Thomas Best

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1829

Biography

Slave-owner on Barbados, but dying in Worcester, England c. 1829. He had killed Lord Camelford in a duel in 1804, and went on to marry Lady Emily Stratford, daughter of the Earl of Aldborough, from whom he became estranged.

Administration of the will of Thomas Best of Island of Barbados [entered in Barbados in 1829] was granted 25/03/1837 to John Stratford Best of Wilton Crescent, party to a Chancery suit (the grant showed Thomas Best as late of the City of Worcester). In the will, made in 1829 Thomas Best said he was about to journey to England. He gave a detailed account of the indebtedness of his brother John Parry Best, whose Fairey Valley estate he said he had recently purchased from Chancery and whose New Castle estate he [Thomas Best] was seeking to populate with enslaved people.

Sources

Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 146 (1829) p. 285.

PROB 11/1873/519

Further Information

Absentee?

Transatlantic

Associated Estates (5)

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

1816 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Owner

Brewsters Estate [ Barbados | St Philip ]

1829 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Owner

Fairy Valley [ Barbados | Christ Church ]

1832 [EA] - 1832 [LA] → Previous owner

Fairy Valley [ Barbados | Christ Church ]

1828 [EA] - 1829 [LA] → Owner

Moonshine Hall [ Barbados | St George ]

Died 1829.

Other

New Castle [or Newcastle] [ Barbados | Christ Church ]

The relationship between Thomas Best (q.v.) and the Thomas Best shown as owner of this estate 1798-1823 has not been resolved. Thomas Best (q.v.) had possession of the estate which he said had belonged to his brother John Parry Best at the time the former wrote his will in 1829.