Samuel Thompson

Samuel Thompson of Muckamore Abbey, Antrim counterclaimed for part of the compensation for the enslaved people on Matthews Constitution Hill as judgement creditor. The estate had belonged to Mr Horsford and Lord James O'Bryen (q.v.), who sold it for £18,000 to Robert Hyndman of Dublin (q.v.): it is not yet known how Samuel Thompson's claim arose. Samuel Thompson was also awarded half the compensation for the enslaved people on the Rosalie estate in Dominica: he is identified as of Muckamore in a codicil of 1802 to the will of John Robinson of Dominica (q.v), in which he was appointed trustee and executor.

1. Samuel Thompson of Muckamore Abbey 'late City Dublin' left £10 sterling p.a. to support a school for poor children established in Antrim 'by my late wife and myself previous to my going to India, but since my return moved to the Muckamore.'

2. William Dyott (1761-1847) who has an entry in the ONB as 'army officer' married Eleanor, daughter of Samuel Thompson 'of Green Mount Co. Antrim' in 1806 in Dublin. Samuel Thompson of Green Mount was not the same man as Samuel Thompson of Muckamore (whose will nevertheless identified a daughter as Eleanor, and was almost certainly a relative, perhaps nephew.) The will of Samuel Thompson 'of Green Mount' was almost certainly that of Samuel Thompson planter of St Croix, proved 23/05/1794, which left Bettys Hope alongside other assets to his four daughters including Elinor or Eleanor. The Dyott family is reported to have gained possession of a 1/4 share in Betty's Hope in St Croix through the marriage of William Dyott and Eleanor Thompson, which ended in divorce in 1815: the couple's son Richard Dyott MP inherited a share in the estate [and enslaved people] in 1847.

T71/877 Antigua no. 390 Counterclaim from Samuel Thompson of Muckamore Abbey Antrim, judgement creditor £3794 19s 9d; T71/881 Dominica no. 581A&B.

1. Return of Commissions of Charitable Donations and Bequests, Ireland, since 1830 p. 113.

2. Stephens, H. M. "Dyott, William (1761–1847), army officer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2 Jan. 2018. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8370; will of Samuel Thompson planter of St Croix, proved 23/05/1794, PROB 11/1246/63; will of Samuel Thompson city of London proved 15/05/1838 PROB 11/1896/81; Joseph G. Kelly, 'The Problem of Anti-Slavery in the Age of Capital, c. 1830-1888' [unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2017] (we are grateful to Joseph Kelly for supplying us with an MS of this doctoral thesis).