Nicholas Rice Callender

20th Nov 1780 - 25th Jun 1816


Biography

  1. Son of Timothy Callender and Alice Callender née Rice, who had married in Barbados in 1773. Nicholas was born 20/11/1780 and baptised in Barbados 17/05/1781. He had inherited Hopefield estate through his father's family: "In 1680 Hopefield was a small property of 50 acres owned by Robert Boucher, the parish boundary between St Philip and Christ Church running through the plantation yard. In 1753 Clement Boucher bequeathed Hopefield to his daughter Mary, wife of Richard Callender. By 1777 it was owned by the Callender family until 1881 when the original 50 acres had grown to 236 acres. In that year George Gaskin Callender sold to James Edward Ince." George Gaskin Callender was the son of Nicholas and Mary Jane's eldest son Thomas Edward Callender.

  2. Mary Jane Gaskin married Nicholas Rice Callender in Bristol, 27/12/1803. Their eldest child, Timothy, was born 26/01/1805 in Bristol and baptised 14/03/1805 at St Michael the Archangel on the Mount, Bristol. They had eight children baptised in Barbados between 1806 and 1816.

  3. Reports suggest that Nicholas Rice Callender died during Bussa's Rebellion in April 1816 when the rebels burned a path through Hopefield on their way to the battle of Lowther's (although the exact circumstances of his death are unclear). Mary Abel Clinkett published a poem, 'On the death of Nicholas Rice Callender, Esq., Who died June 25, 1816', in a collection of poems published in 1817.

  4. Nicholas Rice Callender's death on the 25th June 1816, however, places this over two months after the Bussa Rebellion. An article published in the Jamaican Royal Gazette dated 27 June 1816, moreover, reads: "On Tuesday last died, after a short illness of only three days, Lieutenant-Colonel, Callender, the St. Philip and Christehurch Battalion […] The spectators [...] will not soon [...] forget the bitter sensations with which they heard the volley, burst upon the startled ear, proclaimed 'Callender is gone.'"

We are grateful to Paul Adams, Fiona Hodge and Ann Rivera for their assistance with compiling this entry.


Sources

  1. Ancestry.com, England & Wales, Marriages, 1538-1940 [database online]; Familysearch.org, batch nos C51393-1, C51395-3 and C51395-4; Ancestry.co.uk, Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online].

  2. Ancestry.com, English Settlers in Barbados, 1637-1800 [database online]. Henry Fraser and Ronnie Hughes, Historic Houses of Barbados (Barbados, Barbados National Trust, 1986), p. 41. Birth of Thomas Edward Callender and marriage of George Gaskin Callendar (which gives his father's name), Familysearch.org batch nos. C51393-1 and I01410-6.

  3. Barbados Workers' Union 68th Annual Report, 2009, p. 31, accessed 21/10/2013, p. 31. Mary Abel Clinckett, Early attempts at poetry, written at different periods, from 1811 to 1816 (Bristol, 1817), accessed 21/10/2013.

  4. Jamaican Royal Gazette 27/06/1816.


Further Information

Spouse
Mary Jane Gaskin
Children
Timothy, (1805-1857), Mary Jane (1806-), Thomas Edward (1808-), Nicholas Rice (1810-), Clement Bowcher (1811-), Alice Rice (1812-), Sarah Eliza (1814-), Emily Claxton (1815-), Maria (1816-)
University
Oxford (Oriel) [1798-1803 ]

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
- 1816 [EY] → Owner
1817 [EA] - 1832 [LA] → Previous owner

Relationships (4)

Husband → Wife
Son → Father
Son → Mother
Father → Son