George Poyntz Ricketts I

Only son of Jacob Ricketts of Midgham estate Jamaica and Hannah Poyntz; grandson of George Ricketts (d. 1760); father of Charles Milner Ricketts (1776-1867, MP for Dartmouth 1820-1822); and husband of Sophia Watts, whose sister married Charles Jenkinson and was the mother of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister 1812-1827. George Poyntz Ricketts' son Charles Milner Ricketts was presumably named after Sir William Milner [2nd bart., 1725-1774] who acted as guardian to George Poyntz Ricketts I under a codicil of 1755 to the will of his (George Poyntz Rickett's) father Jacob Ricketts proved in 1756. Similarly, George Poyntz Ricketts's son Mordaunt was presumably named after Sir William Milner's son William Mordaunt Milner (later 3rd bart., 1754-1811), but the nature of the original connection between the two families has not yet been traced.

1. George Poyntz Ricketts was Governor of Barbados 1794-1800, appointed on the recommendation of 'Lord Hawkesbury' [i.e. Charles Jenkinson].

2. The 'Earl of Liverpool' was shown as one of the executors of the estate of George Poyntz Ricketts and Mrs Sophia Ricketts (d. 1830) in papers held at the Surrey History Centre. He was not appointed as an executor in the will of George Poyntz Ricketts proved in 1800; it is possible this role flowed from a role as trustee of the marriage settlement of George Poyntz Ricketts with Sophia Watts c. 1772, but this has not been verified. In a codicil to the will of George Poyntz Ricketts dated 1793, he appointed [his cousin] George Crawford Ricketts of Jamaica as trustee of his real estate and other property in Jamaica, with instructions to sell it and for the proceeds to become part of his overall estate.

3. The History of Parliament entry for George Poyntz Rickett I's son Charles Milner Ricketts says of the latter: 'Ricketts, the last Member to be returned to the House in this period, owed everything to Charles and Robert Banks Jenkinson*, 1st and 2nd Earls of Liverpool. In 1772 his father, who owned a Jamaican plantation which he later sold, married the sister of Charles Jenkinson’s first wife, who had died in 1770 after giving birth to the future prime minister. Ricketts senior fell on hard times in the 1780s, but obtained the governorship of Tobago in 1793 and that of Barbados the following year. He died at Liverpool in 1800 just after returning home because of ill health.' This is consistent with the shift of ownership of Midgham in Jamaica from the Ricketts family to the Woolery or Woollery family at some time between 170 and 1790.

4. Eric Williams shows Lord Hawkesbury (the 1st Earl of Liverpool) as himself a West Indian proprietor, which Williams referenced to a pamphlet produced by a Committee of sugar-refiners in 1792. That pamphlet does indeed say that the President of the Board of Trade (who was Hawkesbury) was a West Indian proprietor. To date, however, LBS has found no other evidence to substantiate this. It is possible that the family ties of Hawkesbury to the Ricketts misled the contemporary authors of the pamphlet.

1. John Poyer, History of Barbados (1808).

2. There is a bundle of correspondence arising from the role of the Earl of Liverpool and E.B. Frederick as executors 1803-1833 shown in the TNA catalogue online for the Surrey History Centre, 183/45/1; http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/477982cf-8cd3-447b-9e6c-590b3da0689f [accessed 12/05/2106]. The catalogue entry is not clear whether this refers to the 1st or 2nd Earl; will of George Poyntz Ricketts [formerly of the city of Winchester but now] of Lower Seymour Street [made in 1793] proved 06/05/1800, PROB 11/1342/48.

3. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/ricketts-charles-milner-1776-1867 [accessed 10/07/2018].

4. Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery(1944) p. 94-95.