Sir Morris Ximenes

In the will of Isabella Hankey (nee Alexander) (q.v.), she said that she had since her husband's death (which took place in 1807) purchased from Sir Morris Ximenes a 1/8th interest in the Grand Bras estate in Grenada. The path to ownership by Sir Morris Ximenes is not yet known to LBS: a connection between Ximenes, the Bulama colonisation off the coast of Sierra Leone and the Hankey family is suggested by the journey of the merchant ship Hankey owned or chartered the Bulam Company and sailing between Bulama and Grenada c. 1792.

1. 'XIMENES, SIR MORRIS (Moses; c. 1762–1837), English magnate. Born in London, Ximenes was a member of the Stock Exchange and made a fortune. In 1792 he was the leading spirit in an unsuccessful expedition, partly composed of and mainly supported by London Sephardim, for the colonization of the island of Bulama off the west African coast. In 1802 he declined to serve as warden of the Bevis Marks synagogue and was converted to Anglicanism. During the Peninsular War (1812–15) Xiimenes raised and commanded a brigade of Wargrave Rangers. He acquired a country estate and built a mansion at Bear Place in Berkshire. Ximenes became a captain of militia, sheriff of Berkshire, and a knight. He is mentioned by name in Frederick Marryat's novel Olla Porida (1841) as the only well-known person in England whose name began with an "X." He was the brother of Sir David Ximenes. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.M. Hyamson, Sephardim of England (1951), 201f.; Roth, in: JHSET, 14 (1935–39), 14–16; 15 (1939–45); 16–18; J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History (19562), 295–7, 476.'

Deirdre Coleman, 'Bulama and Sierra Leone' in Sandra Silberstein (ed.) Islands in History and Representation p. 79.

1. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ximenes-sir-morris [accessed 21/05/2019].