Edward Chambers

Slave-owner in Jamaica, indebted to William Miles (q.v.).

1. Will of Edward Chambers of Hanover Jamaica proved 29/12/1781. In the will he left his estate after payment of his debts to his sons Edward and John Tharp Chambers, subject to an annuity of £1000 p.a. to his wife and £100 p.a to each of his seven daughters until 21 or marriage, and then £3000 each of his daughters. The sons were to receive £200 p.a. until 18 and then £300 p.a. until 21.

2. The estates belonging to Edward Chambers were devastated by the hurricane of 1780. At the time of Chambers' death, he reportedly owed William Miles more than £22,000. The estates were sold in 1789 for £78,200, apparently to William Miles as mortgagee.

3. Edward Chambers of Hanover, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1781. Slave-ownership at probate: 683 of whom 348 were listed as male and 335 as female. 147 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £59,628.34 Jamaican currency of which £44,760 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £5,103.27 currency debts and £180 currency plate.

4. Possibly the Edward Chambers who was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 200 acres of land in Hanover. Edward Chambers senior (q.v.) was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 920 acres of land in Hanover. Chambers and Pinto were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 500 acres of land in Hanover. This may refer to Edward Chambers, Ephraim Chambers, Jacob Chambers, John Chambers or William Chambers (all q.v.), all of whom owned land in Jamaica at this time.

1. PROB 11/1085/369

2. Kenneth Morgan (ed.) 'V. Calendar of Correspondence of William Miles a West India Merchant in Bristol and John Tharp, a Planter in Jamaica, 1770-1789', in Patrick McGrath (ed.) A Bristol Miscellany, (Bristol Record Society Vol. XXXVII, 1985), pp. 79-121.

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

4. '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.