Alexander Bartlet

London and Grenada merchant, brother of William Bartlet of Tobago and partner of George Campbell (each of whom q.v.). Almost certainly connected with William Bartlet (q.v.) the partner of A.G. Milne, who received slave compensation in Grenada, but how has not yet been established.

1. According to Mark Quintanilla, the partners in Alexander Bartlet & George Campbell purchased two 100 acre plantations in the Queens Bay division in the northeast of Tobago for £890 in 1771, and established the Friendship estate 'in the extreme interior of the island.' Roderick Williamson, a partner with Alexander Bartlet and George Campbell, purchased on 15/05/1771 Queens' Bay (St Paul) Lots nos. 41 and 42: in 1773 these were shown as 'Campbell & Williamson', and must be the 'two 100 acre plantations' referred to by Quintanilla (a footnote in Quintanilla's article identifies one of their estates as 'Friendsfield' rather than 'Friendship'). Before 1778, the partners had reportedy added additional estates including two in the Courland division, at the opposite end of the island, and another in the Northeast division.

2. By 1779, Alexander Bartlet & Co. had been overtaken by financial difficulties and placed in the hands of trustees. A notice in the London Gazette in 1786 said: 'The Creditors who have signed the Trust Deed under the Estate of Alexander Bartlet and Company, late of Green Lettice-lane, in the City of London, Merchants, are desired to meet the Trustees of the said Estate and Effects, on Thursday the 2d Day of November next, precisely at One o'Clock in the afternoon, at the Antwerp Tavern, in Threadneedle-street, London, on special Affairs.'

RBS holds 'Papers relative to Alexander Bartlet & Co., West India merchants', http://heritagearchives.rbs.com/content/dam/rbs/Documents/History/Hub/wc-41.pdf [accessed 08/11/2013], which gives a death-date of 1778 for William Bartlet; 'Papers relating to the trustees of the estate of Alexander Bartlet & Co., West India merchants 15 May 1771-9 May 1815', GB/1502/WC/41. The main trustees were William Annand linen draper; William Matthews, merchant; and Robert Williams senior partner in Lowe, Vere & Williams bankers of Birchin Lane.

1. Mark Quintanilla, 'Mercantile connections in the Ceded Isles: the Alexander Bartlet & George Campbell Company', International Social Science Review 79.1 & 2 (2004), pp. 14-26; ibid p. 25 fn 44.

2. RBS 'Papers relative to Alexander Bartlet & Co., West India merchants'; London Gazette 12799 28/10/1786 p. 515.