John Stockdale Brown

Bristol-born owner of Sportsmans Hall in Trelawny, Jamaica. He was resident in Jamaica in the 1790s but absent by 1817.

1. Sportsmans Hall in Trelawny is registered to John S. Brown from 1809 to 1818 and to the heirs of John S. Brown from 1820. The enslaved people on this estate were registered by David Richards as attorney to John S. Brown Esquire in the Slave Register of 1817.

2. John Stockdale Brown was baptised 11/06/1760 in St Augustine the Less, Bristol the son of Wm Brown and his wife Sarah. John Stockdale Brown was the grandson of Peregrine Stockdale, captain of 9 slave trading voyages from Bristol. John Stockdale Brown married Letitia Brennand in Trelawny, 03/08/1789. At least four children were born to this couple and baptised in Trelawny: Mary Ann (16/06/1792), John (12/04/1792), Hugh (1795) and Letitia (1801). Four other children were baptised with the parents John Stockdale Brown and Mary Campbell (a "free woman of Colour"). These children were presumably illegitimate: Sarah (11/06/1782), Mary (1784), William (1788), and Rosanna (1790). John Stockdale Brown’s and Mary Campbell’s daughter, Sarah Campbell Brown, moved to Edinburgh and in 1815 married James Hislop.

3. Letitia Brennand was baptised in Holborn 10/09/1769, the daughter of William Brennand and his wife Ann. Her sister Mary Ann had been baptised in the same place the previous year. This is very likely to be the Mary Ann Barnett (nee Brennand) who married Hugh Barnett II of Biddeford estate, making Mary Ann the sister-in-law of John Stockdale Brown.

4. John Stockdale Brown was the brother-in-law of Hugh Barnett II, since his wife, Letitia was sister of Hugh Barnett’s wife, Mary Ann. John Stockdale Brown bought Sportsmans Hall from his brother-in-law, Hugh Barnett II, when Hugh Barnett II had receivers appointed due to the debts he inherited from his father, Hugh Barnett I. The earliest record of John Stockdale Brown owning Sportsmans Hall is 1803 when a murder was committed there, purportedly by one of his slaves.

5. John Stockdale Brown esq., died Clifton, Jul 29, of Sportsman’s Hall, Trelawny, Jamaica, Obit. 2.8.1819.

We are grateful to Pauline McQuade and Henry May for their assistance with compiling this entry.

1. Jamaica Almanacs (1809-1820). T71/228 pp. 1915-1920.

2. Familysearch.org batch nos. C00912-0, I04099-9 and I03814-2. Saint James’s Chronicle, 26 September 1820, in The British Newspapers Archive [database online]. SlaveVoyages database https://www.slavevoyages.org. “Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664- 1880”, FamilySearch, Baptism of Mary Ann and John Brown 2 May 1792, citing Registrar General’s Department, Spanish Town, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1771-1839, Trelawny. “Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880,” FamilySearch, Baptism of Sarah, Mary and Nelly Campbell 29 December 1794, citing Registrar General’s Department, Spanish Town, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1771-1839, Trelawny. Baptism of William and Rosanna Brown 3 January 1795, citing Registrar General’s Department, Spanish Town, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1771-1839, Trelawny. “Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880”, FamilySearch, Baptism of Sarah, Mary and Nelly Campbell 29 December 1794, citing Registrar General’s Department, Spanish Town, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1771-1839, Trelawny. Marriage of Sarah Brown and James Hislop 2 March 1815, The National Records of Scotland, Scotland Marriages 1561-1910, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Canongate.

3. Ancestry.com, England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 [database online]. See separate entry for Mary Ann Barnett (nee Brennand).

4. “London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1538-1812.” Baptism of Letitia Brennand 10/09/1769, citing London Metropolitan Archives, London Church of England Parish Registers, Ref. P82/And/A/001/Ms06667/011. “London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1538-1812.” Baptism of Mary Ann Brennand 23 July 1768, citing London Metropolitan Archives, London Church of England Parish Registers, Ref. P82/And/A/001/Ms06667/011. Jamaican Family Search, “Caribbeana, Volume 3, Deeds relating to Jamaica” [online]. Oracle and the Daily Advertiser 26/01/1803.

5. 'Jamaica? No, they went of their own accord. 1819-1825', http://www.bristolfamilyhistory.co.uk/jamaica-no-they-went-of-their-own-accord/ [accessed 15/07/2015] sourced to the Bristol Mercury.