John Ivatt Briscoe

Associated with a claim on Lower Berney's in Barbados, in which 1/9th of the compensation was awarded to the trustees of the marriage settlement of John Ivatt Briscoe (with Anna Maria Mawbey). The path to ownership appears to have been through Sir Joseph Mawbey 2nd bart's wife Charlotte Henchman, a grand-daughter of William Berney (q.v.).

1. Son of John Briscoe (1747-1809) of Deep Cross Twickenham, described in the History of Parliament as a merchant who left his son £70,000, and Mary, daughter of Stephen Winthrop and niece [sic: in fact she was his aunt] of Benjamin Winthrop (d. 1847), 'banker of Fleet Street'. However, John Briscoe the father 'could not be traced in any London directory of the 1793-1808 period'. John Ivatt Briscoe himself left £180,000 on his death in 1870. 'Mercantile fortune', but in the 1851 census John Ivatt Briscoe was described as 'Esquire, Magistrate, DL, landed proprietor and fundholder.' 'It is unclear if he had any occupation.'

2. John Briscoe the father is conceivably the John Brisco who in 1776 ended his participation, clearly in a dispute with his partners, in Gale Fearon, an American colonial merchant firm of London and Maryland, announcing he would continue in his own name.

3. John Ivatt Briscoe's mother Mary was born 11/09/1748, the daughter of Stephen Winthrop (1705-1758) and his second wife Mary (herself the daughter of Murthwaite Ivatt and Mary nee Savage of Eagle House, Wimbledon, Turkey merchant).

4. Briscoe was Whig MP for Surrey (1830–1832), Surrey Eastern (1832–1835), Westbury (1837–1841) and Surrey Western (1857–1870). Lawyer and 'country gentleman'. He married Anna Maria Mawbey, daughter of Sir Joseph Mawbey of Botleys, Chertsey, Surrey (1730-1798) [in fact, her husband was Sir Joseph Mawbey 2nd bart., who died in 1818]. The first Sir Joseph Mawbey owned a vinegar distillery in Vauxhall from 1754 and MP (Southwark, 1761-1774; Surrey, 1775-1790). Joseph Mawbey had been a Rockingham Whig, supporter of John Wilkes and on the reforming side of Whiggery though rather than follow the Foxites after 1783, he became a supporter of Shelburne's ministry and then of Pitt's. Left politics in 1790, feeling betrayed by Pitt's administration, which had failed to support his unsuccessful election campaign of that year. On marrying Anna in 1819 the settlement meant that Briscoe inherited the Mawbey estates in Epsom and Chertsey, Surrey, which included the manor of Botleys, a mansion house called Botleys, and Botleys Park.

5. Briscoe attended an anti-slavery meeting at Epsom in 1826 "for the purpose of adopting Resolutions, and voting Peritions, to both Houses of Parliament, on the present condition of the Slaves". According to a newspaper account of the meeting: "Mr. Briscoe said, it appeared to him that the prospect with respect to slavery seemed to be most cheering and consolatory; for it would seem as if the minds of the whole community had been agreed on the great question, the only point of difference being the mode of removing the horrible stain from the English character. Great was the moral guilt of this country in allowing the traffic so long to exist, and he could not entreat a blessing upon his own labours if he did not reprobate the enormous cruelties which were inseparable from it. He admitted that next to the evil of slavery itself would be the immediate emancipation of the Slaves. All he asked was, that a beginning should be made."

6. According to the historical notes on the website of Foxhills, a hotel on the site of Botleys, the current manor house was commissioned by Briscoe from the prominent architect George Basevi (1794–1845) (who was also cousin of B. Disraeli). And the site also says that 'as an M.P Ivatt Briscoe was concerned with local issues; helping to found the Chertsey Agricultural Association. Their annual ploughing match is held to this day. His only national initiative was to campaign for the outlaw of the treadmill as a form of punishment...'.

