Robert Benstead Wright the younger

1786 - 19th Nov 1820

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

  1. Resident slave-owner on Jamaica, shown as 'Dr.', as of Kensworth and as dying at Snowden in Manchester 19/11/1820. Robert Benstead Wright, from Jamaica, graduated MD, Edinburgh, 24/6/1808 (his inaugural dissertation was on vaccination).

  2. Wright graduated MD, Edinburgh, 1808. Dr Robert Benstead Wright of Southampton, Jamaica, married Nicola, eldest daughter of the late Mr James Watson, Writer to the Signet, 20/09/1808.

  3. Buchan [Warren] Wright, son of Robert Benstead Wright and Nicola his wife, born 06/08/1809 and baptised 18/02/1810 in St Elizabeth. He received his Diploma from Surgeon’s Hall, Edinburgh, 01/08/1828, and was Assistant Surgeon, Madras Medical Service, when he graduated MD, Edinburgh, 01/08/1837 (inaugural dissertation: Jungle Fever in India); was admitted at Clare Hall, Cambridge, 26/10/1837, graduated BA and was ordained; British Chaplain at Trieste when appointed Vicar of Cuckney, Notts, 1853; an inmate of Nottingham Asylum when he committed suicide in 1887; married (i) 05/04/1836, Sarah, youngest daughter of late Sir Thomas Woollaston White, Bt.

  4. Their son William Burt Wright was born 20/7/1812 and baptised at YS 05/03/1813. Their daughter Nicola Eliza Wright was born 25/11/1813 and baptised 15/4/1814 and of Kensworth, aged 21, when she was buried in Snowdon Burial Ground, Manchester parish, 21/05/1835. A daughter, Isabel Catherine, was born at Kensworth 20/06/1815 and baptised there 30/09/1816, and another daughter, Edwina, was born 05/05/1817 and baptised in St Catherine 10/12/1817.

  5. Buried at Kensworth, 21/11/1820, aged 34 [ie born c. 1786]. His wife died in Edinburgh, 02/11/1857.

  6. Nephew of Robert Benstead Wright (1762-1798) who owned Southampton Penn and four enslaved people upon it in 1797. He was born 15/12/1762 and bapised in St Elizabeth 29/01/1763, son of James Cooper Wright and Ann, his wife, and died in 1798. This Robert Benstead Wright also had a son of the same name, born in 1793. Some time after the death of Robert (1762-1798), John Collins purchased Southampton Penn and four enslaved people. Legatees of Robert Benstead Wright (1786-1821) filed a bill in the Court of Chancery in Jamaica in 1822 to have those legacies established as charges against the estate. The defendants in this case of Wright v. Wright were the residuary legatees of Robert Benstead Wright who sought to establish that they had the right to sell the estate, and the Attorney General of Jamaica (who was a party because Collins had since died intestate and without heirs). A later purchaser, Thomas Mason, launched the case Mason v. Attorney General to establish his own right to the property.


Sources

  1. David Dobson Scots in the West Indies p. 148; Caledonian Mercury, 25/06/1808.

  2. List of graduates in medicine in the University of Edinburgh from MDCCV to MDCCX (1867) p. 40; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

  3. A.C.P. Callisen, Medicinisches Schriftsteller-Lexicon (1835); Scots Magazine Vol.LXX, October 1808, p.797; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]. Email from Paul Hitchings 02/05/2020 sourced to: The Scotsman, 02/08/1828; Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol.48, 1837, p.564; Alumni Cantabrigienses; Liverpool Mail, 16/07/1853; Western Daily Press, 09/09/1887; Asiatic Journal, Vol.XX, May-August 1836, p.362. Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (1869) p. 1043.

  4. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

  5. Ibid.; The Scotsman, 04/11/1857.

  6. Reports of Cases heard and determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (reported by E.F.Moore), Vol IV, 1841-45, pp.228-238.

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


Further Information

Spouse
Nicola Watson
Children
Buchan Warren (1809-1887), William Burt (1812-), Nicola Eliza (1813-1835), Isabel Catherine (1815-), Edwina (1817-)
Occupation
Physician and planter

Associated Claims (1)

£735 12s 4d
Beneficiary deceased

Associated Estates (3)

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
1822 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Previous owner
1815 [EA] - 1820 [LA] → Joint owner
1807 [EA] - 1808 [LA] → Not known

Relationships (5)

Son → Father
Brothers
Brother → Sister
Husband → Wife
Nephew → Uncle