Benjamin Hopkinson the elder

Brother of John Hopkinson (q.v.), and together with him a major slave-owner in Demerara & Essequibo prior to the cession of the colonies to Britain, dying at Bath in 1801; he was also the father of Benjamin James Hopkinson (q.v.) and John Thomas Hopkinson.

1. Will of Benjamin Hopkinson 'late of Demerary but now of Bath' proved 08/07/1801. He left his household goods and the use of his house at The Circus Bath to his 'dear wife' Jane; £600 each to his nieces, Caroline and Elizabeth Hogg, daughters of his sister Elizabeth Hogg; to Elizabeth Ann Hopkinson the daughter of Joanna Hopkinson 'a mulatto woman of Demerary' £3000 on her reaching 21 but not otherwise. He secured a series of annuities on his Demerary estates, including £350 p.a. to his wife; £30 p.a. to a number of his sisters and brother Joseph. He left Plantation Cove to his son Benjamin James Hopkinson, son of Joanna, if he reached 21; otherwise it went to a second son of Joanna, John Thomas Hopkinson. He left his moiety of an estate called Drill to John Thomas Hopkinson, with the reverse proviso that it went to Benjamin James Hopkinson if John Thomas did not live until 21. He left the rest of his real estate in Demerara, Tobago and Holland, including the specfically named Demerara estates of Orange Nassau and Teignmouth Manor and his moiety of Bachelors Adventure, Enterprise, Reasonable and Perseverance, to the use of his children if any with his wife Jane; failing such issue, the estates went to Benjamin James Hopkinson and John Thomas Hopkinson as tenants in common. If they in turn should die, the estates were left to the children of Benjamin Hopkinson's brother John 'lawfully to be begotten'; in the absence of these, the estates were to be left equally to the children of his other brothers and sisters. He left legacies of £100 each to his niece and godchild Maria Edith Jane Lang and his godchild Jane Hopkinson Smith, daughter of James Smith of Gower Street. His executors were his wife Jane, his brother John, Benjamin James Hopkinson, Thomas Cuming, James Smith of Gower Street and Thomas Rogers.

2. The will of Benjamin Hopkinson's wife Jane Hopkinson widow of Bath Somerset was proved 15/02/1850. In the will she identifies her daughter Jane Seymour, wife of Henry Seymour, and made her residuary legatee (including of her house at number nine The Circus 'which I purchased of Dr Walsh') her grandson Henry Danby Seymour, after legacies among others to her late husband's nieces Elizabeth Hopkinson and Caroline Hogg of £100 each. Henry Seymour (1777-1849) was MP for Taunton 1826-1830 while Henry Danby Seymour (1820-1877) was MP for Poole 1850-1868 and left £70,000.

1. PROB 11/1360/108. There is a partial transcription of the whole will in Kenneth Joyce Robertson, The Four Pillars (a Genealogical Journey) (2010) pp. 204-206.

2. PROB 11/2107/188; History of Parliament online 1820-1832, Terry Jenkins, 'Seymour, Henry (1776-1849) of Knoyle House, Hindon); National Probate Calendar 1877.