Augustin Gwyn

Slave-owner of St David Jamaica, Member of the House of Assembly 1766, 1768 and 1770, dying in 1779. In 1774 he was shown as of Prescot Lancashire: he was presumably the son of Rev. Augustin Gwyn who died at Prescot in 1776. In 1807 creditors of the bankrupt Liverpool merchant Thomas Case were called to a meeting to approve the launching of proceedings against anyone responsible for recovering possession of certain estates in Jamaica previously belonging to Augustin Gwyn late of Jamaica and to William Gray, also late of Jamaica.

1. A deed of 1774 in the Essex Archives shows an elaborate refinancing by Augustin Gwyn, then of Prescot Lancashire, of his purchase of Mount Charles and his establishment of Middleton Pen:

Deed to purchase annuity on investment in Mount Charles plantation, Jamaica

'1. Charles Cole [other sources including Princeton University Library give Pole] of the City of London, Esq 2. Augustin Gwyn late of the parish of St Thomas in the East in the County of Surrey and the Island of Jamaica, but now of Prescot, Lancashire, esq 3. Simon Fanshawe of Hanover Square, Middlesex, esq, John Fanshawe of Chandois Street, Cavendish Square, Middlesex, esq, Peregrine Furye, Upper Grosvenor Street, Middlesex, esq, John Howard of Fish Street Hill, City of London, warehouseman, Lewis Vickers of Holy Head, Wales, esq, Anthony Todd, General Post Office, London, esq, Charles Jackson, General Post Office, London, esq, Thomas Carter, Cork Street, Burlington Gardens, Middlesex, esq, Robert Thorne, Enfield, Middlesex, esq, Patty Parsons of St George Hanover Square, Middlesex, spinster, Philip Grafton, Stoke Newington, Middlesex, gentleman, Duncan Dallas, North End, Hampstead, Middlesex, gentleman, William Stonehewer, Cannon Street, London, gentleman, John Barnhard, Wandsworth, Surrey, esq, Dorcas Ann Cartwright, Lad Lane, London, spinster, Richard Smith of Bury Street, London, peruke maker, Charles Lander of Bishopsgate Street, London, mariner, Lawrence Laforest of Bishopsgate Street, London, vintner, Catherine Thompson, York, spinster, Thomas Ord, esq, Colonel of His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Artillery now at Shooters Hill, Kent, John Lagier Lamotte, Wanstead, Essex, esq, Watkin Jenkins, Grays Inn, Middlesex, esq, Dorothy Askew, Wakefield, Yorkshire, widow [investors in plantation to generate annuities] 4. General Henry Clinton, Weybridge, Surrey, esq and Matthew Brickdale of Clifton, Gloucestershire, esq 5. Charles Fanshawe, Inner Temple, London esq and William Bond, Walbrooke, London, merchant 6. Thomas Case and Clayton [Case] of Liverpool, Lancashire, merchants

Recites deed dated 24 September 1768 between 2 and 1 selling sugar plantation known as Mount Charles and other property known as Middleton Penn in Jamaica with all the sugar producing equipment and slaves for £12000; money still due from 2 to 1, 2 offers shares paying annual lump sums to investors named in 3 who in turn lend him sufficient money to pay off the debt

Consideration: various sums of money by the parties in 3 to 1, who sells the estate to 4 at the direction of 2 Property: Sugar plantation in St Thomas in the East Jamaica known as Mount Charles with 247 slaves, listed by name and land called Middleton Penn, where Augustin Gwyn is intending to establish a second sugar works with 150 slaves.'

Feurtado, Personages; London Gazette 16075 12/12/1807 p. 1665.

1. Essex Archives Online, D/DU/1243/8, 13/12/1774 https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/Result_Details.aspx?DocID=988725 [accessed 29/11/2019]. For the seller as Charles Pole, see Princeton University Library Collection on Slavery in the Americas, AM 2018-54. Indenture for the Sale of Mount Charles Plantation, Jamaica, to Sir Henry Clinton (1738?-1795), 1774. 1 item, http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?sort=date_added_sort%20desc&showall=sort&fq=date_facet%3A%221800-1850%22%20AND%20date_facet%3A%221750-1800%22&id=PACSCL_PRIN_MUDD_C1210USNjP [accessed 29/11/2019]. Jim Brennan has pointed out to LBS that the parties given as 'Thomas Case and Clayton (Case)' might in fact refer to Thomas Case and his aunt and partner Sarah Clayton, who has an entry in the ODNB, Langton, John. "Clayton, Sarah (1712–1779), property developer and industrialist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 17 Jan. 2020. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48911. The will of John Lagier Lamotte (q.v.) refers to the annuity but the wills of other listed purchasers to date reviewed by LBS (Simon Fanshawe, of St James Westminster, 10/01/1777 PROB 11/1027/9; Philip Grafton, of Stoke Newington, 07/08/1778 PROB 11/1044/230; Lawrence Laforest of Hammersmith 11/10/1803 PROB 11/1400/82; Duncan Dallas of Kentish Town proved 29/07/1814, PROB 11/1558/432) do not include any reference to the annuity. Several of this group of annuitants were also parties in the purchase of annuities from John Abel Ward (q.v.), also in 1774.