Mary Salter Dehany

Jamaica and Barbados absentee slave-owner, daughter of Philip Dehany and adoptive mother and benefactress of Wilhelmina Traill (q.v.).

1. According to Edward Crawford, writing on rootsweb.ancestry.com in 1999, W. B. Trail was adopted by Mary Salter Dehany, daughter of Philip Dehany. (Mary was born c. 1740 in Jamaica; died 1832 at Hayes Place, Kent.). Philip Dehany (c. 1720-1809), was the son of David Dehany, merchant of Bristol and planter of Jamaica and Mary, daughter of Matthew Gregory. He was a founder member of the MCC and third owner of Hayes Place, Kent. (The first owner was the first Lord Chatham.) He was also MP for St Ives, 1778-1780. Mary Salter Dehany was due to marry John Sinclair, 11th Earl of Caithness, but he died (aged 33, 8 April 1789) on the eve of the wedding. Mary Salter Dehany never married, but adopted Wilhelmina Barbara Traill (niece of the 11th Earl), to whom she left Hayes Place and her West Indian properties, Barbican, Paradise and the Points estate. In turn, W. B. Traill left her West Indian properties to William Knight Dehany. For further connections between Trail and the Dehanys see notes on William Knight Dehany (ID: 15406) and Eliza Whitehorne Dehany (ID: 22422). See also notes on George Atkinson (ID: 18273) for possible connections to other awardees.

2. Despite the claim in the narrative above, the compensation for the Barbican, Paradise and Points estates in Hanover Jamaica was paid to William Knight Dehany.