Christopher William Irvine

Early purchaser of land in Tobago, owner of Runnemede estate there, brother of Walter Irvine (q.v.) and Charles Irvine (also q.v.). C.W. and J. Irvine were the original purchasers 15/05/1771 of the Northeast division (St John parish) Lots nos. 43, 45 and 47, which in 1773 were shown as 'Messrs Irvines.'

1. The will of Christopher William Irvine barrister of law of Walcot Somerset [made in 1805 with a codicil of 1810] was only proved 20/06/1833. The will identifies the testator as 'late of the Island of Tobago...residing in Walcot', and as the brother of Walter Irvine Esq., and his children as Clara Christiana, Christopher and Walter. Under the will he left Runnemede to his wife for life and then to his three children.This man must have died before 1823: when his brother Walter Irvine made his will in 1823, Christopher William Irvine was described as Walter Irvine's late brother. The 1833 will, proved by Marianne Irvine the relict, nevertheless appears to be that of Christopher William Irvine of Runnemede, Tobago (to which estate the will refers), rather than that of a son.

2. 'Christopher William Irvine' was father of Walter Irvine MD consulting physician, who in 1851 aged 47 born Bath was living with his wife Charlotte A. Irvine aged 39 at Park Street Walcot Bath. Walter Irvine MD died in 1895 leaving just under £25,000.

3. 'Christopher Irvine' was on Runnemede in 1825, when he was speaker of the House of Assembly and came into conflict with Governor Sir Frederick Philips Robinson. Walter Irvine's will, made in 1823, identifies Christopher Irvine of Tobago as his nephew.

4. There is reportedly the tomb of Christopher William Irvine near Runnemede on Tobago with an inscription with no year decipherable, 'who died in this island 30th January'. The finder of the tomb, Dr Jesma Macfarlane, associates this man with Christopher Irvine the speaker of the House of Assembly from 1822, but also gives him as the agent in London for Tobago between 1829 and 1836 [the History of Parliament entry for Patrick Maxwell Stewart shows Stewart as the island's agent 1826-1846], and as aged 59 on his death.

5. In March 1832, the assignees of the Rucker firm's bankruptcy in London called a meeting of creditors to approve an arrangement with the representative of the late Christopher William Irvine over mortgages held by the Ruckers over Irvine's property in Bath and the Runnemede estate in Tobago but pledged by them before their bankruptcy (which had occurred the previous November 1831).

'Tables showing the Lots in each Parish, numbered as originally granted - the original Grantee - the name of the Lot, or lots, if one has been acquired, and the present Possessor where there is one' and 'A Table, showing the Estates in cultivation in 1832, and their Owners, in 1832, copied from the list appended to Byres' map of that date, with those in cultivation in 1862', Henry Iles Woodcock, A History of Tobago (Ayr: Smith and Grant, 1867; new impression London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1971); John Fowler, A summary account of the present flourishing state of the respectable colony of Tobago in the British West Indies illustrated with a map of the island and a plan of its settlement, agreeably to the sales by his Majesty’s Commissioners (London: A Grant, 1774) pp. 50-51.

1. PROB 11/1817/299.

2. 1851 census online; National Probate Calendar 1896.

3. Sir Frederick Philips Robinson, A statement of charges made by the Assembly of Tobago (1830).

4. The Field Naturalist: Bulletin of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalist Club Second and Third Quarter of 2007, p. 6 http://ttfnc.org/photojournals/1997-2_3.pdf [accessed 03/12/2013]. This article also refers to an extended conflict between Christopher William Irvine and William Forbes (the oriignal purchaser on 15/05/1771 and still with Geo. Forbes the Present Proprietor in 1773) over Courland Bay (St David) Lot no. 38 (300 acres), which came to form part of Runnmede estate, which was resolved only 'in 1849.'

5. London Gazette18918 20/03/1832 pp. 628-629.