7. Briscoe inherited Cross Deep House in Twickenham in 1809 and sold it in 1843. He was also owner of Radnor House in Twickenham.

8. Briscoe married Anna Maria Mawbey, daughter of Sir Joseph Mawbey 2nd Bart, 25/09/1819 when she was 18 years of age. After the death of the 1st Bart in 1798, the debts on his estate were calculated to be greater than the amount the estate could be mortgaged for, so the trustees were ordered to sell the estate to pay its creditors. Sir Joseph the 2nd Bart had already paid off some of the debts with his own money so he became one of the creditors of his father's estate. Sir Joseph the 2nd Bart died in 1817, leaving two daughters, Emily and Anna Maria. Emily died in 1819 leaving Anna Maria as sole heir to the estates. in 1832 Anna Maria and her husband John Ivatt Briscoe sued the estate's trustees over the interest paid to Sir Joseph Mawbey 2nd Bart as a creditor of his father's estate. The death of Anna Maria Briscoe, aged 69, was registered at Chertsey, Q1 1871.

9. Catherine, daughter of Sir Joseph Mawbey 1st Bart, married 14/08/1792 Thomas Lynch Goleborn of Jamaica (q.v.).

10. John Ivatt Briscoe was cousin of George Eyre (q.v.), one of the trustees of his marriage settlement with Anna Maria Mawbey and executor of the will of John Briscoe the father proved in 1809, which identified him [Eyre] as the testator's nephew. Eyre commented on the death of John Ivatt Briscoe's father John in 1809 that "uncle Briscoe... has left a considerable fortune". Eyre's mother was Hannah nee Briscoe and he died in 1837 at Edward Street, Portman Square, the house of John Ivatt Briscoe. For Briscoe's bequests to various London hospitals on his death in 1870 see Cultural Legacies and Will Details.

T71/895 Barbados No. 631C (the trustees were awarded 1/3rd of No. 631C, or 1/9th of the overall compensation under No. 631 as a whole).

1. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1870/14.

2. London Gazette, Issue 11691, 10/08/1776, p. 2 carries successive notices from the 4 other partners and then a plaintive note from Brisco to say he had initiated the termination of the existing partnership. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=90423 [accessed 23/03/2013]; a John Briscoe was a jeweller and goldsmith of Foster Lane, London.

3. Email from Brian Bouchard, 23/03/2013.

4. Entry for Sir Joseph Mawbey in Oxford DNB [W. P. Courtney, rev. Ian K. R. Archer]. For details of the settlement and other title deeds relating to estates in Chertsey and Epsom see the papers included in the collection, 'Trustees of the will of James Stuart Strange of Epsom: deeds and papers, 1726-1935', Surrey County Archives, 4441/5. http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_4441 [accessed 24 June 2010].

5. The Herald available at http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/slavery/guildford_antislavery_committee/ [accessed 24/03/2013].

6. http://www.foxhills.co.uk/about-us/our-history.aspx?css=1 [accessed 24/06/2010].

7. http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/house_detail.asp?HouseID=41 [accessed 24/03/2013]. Richard Stuteley Cobbett, Memorials of Twickenham (Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1872) pp. 293-294.

8. George Turner and James Russell, Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery during the time of Lord Chancellor Eldon (London, Saunders & Benning, 1832), Vol. 1 pp. 167-178. See John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England (London, Scott, Webster and Geary, 1838) pp. 346-347 for a genealogy of the family. FreeUKGen, England and Wales Free BMD Database, Deaths, 1837-1983 [database online]

9. Ibid., p. 348.

10. 'The descent of Epsom Manor, from John Ivatt Briscoe, through Henry Blackburn, to the Savage family and beyond', Epsom and Ewell History Explorer, http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EpsomManorDescent.html [accessed 23/10/2018]; London Evening Standard 19/01/1837; PROB 11/1495/163.

We are grateful to Brian Bouchard and John Martin for their assistance in compiling this entry.