Samuel Greg

Pioneering British industrialist, builder of Quarry Bank house and mill in Cheshire 1796-1797. 'Greg's initial capital was accumulated through profits in transatlantic trade, which his father and uncle prosecuted successfully from Belfast with the Cunninghams (who also owned a slave plantation on St Vincent). Consequently, although Greg did not rely on Caribbean estate earnings to finance entry into cotton spinning, his interest in plantations formed part of a wider family engagement in commerce that included significant slave-related business.' For more on Samuel Greg and his family see also the entry for Thomas Greg.

1. John Greg (1716-1795), the son of a Scot settled in Belfast in 1715, went to the West Indies in 1765, married there and became the first Government Commissioner for the sale of land. Greg had two estates (50% in Hertford, later sold, and Hillsborough) in Dominica, and his wife Catharine (née Henderson) in 1773 inherited Cane Garden in St Vincent. Thomas Greg (1718-1796), John's brother, also owned an estate in Dominica with Waddell Cunningham. On 10 June 1795 John Greg died and left his West Indian properties to his nephews (the sons of Thomas (1718-1796)), Thomas (d. 1832) and Samuel, who had been brought up by his uncle Robert Hyde. Thomas conveyed his share in the estates to Samuel in return for an annuity of £1500. On Samuel's death in 1834, the estates passed to his son Thomas (who died c. 1839). On Thomas's death in 1839, the Hillsborough estate passed to his brother Robert Hyde Greg. The family owned the estate until 1928 when it was sold to a Dominican family called Rolle (who still own it (2010)): at the time of the 1928 sale, the bishop of Roseau had to intervene to persuade the Greg family that it was acceptable to sell Hillsborough to a "coloured family".

2. Sent his children to a Unitarian school, although according to his entry in the ODNB, 'his own religious affiliation remains uncertain'.

Simon D. Smith, 'Slavery's Heritage Footprint: links between British country houses and St Vincent plantations, 1814-1834', in Madge Dresser & Andrew Hann (eds.) Slavery and the British Country House (2013) pp. 57-68, at pp. 59-60; Mary B. Rose, ‘Greg, Samuel (1758–1834)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2012 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/59911, accessed 22 Sept 2015].

1. Cambridge University Library: Dominica Estate documents of the Greg family, accessed 08/09/2012.

2. Mary B. Rose, ‘Greg, Samuel (1758–1834)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2012 [http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/view/article/59911, accessed 15/02/2016]