Edmund Fearon Bourke senior

1754 - 1812

Slave-owner and antecedent of claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Son of Nicholas Bourke and Elizabeth Fearon (daughter of Thomas Fearon, Chief Justice of Jamaica 1756-1764), and father-in-law of Rev. Henry Fellowes (q.v.) and Ralph Rice (q.v.). Absentee owner of the Oakes estate in Clarendon until his death in 1812, for which the compensation was paid to trustees of his will and to the executors of his son, Edward Fearon Bourke junior.

Married Mary Goodin, daughter of George Goodin (1735-1799) of Llandilo Westmoreland (Goodin's sister Judith married Edward Barrett (d. 1798) of Cinnamon Hill estate). Inherited half of George Goodin's estate in 1799.  Of Cromhall Gloucestershire.

  1. 'Mr E. F. Bourke left Jamaica about 1790, resided for seven years at Cromhall Co. Gloucester, where his wife died in 1800, then removed to Bath and Exmouth, at which latter place he died in 1812, but was buried at Cromhall.'

  2. Edmund Fearon Bourke's son of the same name, whose executors were awarded compensation for some of the enslaved on Oakes, matriculated University College Oxford 21/02/1810 aged 15, and d.s.p.

  3. There are two memorials in St Andrew's Church, Cromhall, Gloucestershire: "Sacred to the Memory of EDMUND FEARON BOURKE Esq. of the Island of Jamaica who Departed this Life at Exmouth in the County of Devon on Tuesday Janry 14th 1812 Aged 57 whose remains are deposited in the Family Vault underneath" and "SACRED to the memory of MARY the wife of EDMUND FEARON BOURKE of the Island of Jamaica who resided at Wood End in this parish for more than seven years. Her remains are placed in a vault purchas'd by a faculty from the Diocese of Glocester by the said EDMUND FEARON BOURKE in the chancel of this church, for the interment of his family. She died on the 30th July 1800, and in the 38th year of her age."


Sources

T71/879 Clarendon Nos. 157-161. The 1823 Slave Registration, undertaken by an agent to the trustees of Edmund Fearon Bourke, also notes that the enslaved on Oakes were 'represented to be the property of Mrs Mary Fearon'.

  1. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. V,  p. 247, Monumental Inscriptions in England relating to Jamaicans St John's Withycombe Raleigh, Co. Devon.

  2. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online].

We are grateful to Sara Broadbent and Rob Alexander for their help in compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Mary Goodin
Children
Edmund Fearon, Jane Peters (1793-1815), Anne Lydia (1786-1816), Mary Judith (1781-1858), Georgiana Goodin, Charlotte Woollery, George Robert Goodin, Eliz Ann Kath.
Will

'Will of Edmund Fearon Bourke of Exmouth dated 30/5/1808. My dau. Mary Judith wife of Henry Fellowes clerk. My dau. Eliz. Ann Kath wife of Chas Freeman Esq. All my plantations in Jamaica to Trustees to sell for my 5 children Ann Lydia; Georgina Goodin; Jane Peters; Charlotte Woollery; and George Robert Goodin. My eldest son Edmd F. Bourke to have the option to purchase the plantations for £25,000. Proved 01/02/1812.'

Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 5, Monumental Inscriptions in England relating to Jamaicans: Cromhall Co. Gloucester, p. 261.

NB this summary in Caribbeana Vol. 5 is somewhat condensed. Edmund Fearon Bourke senior in fact left £200 to each of his two married daughters, presumably on the basis that he had already made provision for them through marriage settlements; and he appears to have capped his younger children's inheritance at £25,000 between them.


Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1775 [EA] - 1783 [LA] → Executor

Executor and Trustee of Nicholas Bourke

1792 [EA] - 1812 [EY] → Owner

Relationships (10)

Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Son
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Son → Father
Brothers
Grandson → Grandfather
Son-in-law → Father-in-law
Nephew → Aunt
Notes →
Dame Ann Sheridan identified Edmund Fearon Bourke as her nephew in her will made in 1802. It appears that this was the elder Edmund Fearon Bourke, as the younger was still a child....

Addresses (1)

Cromhall, Gloucestershire, South-west England, England