William Stuart

William Stuart, born 1771 in Inverugie, Moray, Scotland, and died at Morne Delice, Grenada, 21/08/1845. He claimed slave-compensation as owner-in-fee for three estates in Grenada, but the award was paid to the partners in J & A Smith of Glasgow, his mortgagees.

1. William Stuart was in Grenada c. 1816, but returned to Scotland and purchased the Inverugie estate c. 1818, which he held until 1837. His planned redevelopment of Hopeman Harbour stalled when his application to the Fishery Board for financial support in 1834 was turned down, in part because he was believed to be about to receive slave-compensation.

2. In 1829 William Stuart mortgaged three Grenada estates (Mount Hardman, Morne Delice and Grande Ance) and 470 enslaved people upon them and upon two of his other estates in Grenada, Mount Moritz in St George and Diamond in St Mark, to J & A Archibald. In 1834 the debt stood at £24,000.

3. Note that Inverugie estate has been plotted approximately on the LBS map; the current house was built on an earlier site in the 1860s by different owners.

David Dobson, Scots in the West Indies, 1707-1857 (Baltimore, Clearfield Company, 1998), Vol. 1 p. 135.

1. National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Inverugie Estate, Morayshire, Register of Sasines, 652 registered 28 June 1805 dated 1 June 1805 PR.9/453 purchase by William Young; 1018 reg. 18 August 1818 dated 4 July 1818 GR 1100/235 purchase by William Stuart; 253 reg 14 March 1838 dated 20 December 1837 GR 1927/262 purchase by Captain [later Vice-Admiral] Archibald Duff; two bonds by which Stuart raised capital with title deeds to Inverugie as security: 81 reg. 29 January 1823 dated 4 January 1823 GR 1263/179 Arthur Anderson of Deebank £16000, 147 reg. 5 January 1825 dated 16 December 1824 GR 1570/3 Arthur Anderson of Deebank £11000; AF38/84/1 Memorial for … the Commissioners of William Stuart Esq. of Inverugie 1834, Ibid Letter, Thomas Macdonald to James Dunsmure: Forres, 20 March 1834.

2. Stephen Mullen, 'A Glasgow-West India Merchant House', Journal of Scottish Historical Studies 33.2 (2013) pp. 196-233,; pp. 208, 216-217.

3. See https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200333211-inverugie-house-duffus#.XuEJ6cbTVTY and https://canmore.org.uk/site/159097/inverugie-house [both accessed 10/06/2020].

We are grateful to Dr Douglas Lockhart for his help with this entry.