Hon. Samuel Alpress

1. Samuel Alpress, son of George Alpress of St Thomas-in-the-Vale and his wife Jane, was born 24/01/1739 and baptised 08/03/1739 in Vere, Jamaica. He matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1756 and was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1755.

2. "During his time at Jesus College, Cambridge Samuel was said to have started a riot in Ely and in a letter to Stephen Fuller in 1757 (the Fuller family were in loco parentis on George’s behalf) William Hawes wrote that ‘The conduct of Mr Allpress does not warrant his remaining at college’. He also appears to have run up considerable debts."

3. Samuel Alpress married Margaret Eleanor Aikenhead in St Andrew, Jamaica, 27/01/1761. They had three daughters baptised in Jamaica: Elizabeth (1761 in St Catherine, presumably who died an infant), Elizabeth (1762 in Vere) and Jane (1763 in Vere, again, who had presumably died by 1771). Another daughter, Jane Eleanor, was born and baptised in Westminster in 1771. A further daughter, Milborough, died in 1803. Elizabeth married Kean Osborn in 1780; Milborough married Richard Crewe; and Jane Eleanor married Richard Bulkeley.

4. His father, George Alpress, owned 125 acres in Clarendon and 51 acres in Vere in 1754. Probate records show he owned 273 enslaved people at the time of his death in 1766, when his estate was valued for probate at over £21,000 Jamaican currency.

5. Samuel Alpress died in Jamaica in September 1784.

1. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]; Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online]; Inner Temple Admissions Database ID73.

2. http://aparcelofribbons.co.uk/2012/01/wills-silver-candlesticks-and-green-handled-knives/ [accessed 10/01/2017]. Letters of Stephen Fuller, Somerset Heritage Centre, DD\DN/503.

3. Will of Margaret Eleanor Alpress, PROB 11/1288/191; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

4. CO 142/31; Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

5. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online].

We are grateful to Matthew Cragoe for his assistance with compiling this entry.