William Postlethwaite of Grenada and Demerara

Agent and possibly partner of John Tarleton (q.v.), apparently bequeathing half of the Resource estate in Demerara to John Tarleton and the representatives of Tarleton's former partner Daniel Backhouse.

1. In 1794, William Posthlethwaite owned the plantation The Resource in Demerara, along Canal no. 2. This plantation was previously known as two plantations, La Destinee and Mon Desire. Previously, The Resource was owned by "Morris and Posthlethwaite". There is a mortgage registered in the Guyana Archives of 19 March 1794 with these details. William Postlethwaite confirms a debt to "William Posthlethwaite and Thomas Tarleton, operating under the name of Thomas Tarleton & Comp. in Grenada." of 150,000 Dutch Guilders.

2. In an account of the case of Hornby and others v Tarlton [sic] in 1819, William Postlethwaite was shown as having been sent out to the West Indies [no date was given] with 'Mr Morris' as local agents of the slave-trading and West India mercantile partnership of John Tarleton, Daniel Backhouse and Thomas Tarleton. The first reference to him as deceased appeared in the London Gazette in January 1818 [which refers to an authority to his executors of August 1817], and in 1821 he was reported in the London Gazette to have bequeathed a half share in Resource to John Tarleton and the representatives of Daniel Backhouse.

1. Email from Paul Koulen 15/03/2020 sourced to the mortgage agreement held in the National Archives at the Hague.

2. London Gazette 17323 17/01/1818 p. 133; ibid, 17697 14/04/1821 p. 852.

We are grateful for the help of Paul Koulen and Sean Creighton with this entry.