John Mair of Clifton

John Mair was the owner of an estate on Dominica provisionally identified as Maccoucherie, and party to an 1805 mortgage of two estates in Jamaica. Given that the Rev. Henry Mair (q.v.) was awarded the compensation for two estates in Jamaica as mortgagee under a deed of 1805, and that the Rev. Henry Mair is known to have been the co-heir of John Mair of Clifton of this entry, it appears certain that John Mair was the mortgagee in 1805.

1. Will of John Mair [formerly of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire but now] of Clifton proved 15/09/1827. A codicil to the will identifies the marriage of Rev. Henry Mair to Elizabeth Matravers White. He divided his trust estate between Rev. Henry Mair, Frances Rolph and Mary Charlotte Senior. [Although these are not identified as such, they were his children. The will does not appear to refer specifically to the Jamaica mortgage, nor to property in Dominica].

2. 'John Mair, Esquire, of Iron Acton, father of Mary Charlotte, wife of Nassau W. Senior, was born in 1744. His friends bought him a commission as cornet of dragoons and he immediately sailed for India in 1761. After much active service he retired from the army and sailed from India in the same ship with Lord Clive in 1767. Elaborate journals of his stay in India and subsequent travels are in the possession of his granddaughter. He visited Paris on his way home, and lived there with John Wilkes and his daughter. In 1770 he again visited Paris to be present at the marriage of Louis XVI. to Marie Antoinette, whom he ardently admired. He was an inveterate traveller, visiting all parts of England and the Continent, the United States, Canada, and the West Indies, where he was so much charmed with Dominica that he bought an estate and lived there several years. During the short time he lived in England he spent the winters at Bath. In his old age he bought the little estate of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and took his son and two daughters to live with him. John Raven Senior was then parson of the parish, hence the marriage of Nassau Senior and Mary Mair. Mr. Mair died in London at his son-in-law's house, 13 Hyde Park, in 1830, of fatigue brought on by a hasty visit to Paris to see the results of the Revolution of 1830' [this latter cannot be correct].

1. PROB 11/1730/382

2. 'Letter of Jefferson to Marbois, 1781, 1783', https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1832886/1832886_djvu.txt [accessed 08/06/2017].