Robert Fergusson

Shown in the Jamaica Almanacs against three linked estates in St Thomas-in-the-East between 1810 and 1821: in the Slave Registers, Sarah Fergusson (q.v.) owned a similar number of enslaved people between 1817 and 1820, selling all or many of them to the Harbour Head estate before 1823.

1. Robert Fergusson and his wife Sarah were in Jamaica in 1797 (at the baptism of their son Hugh Fergusson) and in London in 1978 (for the baptism of their son Patrick Ballantine Fergusson).

2. The slave registrations of Robert and Sarah Fergusson were substantial; the records show 112 enslaved people in 1812, 97 in 1817, and 91 in 1820. Sarah Fergusson apparently signed the register herself in 1817 and 1820, suggesting she was then resident in Jamaica.

3. Robert Fergusson died 01/06/1833 and was buried at Walcot St Swithin, Bath, England; aged 62 or 63. The grave inscription reads ‘late of Kingston and of Castle Hill, St Thomas in the East, Jamaica’ (one of the estates with which he was associated).

4. The will of Robert Fergusson, late of Castle Hill Jamaica but now of Bath, made in 1833, was devoted mostly to the settlement of a debt incurred by his son Hugh, which he instructed his wife Sarah to pay unless the 'late unfortunate events' in Jamaica made that impossible. He left the residue of his estate to his son Patrick Ballantine Fergusson.

We are grateful to Steven Carter for assistance in compiling this entry.

1. Jamaica, C of E, Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1879, Kingston, 1797. London, England, C of E, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, St Marylebone.

2. Jamaica Almanac and Slave Registers, St Thomas in the East.

3. Somerset, England, C of E, Burials, 1813-1914. Find-a-Grave, Robert Fergusson 1833. England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury,

4. PROB 11/1832/298 Description: Will of Robert Fergusson of Bath, Somerset Date: 03/06/1834.