UCL

William Elworthy

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1757

Biography

Bayley and Elworthy were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 600 acres of land in St James, 2149 acres in Clarendon and 144 acres in St Dorothy, total 2893 acres.

Bayley, Elworthy and Bayley were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 1095 acres of land in St George and 250 acres of land in St Mary, total 1345 acres.

William Elworthy was Member of Assembly for St Elizabeth in 1755 when he was replaced as he was absent from the island. Deceased by 1757 when his will was proved in London. He appears to have died unmarried, with no wife or children mentioned in his will.

William Elworthy of Kingston, merchant. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1758. Slave-ownership at probate: 58 of whom 35 were listed as male and 23 as female. 12 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £3108.5 Jamaican currency of which £2286 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £0 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

Possibly the William Elworthy, son of William and Mary Elworthy of Totnes, whose birth was recorded by the Kingsbridge division of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1727. The brother Thomas and sister Margaret of this William Elsworthy had births recorded in the same way in 1720 and 1722. His father William died, according to Quaker records, in May 1752 and his sister Sarah in July 1752.


Sources

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.

An Historical Account of the Sessions of Assembly, for the Island of Jamaica (London, 1757) pp. 23-25.

PROB 11/830/195.

Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

Findmypast.co.uk, England & Wales, Society of Friends (Quaker) Births 1578-1841 [database online]; Findmypast.co.uk, England & Wales, Society of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841 [database online].

Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?
Will

PROB 11/830/195 - precis.

William Elworthy of Kingston, Jamaica, merchant.

My good uncle Samuel Bicker Esquire of Walton in Great Britain to be my sole executor. His kind assistance and favours have been the foundation of my success in life and the sole means of my getting whatever I may die possessed of.

I am now engaged in a partnership under the firm of Bayly, Elworthy and Co. and by a verbal agreement amongst ourselves I am entitled to one third part of the profits arising from our trade, but there is no written contract between us. I recommend to my partners to purchase my share when the same can be justly ascertained. I recommend to my executor to make a reasonable abatement or discount to my surviving partners for their trouble of collecting my part and the risk of bad debts. At present our partnership is possessed of lands, houses, negroes which we have found necessary to purchase for the securing of some debts. I advise my surviving partners to get valued my share and become the purchasers themselves.

To my father and mother William and Mary Elworthy of Totnes, Great Britain, and my four sisters Margaret Jewell, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth Elworthy share and share alike.

Signed 21/08/1752.

Proved at London 13/05/1757 by the oath of Samue Bicker Esquire.

Occupation
Merchant

Relationships (1)

William Elworthy
Business partners
Zachary Bayly
Details

Inventories (1)

William Elworthy
Details