Sidney Henderson Brock

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 19^th Jan 1837

Biography

Possibly son or more likely daughter of James Brock, owner of Industry plantation in St Ann, Jamaica, and his housekeeper Margaret Gibb, a 'free woman of colour'. Baptised with four siblings in Jamaica, 06/09/1829: Elizabeth Gibb Brock, Margaret Jane Brock, John Alexander Brock and James Robert Brock. James Brock died in 1829 and after his death Margaret Gibb moved with their 7 surviving children to Denny in Stirlingshire, Scotland, James's birthplace. James bequeathed Industry plantation and a house in Scotland to Margaret Gibb and her children.

In 1840, an inventory of James Brock’s estate was carried out and documented in the Court of Session, possibly after the death of Margaret Gibb. At this time, three of his children were minors and living with various family members in the Denny area, one child had died in 1837, and the other three were now adults. The Court of Session document states that James Brock’s remaining assets, including £3500 that James Brock had invested in “three per cent consols,” and the assets of the Industry plantation in Jamaica were now divided 6 ways. The sum of £1300 was reported to have been already remitted to Scotland from proceeds from the plantation but the “state and condition thereof being unknown the amount or value thereof cannot be condescended on”. Proceeds from the estate may have continued to be paid to the six Brock children and their families for many years after this inventory.

Sidney Brock died 19/01/1837 in Denny. She (or he) may have been named after her maternal grandmother. The parents' names given on the death certificate of her aunt Mary Gibb were Robert Gibb, planter, and Sydney Gibb nee Anderson.