Robert Delap the elder

Provost Marshal of Jamaica, dying in 1751.

1. Son of Rev Samuel Delap, MA (c. 1680-1762), Presbyterian Minister at Letterkenny, Co Donegal, from 1707, and his wife Sarah. Elder brother of Francis and Samuel Delap (both q.v.).

2. Member of Assembly for Westmoreland 1745, 1747. Provost Marshal 1750. Married Mary Williams, daughter of George Williams of Spanish Town and of Old Hope, Westmoreland, and the widow of Col. John Guthrie 15/11/1741 (this may be the Mary Delap who married Luke Spencer Dowell (q.v.) in St Catherine in 1752). Died 11/11/1751.

Robert and Francis Delap are the subject of a case study (focused on Francis Delap) in Karst de Jong, 'The Irish in Jamaica during the long eighteenth century (1698-1836)' (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, Feb, 2017), pp. 119-131 https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/133981473/The_Irish_in_Jamaica_during_the_long_eighteenth_century.pdf.

1. Family details from Burke's Landed Gentry (1879) vol. 1 p. 448, 'Delap of Monellan'. See separate entries for Francis Delap and Samuel Delap.

2. 'Feurtado Personages c to E', http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/b/bfeurtado02.htm. James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies (London, 1875) p. 336.

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