James Hay of Grenada and Sloane Street

Reportedly a manager, and then owner of the Beaulieu and Thuilleries & Munich estates in Grenada by 1817/1818. James Hay formerly speaker of the House of Assembly of Grenada died at Chelsea 10/07/1819, leaving monetary legacies totalling £59,000 as well as the estates on Grenada.

1. Will of James Hay [formerly of the Island of Grenada but now] of Sloane Street Middlesex [made in 1813] proved 03/11/1819. In the will Hay left: to his sister Elizabeth Watson of Alves in the county of Murray [Moray] Scotland an annuity of £100 p.a, and to each of her 10 children £500 each; £200, £300 and £500 respectively to Robert Robertson, George Gun Munro and John Stewart jun.; £500 each to James Hay, Nancy Hay, John Hay and Alexander Hay 'children of a negro woman of Grenada named Fanny deceased'; £6000 to Elizabeth Junor 'a free coloured woman formerly of Grenada but now residing at my dwelling place in Sloane Street', together with the leasehold property and the household effects there; £5000 each to the daughters of Elizabeth Junor 'known by the name Elizabeth Hay, Sarah Hay, Bridget Georgiana Hay and Charlotte Hay and now living with me'; £6000 to the son of Elizabeth Junor known as James Thomas Hay and living with him. The trustees were Henry Davidson, John Stewart of the island of Grenada and Thomas Junor of Edinburgh. He left his real estate and residuary personal estate to a son of Elizabeth Junor, 'known by the name George Gun Hay.' In a codicil of 1816 he noted he had bought two parcels of land in Grenada and incorporated those into the trust, and revoked the bequests to two of his nephews; in a second codicil of 1818 he stated he had purchased the Beaulieu estate in Grenada 'with the slaves and appurtenances thereon' and similarly added these into the trust; in a third codicil he left an additional £5000 each to his four daughters with Elizabeth Junor; and in a final codicil he said he wanted to make an extended provision for James Thomas Hay and accordingly left him the Thuileries and Munich estate and the enslaved people, with the estate reverting to George Gun Hay and then to the Hay daughters in case of the deaths of the respective legatees.

2. His sister Elizabeth Hay had 12 children with Andrew Watson, all baptised in Alves, Moray, between 1779 and 1805. The death certificate of her daughter Jane, who died a pauper in Alves in 1860, gives Andrew Watson's occupation as carpenter.

T71/267 pp. 115-117. Edinburgh Magazine September 1819 p. 294.

1. PROB 11/1622/35.

2. Familysearch.org batch no. C11125-2. GROS Deaths 160 125 007.