Banker
No notes
A major lender to Manning & Anderdon and through the latter's failure a very prominent firm in the compensation process. The bank had also been entangled earlier in lending to slave-owners, and owned The Farm in Jamaica at least between 1789 and 1791 and probably until 1798; lent against the estates and enslaved people on Holland, Fish River and Petersville plantations in Jamaica in 1824, buying additional enslaved people with co-mortgagees for Holland in 1830; and were mortgagees on Friends estate in British Guiana.
From RBS's own research: "In 1824, six partners of Smith, Payne & Smiths, established 1758, provided a loan of £5,000 (later increased to £15,000) as part of a consortium which lent £40,000 on a mortgage of the Holland, Fish River and Petersville sugar plantations, Jamaica, in 1824. They provided a further £3,750 as part of a consortium which lent £10,000 on a mortgage of the Holland plantation in 1829. As a result of an ‘amicable’ Jamaican High Court of Chancery case, the bank became part-owners (by purchase in 1836) with the other mortgagees of the Holland estate in order to realise the monies owed to them, at the same time relinquishing their interest in the Fish River and Petersville plantations. Additionally, in 1830, in order to maximise the income of the plantation to help repay part of the debt owed to them they part-financed (in partnership with the other lenders) the purchase of additional slaves to work on the plantation. In 1836, under the Act for the Abolition of Slavery 1833, the bank received its share (3/8) of the compensation for the 406 slaves on the Holland plantation."
For very brief notes on the history of the bank and its related ones, see the RBS Heritage Online site:
http://heritagearchives.rbs.com/wiki/Samuel_Smith,Brothers%26_Co,_Kingston-upon-Hull,_1784-1902 and J. A. S. L. Leighton-Boyce, Smiths the bankers 1658-1958 (London: privately published by National Provincial Bank, 1958).
Quote from https://www.citizensbank.com/pdf/historical_research.pdf [accessed 01/05/2019].
1789 - 14th Mar 1860
Possibly the first 'ethnic minority' MP to be elected (in 1832) to the House of Commons.
Document comprises 4 parts, written recto and verso across 5 folios: 1. An inventory and valuation of enslaved persons at Windsor Estate, St Elizabeth parish, Jamaica, 1814. 2. An inventory and valuation of enslaved persons at Williamsfield settlement, St Elisabeth parish, Jamaica, 1814. 3. An inventory of animals at Windsor Estate, St Elizabeth parish, Jamaica, 1814. 4. A cover note outlining the contents of the document.
