Sir Henry Halford Bart. né Vaughan

Sir Henry Halford of Wistow Hall, whose wife inherited a legacy secured on estates and enslaved people in Grenada. Sir William Edward Rouse Boughton and Sir Robert Heron q.v. as executors of Halford's mother-in-law Lady St John were awarded the compensation with a large group of others, including the Trevelyan family, for the enslaved people on the Beausejour, Tempe, Simon[d], Requin and Sagesse estates on Grenada. Sir Henry Halford has an entry in the ODNB as 'physician' that makes no reference to the slave-owning of his wife's family.

1. Henry Vaughan, appointed physician extraordinary to the King in 1793 and President of the Royal College of Physicians 1820-1844) , and son of Dr James Vaughan, was made baronet in 1809 and took the name Halford in anticipation of his inheritance of the Wistow estate in 1814. Henry Halford married in 1795 (Elizabeth) Barbara St John, daughter of John 12th Baron St John and Susannah Louisa Simond. 'The latter inherited from her father Peter Simond a legacy to be paid from the Simond & Hankey estates in Grenada (West Indies), and part of this money was bequeathed to Lady Halford. However, the estates did not show any profit for a number of years, and eventually there were disputes within the St John family over the matter.'

2. The will of Sir Henry Halford of Wistow Hall Leicestershire (made 18/09/1833 but proved 01/04/1844) is brief and uninformative, with his entire estate being left to his son, Henry Halford, also the sole executor. Henry Halford the 3rd bart., grandson of Sir Henry Halford of this entry, also has an entry in the ODNB, as 'rifleman'.

T71/880 Grenada nos. 435 (Beausejour), 445 (Tempe), 760, 771 (Simon[d]), 857 (Requin) and 860 (Sagesse); Sir Robert Heron and Sir William Boughton were identified as appointed by the Court of Chancery to succeed Mr Townshend, Lady St John's executor, in a letter from 'Mr Hankey' to Lady Halford in 1826, 'Copy letter from [Lady Halford], Curzon Street to [a lawyer]', 26/11/1826, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, Record Office DG24/1051/7; G. T. Bettany, ‘Halford , Sir Henry, first baronet (1766–1844)’, rev. Michael Bevan, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11919, accessed 8 Feb 2016].

1. Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office, Halford MSS [DG24/791-DG24/1091].

2. PROB 11/1996/385; J. A. Doyle, ‘Halford, Sir Henry St John, third baronet (1828–1897)’, rev. Julian Lock, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11920, accessed 8 Feb 2016].