James Lawson

There is some confusion around James Lawson. James Lawson of Westmoreland was a very large-scale attorney in the period c. 1817-1832 and is very likely the man dying in Wigtownshire in 1863. The awardee of compensation for 35 enslaved people on Thornhill in Westmoreland Jamaica was shown as 'of London', and is presumed to have been the same man, but this might not be correct. Equally, the James Lawson who owned the Caledonia estate between at least 1817 and 1826 is presumed to be the same man but might have been Dr James Lawson of York Terrace (q.v.).

1. Thornhill was shown in the Jamaica Almanacs under Margaret Clarke until 1825, when it was shown as Margaret Clarke deceased, and after 1826 it disappears from the Almanacs though not from the Slave Registers. The estate may in fact be Newton, shown for James Lawson 1821-1833 (James Lawson appears between 1818 and 1820 with no estate but 16 and then 20 enslaved people) in the Almanacs but not yet found in the Slave Registers.

2. James Lawson is shown as the attorney for 5 estates and 4 pens with a total of 1530 enslaved in Westmoreland in 1832.

3. James Lawson, age 54, of independent means, born Wigtownshire, was living at Main Street, Whithorn in the 1841 census with Mary Lawson age 80, Isabella Lawson age 56, Mary McCredie age 8 and one female servant. He was at the same address in 1851, age 67, born Kirkinner, Wigtown, 'Retired Jamaica Planter', with his sister Isabella Lawson age 69, niece Isabella Mackie age 22, nephew Nicholas McCredie age 19 and one female servant. At the same address in 1861, age 77, with two nieces Mary McCredie age 27 and Joana Williams age 25, two of the young daughters of Dr James Williams (Cathaine Laur Williams and Margt Lawr Williams and three female servants.

4. Death [1858] of Miss McCredie, niece of James Lawson of Whithorn, Wigtownshire and formerly of Jamaica.

5. James Lawson, unmarried, age 79 years, son of James Lawson, gardener, deceased, and Mary nee McMillan, deceased, died 22/10/1863 at Whithorn. This corresponds to the baptism of James Lawson, son of James Lawson, gardner in Barnbarron [sic - Barnbarroch?] and his wife Mary MacMillan, born and baptised 06/03/1784 in Kirkinner, Wigtownshire.

6. Confirmation 15/01/1864 of Commissariot of Wigtown of 04/01/1864 of executors nominate of James Lawson sometime of the parish of Westmor[e]land in the Island of Jamaica and afterwards residing at Whithorn Wigtownshire who died at Whithorn 22/10/1863.

T71/871 Westmoreland claim no. 431 (which shows him as 'London').

1. Jamaica Almanac (1811-1833).

2. B. W. Higman, Plantation Jamaica 1750-1850: capital and control in a colonial economy (Mona, Jamaica, University of West Indies Press, 2005) Table 3.2 pp. 66-7.

3. 1841, 1851, 1861 censuses online.

4. Times 13/01/1858 p. 1.

5. GROS Deaths 1863 900 51; GROS OPR Births 889 10 99 Kirkinner.

6. National Probate Calendar 1864.

We are grateful to Julia Muir Watt for her assistance with compiling this entry.