Thomas Maitland

Absentee owner, dying c. 1797 in Hampshire. David Albemarle Bertie Dewar, the surviving trustee of the marriage settlement of the late Thos. Maitland and Jane his wife (nee Mathew), counterclaimed apparently unsuccessfully for a series of awards on St Kitts. Maitland had settled £12,000 secured on mortgages over estates on St Kitts on his marriage to Jane Mathew. Jane's sister Anne, was the first wife of the Rev. James Austen, brother of the novelist Jane Austen. Maitland's mother-in-law was the daughter of Peregrine Bertie, the second Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven.

1. Will of Thomas Maitland of Lymington Hampshire proved 20/01/1798. He left two separate annuities of £100 p.a. to his wife, and his estate in trust for his children. He said he had recently bought an estate at Lyndhurst which he left to his wife for life and then in trust for his three daughters. In a codicil of 1797 he appointed James Stephen formerly of the island of St Kitts as an additional executor and trustee and left him £150. Thomas Maitland 'of Lyndhurst' was the father of the soldier Sir Peregrine Maitland (1777-1854), who has entries in both the ODNB and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

St Kitts no. 623, 625, 626, 627, 628 and 629. Fully sourced genealogical account of the Austen family at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=janeausten&id=I146 [accessed 21/11/2016].

1. PROB 11/1301/96; ODNB online John Benyon, 'Maitland, Sir Peregrine (1777-1854), army officer and colonial governor'; Dictionary of Canadian Biographyonline 1851-1860 Vol VIII, Hartwell Bowsfield, 'Maitland, Sir Peregrine, army officer and colonial administrator.'

We are grateful to Ronald Dunning for his assistance with compiling this entry.