UCL

John Fry

Profile & Legacies Summary

No Dates

Biography

Owner of Morant or Mourant Court (also known as Madam's Court) in Chevening, Kent, and slave-owner in Jamaica, possibly by virtue of his wife (q.v., under Mary Jones French later Smyth formerly Fry). In 1847 an Act of Parliament undid the trust arrangements under his will, allowing the sale of Morant Court to the tenant William Tonge in 1848 for £30,000.

  1. Will of John Fry of St Elizabeth [Jamaica] proved 14/05/1818. Under the will he left his wife Mary Jones Fry half of the rents from his Kent estate, with the other half in trust for his children, of whom he identified only Mary Susannah (q.v., under Mary Susannah Hylton). The will carries no date but was attested in Jamaica in January 1818.

Sources

http://www.kentgardenstrust.org.uk/research-projects/Sevenoaks/Morants%20Court.pdf [accessed 05/10/2016].

  1. PROB 11/1604/176.

Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?

Associated Estates (1)

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
1817 [EA] - → Joint owner
Eldersley [ Jamaica | St Elizabeth ]

Relationships (2)

John Fry
Deceased Husband → Widow
Mary Jones French later Smyth formerly Fry
Details
John Fry
Father → Daughter
Mary Susannah Lawrence then Gordon then Morris then Hylton (née Fry)
Details

Addresses (1)

Morant Court, Chevening, Kent, South-east England, England
Details
Notes →

Inherited by John Fry from his mother's family sometime after 1804, and let out to William Tonge, to whom Fry mortgaged the estate in 1809 and 1811 for £12,500. Following Fry's death (c.1818) the trust under his will was unpicked in 1847 to allow the sale of the estate to Tonge.