Charles Winston

1. Will of Charles Winston of the island of Dominica [made in 1801 and republished in 1802] was proved 14/02/1803. In the will he asked to be buried at his Bath estate. He left to his 'dear daughter Rebecca Sandford, the wife of Charles Sandford but at present residing with my dear friend Admiral Alexander Scott at Spring Hill near Southampton' an annuity of £800 p.a. secured on his estates. He left his Bath and Rose Hill plantations in trust to support the annuity, which was to be raised by £200 p.a. once the plantations' debts were paid off. If Rebecca died, £500 p.a. was to go to the support of Winston's grandson, Benjamin Sandford. He left the estates themselves in trust for Benjamin Sandford on the condition that he change his name to Charles Winston [he specified his grandson adopt both his Christian name and his surname], and then in tail to his grandson's children.

2. Charles Winston, who has an entry in the ODNB as 'barrister and stained glass historian', is described there as the son of Rev. Benjamin Sandford and Helen Reid: the entry says [H]is father, whose original name was Sandford, assumed that of Winston under a private act of parliament in compliance with a condition in the will of his maternal grandfather, Charles Winston, one-time attorney-general of Dominica.' It thus appears that Rev. Benjamin Sandford changed only his surname, and that Charles Winston of the ODNB entry was the great-grandson of Charles Winston of Dominica.

The William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan holds 'Charles Winstone letter book 1777-1786', https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsead/umich-wcl-M-126win?view=text [accessed 24/12/2021].

1. PROB 11/1387/140.

2. Norgate, G. Le G., and Stanley A. Shepherd. 2004 "Winston, Charles (1814–1864), barrister and stained-glass historian." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2 Jul. 2019. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-29761.