John West of Brixton

Returned slave-owner of Jamaica, father of Rev. John West and father-in-law of Rev. David Laing (both of whom q.v.). LBS has concluded that he was John West of John West & Co., Kingston merchants, in partnership with John Burrows and John Fowles. Several other claims under John West probably refer to this same man.

1. John West's two eldest children, John and Anne, were baptised in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1794 and 1796. Mary Elizabeth and Latimer were baptised in Beddington, Surrey, in 1803 and 1806. Later censuses give the place of birth of three more children, Simpson (1809), Sarah Laing (1810) and Edward (1813) as Middlesex or Bloomsbury. Very likely the John West of 12 Gower Street whose son Edward was baptised in St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, in 1813.

2. Will of John West [formerly of the City of Kingston but now] of [Brixton] Lambeth Surrey [made in 1833, with a codicil of 1834 to reflect the re-denomination of his 'slaves and negroes' to reflect the Abolition Act of that year] proved 20/05/1837. In the will he left the Betty's Hope estate and the enslaved people on it to his wife Ann for life, in lieu of an annuity of £700 currency that had settled on her in 1797, and then to his son Rev. John West of Evercreech Somerset. He also left his leasehold house at No. 6 Brixton Place to his wife for life. He left £1400 in 3% consols to his son Edward West. He had advanced his nephew William Wyllys £3000 for the purchase of Mt Lebanus and the enslaved people on it, which and who were subject to an annuity of £700 p.a. to William Wyllys and £500 p.a to his wife after Wyllys's death: he left half the £3,000 in trust (the trustees were his son John West; John Laing late of Fenchurch Street and Rev. David Laing late of Eastington but now of north Brixton) for his son Edward and the other half to his sons Latimer West and Simpson West and his daughter Sarah Laing West. In a codicil of 1834 he reiterated the bequest of Betty's Hope notwithstanding the Abolition Act. His residuary heirs were his 8 children (the seven named above plus another son, William), with 1/8th to each.

1. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database online].

2. PROB 11/1879/242.