James Byres of Tonley

James Byres of Tonley was an architect and art dealer in Rome, returning to Scotland c. 1790. He owned land in St Vincent and was possibly also the James Byres who was an early buyer of land in Dominica, although this latter remains unconfirmed. LBS has surmised that his brother John was the Chief Surveyor in the Ceded & Neutral Islands.

1. 28 September 1792 James Byres late of Rome now of Forgue, Aberdeenshire, son of Patrick Byres. He had the right to certain pieces or parcels of land in the Island of St Vincent in the West Indies, contained in Grants to his said father on his behalf under the Great Seal appointed for the said island that he intended to sell.

2. James Byres of Tonley was party to an indenture of 01/08/1808 whereby Bridget Ross and he contracted to sell land to James Lacroix (q.v.) identified in the deed as part of the Belmont estate in St George on St Vincent. The deed recited that John Byres had owned 197 acres of land which he had in 1774 mortgaged to William Fraser of Inner Temple; that mortgage had become the property of James Byres of Tonley [the mechanism was not specified]. James Lacroix agreed to purchase 68 acres of the total parcel for £2443 2s 6d, of which he paid 1/3rd upfront, divided between Bridget Ross and James Byres with the majority to Bridget Ross. [Lacroix died very shortly after this deed was signed, and the land presumably reverted to Bridget Ross as owner and James Tonley as mortgagee].

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/jacobitevirtuosi/byres.php [accessed 18/04/2019]; John Byres, References to a plan of the island of Dominica as surveyed from the year 1765 and 1773 (London, 1777) p. 1 shows James Byres and Harry Gordon as buying adjacent lots in St Andrews which by c. 1773 were held by James Byres alone.

1. http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/propinquityrecords.htm [accessed 18/04/2019]

2. Deed Book 1810, British Library, EAP688/1/1/21, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-21 pp. 147-154.