Sir William John Struth

Unsuccessful claimant as owner-in-fee of the Fancy and Prospect estates on St Vincent, unsuccessful counterclaimant in right of his [second] wife appointee of £2000 secured on Richmond Hill on St Vincent, and former owner of the Endeavour estate in Trinidad. Mayor of Bristol 1815, partner in Brooke Struth & Co. (q.v., under Brooke Smith) until 1823, and acting Governor of St Vincent 1829-1831.

1. Under a deed of 14/01/1804, James Bruce leased to William John Struth and Henry Protheroe 45 named enslaved people (appraised at £2650) for 3 years at £312 p.a.

2. W. Warren Esquire married Elizabeth Courtenay, second daughter of Sir W. Struth of the island of St Vincent at Paris, 24/07/1833.

3. Death of William John Struth registered Q1 1850 Chichester, Sussex. No will or probate has yet been traced for him. The will of William Struth proved 19/08/1851 (made at St Vincent in 1847) was that of his son. The Prospect estate was ordered to be sold in 1859.

The names of his wives are taken from genealogical material online and have not been verified by LBS; Sir William Struth, President of St Vincent was listed as a subscriber to Charles Shephard's An Historical Account of the Island of Saint Vincent, published in 1832.

1. Deed Book 1804, British Library, EAP688/1/1/18, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-18 pp. 8-11.

2. Exeter Flying Post 01/08/1833.

3. Ancestry.com, England and Wales FreeBMD Death Index 1837-1915 [database online]; Times 6/2/1850 p. 9 death of Sir William John Struth [mayor of Bristol 1814-5] at Bognor in the 88th year of his age. Prospect of John William Struth [sic] sold at auction by Incumbered Estates Commissioners, Times 30/5/1859. Henry Edward Sharpe, Commissioner, ordered that the announcement of the sale be served on inter alios Charles Cuthbert Harrison and his wife, Emily Louisa Reece, formerly Emily Louisa Stracy, wife of Charles Struth, decd., and her children with Struth.

We are grateful to Peter Selley for his assistance with compiling this entry.