Sir Charles Price 1st Bart., of Jamaica

Profile & Legacies Summary

1708 - 26^th Jul 1772

Biography

Sir Charles Price, first baronet (1708–1772) was born on 20 August 1708. He was the eldest son of Colonel Charles Price (1677/8–1730), and Sarah (d. after 1730), daughter of Philip Edmunds of Jamaica. The couple had thirteen children. Price's grandfather Francis was an early settler in Jamaica in 1658. The family had developed extensive sugar plantations.

Price was educated in England and matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, on 21 October 1724. Like many other wealthy young men he went on a grand tour. He returned to Jamaica in January 1730 and within a few years he married Mary Sharpe. The couple had four sons.

Price was first elected to the Jamaican assembly on 13 March 1732. In 1745 he was elected temporary speaker of the assembly and the following year he became speaker. In 1763 Price gave up his seat in the assembly and his son, also Charles, became speaker. In 1768 he was appointed to the council by Governor William Trelawny and later that year he became a baronet. He also served as custos of St Catherine's, judge of the supreme court, and a major-general in the militia.

Charles Price was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 1534 acres of land in St Catherine, 950 acres in St Mary, 1700 acres in St Ann, 700 acres in St Dorothy, 2869 acres in St John and 5898 acres in St Thomas-in-the-Vale, total 13651 acres.

Charles Price, 1st Bart. and his son Charles, 2nd Bart., contributed £100 to the University of Pennsylvania following Dr John Morgan's fundraising tour of the West Indies in 1772-1773.

He died at The Decoy on 26 July 1772.

Sources

Stuart Handley, ‘Price, Sir Charles, first baronet (1708–1772)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22743, accessed 3 Oct 2014].

Michael Craton and James Walvin, A Jamaican Plantation. The History of Worthy Park 1670-1970 (W.H. Allen, London and New York, 1970) pp. 71-94.

'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

C. S. Graubard, 'Documenting the University of Pennsylvania's Connection to Slavery (2018) via archives.upenn.edu [accessed 16/01/2019].

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.

Further Information

Spouse

Mary Sharpe

Children

Four sons including Rose and Charles.

Will

Sir Charles Price's will was enrolled on 20 August 1772. It decreed that the lands at Cocoree and Riverhead were indissolubly part of Worthy Park. He renounced any interest he or his direct heirs had in the half share of the estate held by John Price of Penzance. He also declared that on the death of his son, the second Sir Charles Price, without issue, his half share of Worthy Park would revert back to John Price of Penzance.

University

Trinity College, Oxford [1724 ]

Occupation

Plantation owner

Religion

Anglican

Oxford DNB Entry

Visit Oxford Dictionary of National Biography site

Associated Estates (6)

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