Joseph Seymour Biscoe

Profile & Legacies Summary

1761 - 1835

Biography

First husband of Susanna Harriot Gordon nee Hope (q.v.), and then of Stephana Law. The three people who were awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on Ashley Hall in Jamaica under a mortgage for £7000 of 1819 - Stephana Biscoe, Rev. William Biscoe, and George Law - were the executors under the will of Joseph Seymour Biscoe proved 19/05/1835, and although not identified as such were probably acting in this capacity in the compensation process.

Baptised 18/09/1761 at St Peter le Poer, London, son of Vincent and Mary Biscoe.
Adm. Fell.-Com. (age 17) at TRINITY, Apr. 17, 1779. S. and h. of Vincent [West India merchant], of London [and Lady Mary Seymour, dau. of Edward, Duke of Somerset]. B. Sept. 5, 1761. School, Harrow. Matric. Michs. 1779; M.A. 1781. Adm. at Lincoln's Inn, Nov. 19, 1781. Bought an estate at Pendhill, Bletchingley, Surrey, in 1803, and lived there for some years; sold it in 1811 and removed to Hempstead, Gloucs., and thence to Clifton, Gloucs. Married (1) Susanna Harriet, dau. of the Rev. Charles Hope, M.A., May 22, 1786; (2) Stephana, dau. of John Law, D.D., Archdeacon of Rochester, Feb. 12, 1799. Will dated Mar. 17, 1830; proved, May 19, 1835. Father of William (1826) and of the above [i.e. John Seymour Kenrick Biscoe]. (Burke, L.G., ed. 1937; Brayley, Surrey, IV. 112.)
Purchaser of Pendell in Bletchingley, Surrey, in 1803, which he sold in 1811.
His daughter Caroline Octavia married, as her second husband, Foster Barham Zincke, son of Frederick Burt Zincke, in 1865.
Vincent Biscoe was a member of the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa 06/08/1750. He took part in a conference between the African Company and the Company of Merchants at Garraway's Coffee House, London, 05/02/1751. He appeared before a Parliamentary Select Committee as a representative of the Merchants Committee in 1754.

Sources

Will of Joseph Seymour Biscoe of Cheltenham Gloucestershire proved 19/05/1835, PROB 11/1846/510.

Familysearch.org batch no. C02276-1.
Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online].
http://powys.org/pl_tree/ps05/ps05_360.html [accessed 02/08/2018] sourced to Victoria County History for Surrey (1912) vol. 4 pp. 253-265.
Elizabeth Baigent, ‘Zincke, Foster Barham (1817–1893)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30296, accessed 24 Aug 2017].
J. J. Crooks, Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 to 1874 (2013) pp. 11, 12; Benedict G. Fer, 'Parliament's Interest in West Africa, 1713-1785', MA thesis, University of Ottawa (1967) pp. 122-137.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his assistance with compiling this entry.

Further Information

Absentee?

British/Irish

Spouse

(1) Susanna Harriot Hope (2) Stephana Law

Children

With (1) Mary; with (2) c. 12 including Frances Agneta; William; John Seymour Kenrick; Carolina Octavia

School

Harrow

University

Trinity College, Cambridge [1779 ]

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

1819 [EA] - → Mortgage Holder

Ashley Hall [ Jamaica | Vere ]

This has been inferred from the appearance in the compensation records as claimants of Stephana Biscoe, George Law and the Rev. William Biscoe, who are known to have been Joseph Seymour Biscoe's three executors., although not identified as such in the compensation records. Note that JBS died 05/05/1835 and the award was made 05/10/1835, not leaving much time for the counterclaim.