Samuel Chollet I

London merchant of Lime street, partner with James Bourdieu and then with James Berney Bourdieu (q.v.). The firm of Bourdieu, Chollet and Bourdieu appears as the owner of two estates and enslaved people on Dominica in the 1817 Slave Registers: in his will James Berney Bourdieu made in 1836 referred to estates and 'negroes' purchased by his late father James Bourdieu, Samuel Chollet deceased 'and myself.'

1. This is one of several Samuel Chollets. Samuel Chollet of Lime Street had a nephew of St Eustatius and then of London, as well as a son named Samuel Chollet. A Samuel Chollet, then HM Collector of Customs at Trinidad, identified himself in his will of 1814 as born in Switzerland and the brother of Anthony Chollet and of Peter Chollet late of Demerary (and was possibly the nephew above): his will identifies in turn a further two Samuel Chollets: one his nephew, son of Anthony and one his [the testator's] natural son by Miss Lucy of Martinique deceased, then a midshipman in the Navy. This latter natural son was the Samuel Chollet whose will was proved in 1828 (after monetary legacies to his own natural children and other relatives and friends he made the US Government his residuary heir). The Samuel Chollet who was a slave factor for several voyages, mostly at Dominica and Charleston, between 1773 and 1792, was probably the nephew of Samuel Chollet of Lime Street.

2. Will of Samuel Chollet merchant of London proved 08/09/1802. In the will he identifies his children as Samuel Chollet and Sophia, wife of Firmin de Tastet, and his partner as James Berney Bourdieu, whom he originally appointed as executor but removed in a codicil of 1799. The will deals with his property in Britain, especially his estate at Croham near Sanderstead, and is silent on 'slave-property.' His son is almost certainly the Samuel Chollet of Croydon whose will was proved in 1838 (q.v. under Samuel Chollet II of Croydon).

3. 'With: Appeal from the High Court of Admiralty, De Goede Thee Boom, Hark Out, master, Samuel Chollet of Lime-street, London, merchant, the claimant of forty-nine hogsheads of sugar, on behalf his nephew Samuel Chollet, late of the island of St. Eustatius, but now of London, merchant and Alexander Wardrobe of the island of Mominiza, merchant and planter, a natural-born subject of Our Sovereign Lord the King, and one of the capitulants of the island of Dominica, the proprietors thereof, against Peter Potter, commander of the private ship of war the Essex, the captor of the said ship and goods, respondent : appendix to the appellant's case. [London : s.n., 1780].'

1. Will of Samuel Chollet, Collector of Customs at Trinidad proved 22/08/1814, PROB 11/ 1559/481; will of Samuel Chollet of London proved 02/08/1828 PROB 11/1744/9.

2. PROB 11/1380/134; will of Samuel Chollet of Croydon proved 12/10/1838, PROB 11/1901/300.

3. Before the Most Noble and Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Appeals for Prizes, the Sloop Endeavour, John Bowyer, master, the said John Bowyer, the master and claimant of the said sloop and goods, and of the Negro slaves laden therein at the time of the capture thereof by the private ship of war the Alarm, John De Garis, commander, appellant, against the said John De Garis, the captor of the said sloop and goods, and Negro slaves, in special, and all others in general, respondent : case on behalf of the appellant, https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/381474?ln=en [accessed 29/12/2021].