Henry William Coulthurst

'H.W. and M.' Coulthurst were shown as the owners of the enslaved people on Grove plantation in Demerara in 1817. These men were Rev. Henry William Coulthurst and Mathew or Matthew Coulthurst, sons of Henry Coulthurst of Barbados. Although the will of Henry William Coulthurst Doctor in Divinity Vicar of Halifax proved 21/05/1818 makes no reference to property in the West Indies, the will of his father Henry Coulthurst identifies Henry William's brothers, among them Tempest: in turn, Tempest's will confirms the family ownership of the Grove estate in Demerara.

1. William Henry or Henry William Coulthurst. Adm. pens. (age 17) at ST JOHN'S, Dec. 3, 1770. S. and h. of Henry, merchant, of St Michael's, Barbados. B. there June 28, 1753. Schools, Skipton and Hipperholme, Yorks. Matric. Michs. 1771; Prizeman; Scholar, 1771; B.A. (2nd Wrangler) 1775; M.A. 1778. Migrated to Sidney, Apr. 27, 1781, as Henry William; B.D. 1785; D.D. 1791. Fellow of Sidney, 1781. Tutor, 1788-91. On account of his talents, was selected to be the opponent of Isaac Milner (afterwards President of Queens' and Dean of Carlisle) when he kept ‘The Splendid Divinity Act,’ alluded to by Richard Watson, Regius Professor of Divinity in Anecdotes of his own life. For a further account of this famous Disputation, see Henry Gunning, Reminiscences, II. 47. Ord. deacon (Ely) June 2, 1776. Minister of Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge, 1782-90. Whitehall Preacher, 1790. V. of Halifax, Yorks., 1790-1817; made an annual tour of his extensive parish, having in addition to the mother church, 14 subordinate chapels. A member of the Evangelical party and a friend and correspondent of Bryan Bury Collins (1771), of St John's, the popular preacher. Married Sarah, dau. of John Whitacre, Esq., of Woodhouse, Huddersfield, Sept. 19, 1793. J.P. for the West Riding. Died Dec. 11, 1817, at Heath, near Wakefield, at the house of his friend John Smyth, M.D. G. Mag., 1818, 1. 178, gives Dec. 18, as the date of death, but this appears to be a mistake. A monument to his memory was erected in Halifax Church. Brother of the above. (St John's Coll. Adm. IV.)

2. In the will of Henry Coulthurst of St Michael Barbados proved 01/08/1792 (which describes him as 'mariner') he left his house and specified enslaved people in Barbados to his wife Constantia for life and then to his daughter Margaret, and the rest of his estate after two specific legacies to his oldest son and his daughter) equally to his sons William Henry, Mathew, William, Conrade and Tempest 'share and share alike'.

3. The will of Tempest Coulthurst Doctor of Physic of Featherstone Buildings Holborn London was proved 07/09/1816. The will begins: 'Whereas I am entitled to a plantation and estate in Demerara called the Grove with the slaves and effects upon and belonging to the [same?] subject to the interest of my brother Mathew Coulthurst in an undivided share thereof and subject also to the remaining instalments or sums of money accrued thereon to the exors and devisees of Thomas Ashburner [?] and to the payment of several sums of money and interest to my brother Reverend Henry William Coulthurst and to even amount of my brother Conrade by annual instalments, now I give..', and he left his share of the estate to his brother Henry William for his own use and in trust for his brothers Conrade, Mathew and William.

PROB 11/1604/300.

1. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online]

2. PROB 11/1222/2.

3. PROB 11/584/75 [it is indexed as 'Holborn, London, Cheshire.']