Richard Arrowsmith

Richard Arrowsmith was a slave-owner in St Andrew parish, Jamaica.

1. In 1788, Richard Arrowsmith had a son, ‘John Arrowsmith, a mulatto’, with ‘Elizabeth Bolton, a free black woman’. This son was baptised in 1791 in St Andrew.

2. Richard Arrowsmith and his wife Sarah Phipps Arrowsmith were the parents of Frances (1792 – deceased by 1817) and Anne (baptised 1794) in St Andrew Parish.

3. In 1817, in St Andrew, Richard Arrowsmith ‘owned’ 4 enslaved people himself and 7 ‘as tenant in possession in trust for the use benefit and behoof of the right heirs of Frances Arrowsmith deceased and of Ann, the children of’ Richard and Sarah Arrowsmith. He also owned 18 enslaved people ‘as owner in right of his wife Sarah Arrowsmith who is entitled to the same by virtue of the last will and testament of her late mother Ann Phipps deceased’, i.e. on Dick's Last Shift estate.

4. In 1820, in St Andrew, two births increased Richard Arrowsmith’s own enslaved people to six individuals. He also possessed five people ‘as guardian to Richard Arrowsmith Junior’, probably his grandson and heir of his deceased daughter Frances. Richard and Sarah are also guardians to Ann Smith for four enslaved people and to William Arrowsmith for three people.

5. In 1819 and 1820 Richard Arrowsmith ‘owned’ 34 enslaved people at Dick's Last Shift estate, but the estate was owned by Sarah Arrowsmith by 1824.

6. By 1823, Richard Arrowsmith Sr. no longer appears in the records (he presumably died).

We are grateful to Steven Carter for his assistance in compiling this entry.

1. FamilySearch, ‘Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880’, St Andrew > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1664-1807, Vol. 1, image 70, p. 116.

2. FamilySearch, ‘Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880’, St Andrew > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1664-1807, Vol. 1, images 72 and 75, pages 120 and 126.

3. T71/125 487-8, 627.

4. T71/126 155.

5. Jamaican Family Search, Jamaica Almanacs, St Andrew, 1820, 1821, 1824, 1826, 1828, 1831 and 1833.

6. T71/128 43 and 47.