Thomas Hussey

Owner of Plantation Maria's Pleasure in Demerara. His will, proved in 1803, suggests considerable faith in the earning power of the estate given the level of legacies he expected it to support. The estate was owned in 1817 by R.W. Hall, the mortgagee of the estate at the time of Hussey's will, which might imply that the estate did not produce the returns Hussey had expected.

1. Will of Thomas Hussey of colony of Essequibo (made 04/05/1802) proved 03/03/1803. Under the will, he left legacies of £7000 each to his sisters Catherine and Antoinetta Hussey and £6000 to his sister Eliza Hussey, to be paid to them as soon as estate of Maria's Pleasure was clear and free of debt, 'that is to say when my friend Mr R.W. Hall has been paid off the mortgage due him on the said estate, which will be in.... 1806.' Until then, he wanted the produce of the estate to be dedicated to debt payment except £600 p.a. to be paid to his sisters in lieu of interest. He also had debt due to Turnbull Forbes to be paid in 1808. He asked that the produce of the estate - sugar, rum and coffee - be consigned to John Brickwood jun. in London, to repay Mr R.W. Hall, as he doubted that Turnbull Forbes could undertake the liquidation of the debt 'from the many advances' they had already made on West India property. Provided that the produce covered the instalments of the debt, he directed that the surplus should be used to make 'an addition of ten new negroes...annually to be put on the said estate', and that the 'gang of negroes be kept up to number of four hundred.' If Catherine Hussey were to marry and have a son, Thomas Hussey left him £10,000 at his majority; if a daughter, £5000. He also instructed that the Maria's Pleasure estate should not be sold, and left his sisters an annuity of £1000 p.a. each to begin when the estate was free of debt. His residuary legatee on reaching the age of 25 was his nephew Michael White son of his sister Mary and her husband Michael White formerly of the island of St Vincent, and he left £3000, £5000 and £3000 to his nephew John and nieces Lydia and Eliza respectively.

1. PROB 11/1388/26.