Richard Patrick Purcell

Of Grenada, where he was awarded the compensation for two enslaved people and where he claimed unsuccessfully in right of his wife for over 200 enslaved people on Telescope estate, but also awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on Harmony Hall in Trinidad which he inherited from his aunt Bridget Foley nee Purcell.

1. His grandfather Redmund Purcell of Dunane, County Laois, Ireland sent 5 of his 6 sons away as it was not possible to find careers for them at home and he was "under the pressure of the penal laws". His father, also named Richard, was only one who remained in Ireland. Joseph Purcell (q.v.), the grandfather of William Purcell (q.v.), ended up in Grenada.

2. Richard Patrick left Ireland as a young man and went to Grenada where he inherited several estates. While there he had two illegitimate children with Mary Munro, Arabella Purcell (1808-) and Richard Purcell (1810-). He married Celia Catherine nee Lyndsey, apparently the grand-daughter of Joseph Purcell, in 1813.

3. Father of the journalist and biographer Edmund Sheridan Purcell (1823-1899), who was born at 28 Montagu Square 01/12/1823. The ODNB describes Richard Purcell as 'an estate owner in Granada [sic] and Trinidad' who died in 1836, and his wife Celia Catherine nee Lyndsey as 'daughter and heir of Thomas Lyndsey, an estate owner in Granada [sic].' 'The family were of Roman Catholic Anglo-Irish origins, though settled in the West Indies.' In 1837 Edmund Sheridan Purcell's widowed mother took her children to Bonn.

4. The record of the burial of Richard Purcell Esq., aged 53, at St Dunstans, Cranford St John, Hounslow Middlesex 28/01/1836. In his will, Richard Purcell late of Montagu Square but now of Cranford - indexed as proved 18/04/1836 (and made 07/11/1827) - left his estates in the West Indies (Grenada and Trinidad) in trust to support his 8 legitimate children, but in a codicil dated 11/05/1829 he left Harmony Hill [sic] and Paradise in Trinidad to his eldest son Richard Lyndsey Purcell only, paying £400 each to Richard Lyndsey Purcell's brothers and sisters (of whom there were nine by 04/03/1830). He provided in his original will an annuity of £50 p.a for Arabella Purcell now residing in the City of Waterford in Ireland, daughter of Mary Munro of the Island of Grenada. The will also names Ambrose Humphreys (q.v.) of Wimpole Street as his consignee, although the trustees had the power to appoint someone else.

T71/894 Trinidad no. 1782, Richard Purcell of Grenada. T71/519 p 2288 HHKing registered slaves on Harmony Hall as attorney to Richard Purcell; Grenada nos. 54, 553 and 770 (Telescope).

1. John O'Hart, The Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry when Cromwell came to Ireland (Dublin, M.H.Gill & Son, 1884).

2. Purcell Wills, Supreme Court Registry, Grenada

3. ODNB online, Sheridan Gilley, 'Purcell, Edmund Sheridan (1823-1899), journalist and biographer'.

4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]; PROB 11/1861/48.

We are grateful to Philip Bellamy for his assistance with compiling this entry.