Gilbert Halyburton

Resident planter by the 1830s, having left Scotland c. 1819, and dying in Jamaica before 1867, awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on House Hill in Jamaica as owner.

1. In 1872, House Hill was among several dozen estates in Jamaica declared in arrears of 10 years or more for Quit Rent or Land Tax: the 'Defaulters in arrears' were shown as 'Heirs of Gilbert Halliburton' and the persons in possession as Nathaniel Beckford and John Grant.

2. 'In Kingston, on the afternoon of Saturday, 8th June [1867], after a brief illness ... Margaret Halyburton (third daughter of the late Gilbert Halyburton, Esquire, of Mount Labanus [sic] in the Parish of St. Thomas ye East) in the 26th year of her age.'

3. In evidence given 10/11/1847 to a Committee of the Jamaica House of Assembly appointed to Inquire into the Depressed State of Agriculture on the Island, Gilbert Halliburton characterised himself as having been engaged in sugar and coffee production for 28 years, and as proprietor of Mount Lebanus, (sugar), House Hill, Greenfield, and Glanovy (all coffee) and lessee of Wakefield (coffee), all in St Thomas in the East. He described House Hill and Glanovy as 'entirely abandoned' and Greenfield as 'all but abandoned.'

National Archives of Scotland GD1/961/8, Hilson Papers (Jedburgh), Including: 3-6. 1819, June 3 - 1821, March 18. Letters from Gilbert Halyburton, Greenock, Glasgow and Jamaica, describing his efforts to raise money to go to the West Indies, his work in Jamaica and future prospects. no. 6, Blue Mountain Valley, Jamaica, 4 Jan. 1820, contrasts the condition of slaves on a coffee plantation favourably with labourers at home, and refers to local Christmas festivities - 'On Sunday in particular there were some hundreds of Africans ... dressed out in a most fantastic manner dancing and singing in the manner of their different countries. To me it was a scene highly gratifying not only from the novelty of it but from the joy that was diffused amongst them.'

1. London Gazette 23911 22/10/1872 pp. 4987-4998; p. 4997.

2. Jamaica Gleaner 13/06/1867, accessed through 'Jamaica "Daily Gleaner" Excerpts' at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com [accessed 02/01/2014].

3. House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1847-48 (245), 'Seventh Report from the Select Committee on Sugar and Coffee Planting', Appendix No. 1 Jamaica, Copy of the Report of the Jamaica Assmebly Committee, relating to the Costs of Sugar Production, p.165.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his help with this entry.