Daniel McGilchrist

Slave-owner in Jamaica, resident in the 1770s but dying in London in 1783.

1. Daniel McGilchrist was a magistrate in Clarendon and Vere in 1776, and also in 1779 (when an assistant judge of the quorum).

2. Memorial inscription in Marylebone Old Church to Daniel McGilchrist Esquire, late of Jamaica who died at his house in Portland Place, 16/03/1783, aged 64 years; he married Ann, fourth daughter of the Hon. Thomas Fearon Esquire of Clarendon, 24/07/1772 and she erected the monument "in grateful remembrance of him".

3. McGilchrist's first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. John Gale and Elizabeth, his wife, died 30/04/1761 in her 31st year. She was buried in Vere church, Jamaica.

4. Will of Daniel McGilchrist [late of the parish of Clarendon Jamaica but now] of [Portland Place] St Marylebone [made 30/11/1782] proved 11/04/1783. In the will he left his leasehold house at Portland Place to his wife Ann; he left to his sister-in-law Frances Fearon all the money owed to him by Archibald Simpson of Vere. He left annuities of £100 p.a. to his two sisters Elizabeth and Jannet McGilchrist, providing - unusually - that after their deaths the annuities would be paid to Donald Donaldson, the son of his attorney in Jamaica John Donaldson, all secured on his Mount Hindmost estate, which he left subject to these annuities to his wife Ann for her life and then to Edward Morant.

5. Daniel Mcgilchrist of Britain, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1784. Slave-ownership at probate: 332 of whom 154 were listed as male and 178 as female. 96 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £30890.08 Jamaican currency of which £20490 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £3463.88 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

1. Jamaica Almanacs (1776 and 1779).

2. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919) vol. 3 p. 92.

3. 'Monumental Inscriptions Jamaica Parish of Vere', http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/b/Barche19.htm.

4. PROB 11/1102/207.

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

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.