailing vessels with overseas markets, the typical sugar plantation was a large and complex business which generated a flood of records. Much like the slaves, careful accounts were made of livestock on pens and plantations. Besides the records concerned with animate forms of capital, there are bills of exchange, mortgages, crop accounts, shipping accounts, invoices of sugars and rum, distilling house accounts, boiling house accounts and accounts of rents and profits. 5. SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS OF THE MICROFILMS The following is an outline of the contents of the Gale-Morant Papers. The collection falls naturally into six sections. A detailed listing of the collection is to be found at the beginning of each reel of microfilm. Section 1: General Correspondence of William Gale 1/a William Gale's general letters, 1765-87. 41 items. 1/b William Gale's correspondence with Robert Bakewell of Dishley etc., 1774, 1781. 5 items. 1/c Papers concerning Gale property in Philadelphia, 1768-91. 31 items. 1/d Letters and papers concerning business of Mrs Catherine Harding with William Gale, 1776-86. 111 items. 1/e Letters and papers concerning William Gale's purchase of land in Boyle's Pen from Mrs Allen of Rochester, 1752-84. 17 items. 1/f Correspondence with the Beckford family of Fonthill, Wiltshire, 1781. 2 items. 2/1 1775 (printed). Act re dower of plantations, lands, slaves, etc. 2/2 9 December 1783. Testamentary papers of William Gale. 2/3 28 May 1785. Agreement and indemnity of Edward Morant and others re Will of William Gale, deceased. 2/4 n.d. Extracts from records re uncultivated lands. 2/5/1 31 March 1798. E and F Robertson to Edward Morant: covering letter enclosing: 2/5/2 Abstract of deed concerning William Gale's plantation. 2/5/3 16 February 1791. Diagrams and description of survey of Gale and Eastwick's patent. 2/6 Another copy of 2/5/3 2/7 3 March 1797. Insurance policy (Royal Exchange Assurance Company) of the life of Edward Gregory Morant-Gale. 2/8 7 March 1799. Insurance policy (Phoenix Assurance Company) of dwelling in parish of Upham, Hampshire, against fire. Section 3: Papers relating to York Plantation and Gale's Valley Plantation 3/a Plan of York Plantation, Trelawney, Jamaica, as surveyed 1796. 3/b Letters and papers re York Plantation, 1761-1810. 38 items. 3/c Negro and stock accounts, 1778-1837. 17 items. 3/d Lists of negroes, York Estate, 1785-1820. 3 items. 3/e York Estate general accounts, 1785-1811. 12 items. 3/f Account of produce, York Estate, 1785-96. 2 items. 3/g Account of Distill House, York Estate, 1791. 1 item. 3/h Account of Boiling House, York Estate, 1791. 1 item. 3/i Gale's Valley Estate accounts, 1801-8. 3 items. 3/j Combined accounts of Gale's Valley and York Estates, 1818-19. 2 items. 3/k Slave, stock and apprentice accounts of Gale's Valley Estate, 1829-35. 3 items. 3/l Lists of slaves and apprentices, Gale's Valley Estate, 1820 and 1838. 2 items. 3/m Miscellaneous accounts of York and Gale's Valley Plantation, 1834-45. 9 items. Section 4: Papers relating to Mount Hindmost Estate and St Jago and Paisley Pens 4/a Plan of Mount Hindmost Plantation, 27 Oct 1914. 4/b Lists of slaves and stock and increase/decrease accounts, 1812-29. 5 items. 4/c Mount Hindmost accounts including lists of slaves, increase/decrease accounts of slaves and stock and lists of apprentices, 1817-37. 10 items. 4/d St Jago and Paisley Pens accounts including lists of slaves and stock, increase/ decrease accounts and lists of apprentices, 1819-36. 10 items. 4/e Miscellaneous Mount Hindmost accounts, 1810-38. 15 items. 4/f Mount Hindmost accounts (monthly abstracts etc), 1839-40. 11 items. Section 5: Jamaican Estates of Edward Gregory Morant-Gale, 1796-1822 Includes letters, account currents, invoices of sundries shipped, accounts for duty, interest accounts. 29 items. Section 6: Gale and Morant families and miscellanea, 1735-1925 Includes pedigrees of Morant and Gale families, book of copies of titles to Jamaican properties, mortgage papers, lease of messuage in parish of St Marylebone, list of shipping and photographs. 14 items. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY Boyd Alexander, England's wealthiest son: a study of William BeckfordFitzroy R Augier, Shirley C Gordon, Douglas G Hall and M Reckord, The making of the West (Longman, 1960) A descriptive account of the Island of Jamaica (2 vols. London, 1790) The annals of Jamaica (2 vols. London, 1828)History of the British West Indies ed. Allen & Unwin, 1965) A Jamaican plantation: the history of Worthy Park, 1670-(University of Toronto Press, 1970) The history of sugar Sugar and slaves: the rise of the planter class in the English West Indies, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972) Bryan Edwards, The history, civil and commercial, of the British colonies in the West IndiesGisela Eisner, Jamaica, 1830-1930: A study in economic growth (Manchester University Press, 1961) Free Jamaica, 1838-1865: an economic history (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959) Records and letters of the family of the Longs of Longville, Jamaica, and Hampton Lodge, Surrey (Simpkin, Marshall, 1925) p.86 Matthew G Lewis, A journal of a West Indian proprietor (London, 1834) The history of Jamaica, or general survey of the ancient and modern state of (3 vols. London, 1774) A West India fortune (Longmans, 1950) The sociology of slavery: an analysis of the origins, development and structure of Negro slave society in Jamaica The fall of the planter class in the British Caribbean, 1763-1833: a study in social and economic history (New York: Octagon Books, 1963) Sugar and slavery: an economic history of the British West Indies, 1623-Philip Wright, ed. Lady Nugent's journal of her residence in Jamaica from 1801 to 1805 (Kingston: Institute of Jamaica, 1966) BRITISH RECORDS RELATING TO AMERICA IN MICROFORM (BRRAM) Published in conjunction with the British Association for American Studies General Editor: Professor Kenneth Morgan, Brunel University This series of microfilms, which includes over 100 titles, covers many aspects of century and in place from Quebec to the West Indies. The series includes records plantations, agriculture and settlement, the anti-slavery movement, politics and military affairs. There are personal papers and diaries as well as state documents and the records of ary printed material (newspapers, c.) as well as manuscript collections are included. vested in an advisory committee of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS). The Publishers and the committee are cons Professor Kenneth Morgan Gaskell Building Brunel University Uxbridge UB8 3PH Email: kenneth.morgan@brunel.ac.uk Full details of all titles in the series Microform Academic Publishers Main Street, East Ardsley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF3 2AP, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1924 825700 Fax: +44 (0)1924 871005 Email: map@microform.co.uk Website: www.microform.co.uk/academic httpЅ//܈ऊofoਇ.digital ጒInteਕational Digital ᠉anning ᤒᨊँiving ᠖ਛiखs