Benjamin Marriott Perkins I

Resident slave-owner in Jamaica, dying c. 1828.

1. Magistrate and assistant judge, Kingston, and common councilman there in 1824.

2. Two children of B. Marriott Perkins esq by Jane Anne Forbes, a "free woman of colour": Robert, born 23/04/1809, baptised 18/02/1810; James, born 14/11/1812, baptised 11/04/1813, both in St Andrew. Two children by Priscilla Martha Sherlock, "a free mustee": Eliza, born 20/05/1816 and bapsited in St Andrew 15/08/1816; Edward, born 30/07/1818, baptised 05/08/1819 in Kingston. Elizabeth Ann Perkins, daughter of [blank] "a free woman of colour by Benjamin Marriot Perkins", baptised in St Andrew 20/10/1816. Benjamin Marriott Perkins esq and Sarah Arrowsmith spinster were married by licence in St.Andrew, 15/01/1820. Two children with his wife Sarah: Sarah Marriot, born 03/01/1821 and baptised 31/01/1820 in St Andrew; Arthur Marriott, born 08/07/1824 and baptised in St Andrew, 30/08/1824.

3. Dates given as 1774-1828; "a prominent Kingston solicitor", bought the southern half of Snow Hill Pen from Alexander Lindo and renamed it Castle Perkins. Then bought the northern half of Snow Hill pen in 1805 and renamed it Trafalgar Park. Castle Perkins was renamed Knutsford Park in the later 19th century.

4. Will of Benjamin Marriott Perkins of Kingston Surrey, Jamaica proved 14/03/1828. In his will he instructed that £8000 of the funds he held with Davidson Barkly be invested for the support and education of his two natural children Anne Elizabeth Perkins and James Perkins until they reached 21 (when they received £4000 each). He left in trust his estate called Shortwood lately Hamiltons and his estate known as Hermitage but lately purchased by him under the name the Mornes, to secure an annuity of £700 p.a. to his wife Sarah and to pass to his [unnamed] children, failing whom half was to go to his wife and her heirs, and half to the children of his brother Thomas Marriott Perkins of Liverpool.

5. Sarah Marriott Perkins, his only surviving daughter and stepdaughter of Joseph Gordon esq, married at St Andrew, 10/03/1840, James Carson Esquire of the firm of Chrystie, Porteous and Carson of Kingston. No marriage has been found for Sarah Perkins nee Arrowsmith and Joseph Gordon.

Note the relationship between Benjamin Marriott Perkins I and Benjamin Marriott Perkins II is unknown. Some of the above children may belong to the latter.

1. Jamaica Almanac (1824).

2. Familysearch.org, unindexed Jamaican parish records, St Andrew parish register, 1807-1826, pp 13, 29, 142; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

3. https://jamaica-history.weebly.com/knutsford-pen.html [accessed 19/02/2019].

4. PROB 11/1738/146.

5. Evening Mail 08/05/1840.

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