Thomas Jarvis senior

Thomas Jarvis senior, President of the Council of Antigua and husband of Rachel Thibou, through whom according to Vere Langford Oliver he 'inherited' Thibou's estate and Long Island in Antigua (in fact his wife Rachel Jarvis (q.v) survived him). Thomas Jarvis sen. was Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench upon his death in 1785.

1. Father of 21 children, including Thomas and Christiana (each of whom q.v.) and Jane Jarvis (1772-1796), the first wife of Lachlan Macquarie, who has an entry in the ODNB as 'army officer and colonial governor' who was a significant individual in the settlement of Australia as governor in chief of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land between 1810 and 1821. Lachlan Macquarie reportedly used the legacy he had received from Jane Jarvis of £6000 to fund part of his purchase of land on the island of Mull in 1802, the basis of the estate he built up there which he named Jarvisfield.

2. 1744, 21 Sept. Jarvis (Jorvis) Thomas. Britannus, Sept. 21, 1744, aet. 22. Med. M.D. Edin., 1744 (Indo-Antigua). S. of Thomas, merchant, of Antigua. M.A. Glasg., 1741. Practised at Antigua and became President of H.M. Council and Chief Judge of the Island.

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 30.

Vere Langford Oliver, The History of the island of Antigua ... from the first settlement in 1635 to the present time (3 vols., London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894-99) Vol. 3 pp. 124, 228, 320, 321.

1. John Ritchie, ‘Macquarie, Lachlan (1761–1824)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17735, accessed 29 Jan 2014]; Macquarie University, 'The Lachlan & Elizabeth Macquarie Room', 'The "Jarvisfield" Estate', https://www.mq.edu.au/about/campus-services-and-facilities/museums-and-collections/the-lachlan-and-elizabeth-macquarie-room/jarvisfield-estate [accessed 09/11/2018].

2. R.W. Innes Smith, English-speaking students of medicine at the University of Leyden (Edinburgh/London : Oliver and Boyd, 1932), p. 126.

We are grateful for the help of Stanley Robert Criens with this entry.