John Gregory of St George Hanover Square

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1764

Biography

Slave-owner in Jamaica, dying in London c. 1764.

Will of John Gregory [late of Jamaica but now of Conduit Street in the parish] of St George Hanover Square [made in 1763] proved 09/03/1764. His surviving grand-daughter Mary Whitehorne Goddard [q.v.., under Mary Morant nee Goddard] had married Edward Morant, and he left her his [unnamed] sugar estate subject to the 15 year lease he had just entered into with James Watson Esq. He was at pains to ensure that a mistake he had made in settling £4000 on Mary on her marriage to Edward Morant did not lead to a double-deduction of the £4000 from his estate, and insisted on a general release from the couple. One of his executors was his brother Matthew Gregory.
There are two, possibly three John Gregorys in the 1754 Jamaican Quit Rent books. It's not clear if one or both is the same as in the will given above. John Gregory was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 659 acres of land in St Thomas-in-the-Vale. A separate entry gives John Gregory as the owner of 1075 acres of land in St Thomas-in-the-Vale. Gregory and Cussans were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 1201 acres of land in St Thomas-in-the-East.
John Gregory of Britain, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1766. Slave-ownership at probate: 168 of whom 84 were listed as male and 84 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £13153.37 Jamaican currency of which £8349 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £3419.7 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

Sources

PROB 11/896/327.
'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.
Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

Further Information

Absentee?

Transatlantic?

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

SD - Association Start Date
SY - Association Start Year
EA - Earliest Known Association
ED - Association End Date
EY - Association End Year
LA - Latest Known Association

- 1763 [EY] → Owner

Crawle [ Jamaica | St Thomas-in-the-Vale ]

LBS has tentatively identified Crawle as the estate of John Gregory which he said he had just leased for 15 years to James Watson when he made his will in 1763. The estate appears to have reverted to his grand-daughter Mary Morant c. 1778, which would fit with this identification. However, the Accounts Produce and David Hancock both show Sir Alexander Grant as owner of Crawle, although Hancock shows the estate as being in St Catherine and this might be a separate estate. Sir Alexander Grant was a trustee under the will of James Watson, suggesting also the possibility of confusion over Grant's role on Crawle in St Thomas-in-the-Vale.