Robert Nedham MP

Irish landowner and slave-owner in Jamaica where he inherited the Water Valley estate in St Mary Jamaica from his brother Henry Nedham. MP for Old Sarum 1734-1741: the History of Parliament entry notes that '[h]aving settled in England, he did not inherit his father's estates [in Jamaica]', but misses the subsequent transmission of 'property in people' to him from his brother.

1. Robert Nedham was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 750 acres of land in St Mary.

2. Will of Robert Nedham of [Newry County Down but now residing at] Beckenham Kent proved 02/09/1762. In the will Robert Nedham identified his father as also Robert Nedham. He explained that he had inherited Water Valley as heir at law of his brother Henry, but that it had been claimed that Henry had left a will under which he had bequeathed Water Valley to the Foundling Hospital. The Governors of the Foundling Hospital had not however begun an action to recover the estate, and Nedham left it to his younger son William.

3. Robert Nedham of Britain, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1763. Slave-ownership at probate: 342 of whom 177 were listed as male and 165 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £16725.92 Jamaican currency of which £13540.65 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £0 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/nedham-robert-1703-62 [accessed 02/05/2017].

1. A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

2. PROB 11/879/255.

3. Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.