Vincent John Biscoe

London West India merchant, partner with Marmaduke Hilton and then under his own name. Father of Joseph Seymour Biscoe (q.v.). John Purrier (q.v.) was his clerk and took on his business as 'merchant or factor'.

1. Vincent Biscoe was a member of the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa 06/08/1750. He took part in a conference between the African Company and the Company of Merchants at Garraway's Coffee House, London, 05/02/1751. He appeared before a Parliamentary Select Committee as a representative of the Merchants Committee in 1754.

2. Vincent Biscoe was named in the will of Alexander Forbes, gentleman of Kingston, Jamaica (written in 1769 and proved in 1771) and charged with managing sufficient funds to provide for annuities for Forbes' mother and sister.

3. Will of Vincent John Biscoe merchant of [Bedford Row] St Andrews Holborn 14/05/1770. In the will he left £5000 to his daughter Mary and divided his extensive real estate in England between his sons Joseph Seymour Biscoe and Vincent Hilton Biscoe. In a codicil of 1768 he diverted his property in Mincing Lane and Tower Street in the City of London to his son Edmund Hammond Biscoe instead of Vincent Hilton Biscoe. He authorised his executors to make whatever arrangement was sensible with John Purrier if the latter wanted to continue the business of Vincent John Biscoe in which he [Purrier] was clerk. He left 20 guineas each to his 'worthy friends' Thomas Hibbert senior, Thomas Hibbert junior and Samuel Jackson of Kingston, and £25 p.a. to Miss Hannah Shelley, natural daughter of his late correspondent Danl. Monro of Jamaica, provided she did not inherit the contingent remainder of the fortune Monro left to his niece Fanny Jenkins. His will was otherwise silent on Jamaica and on 'slave-property' although he said he had 'very considerable' personalty including debts receivable by him.

1. J. J. Crooks, Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 to 1874 (2013) pp. 11, 12; Benedict G. Fer, 'Parliament's Interest in West Africa, 1713-1785', MA thesis, University of Ottawa (1967) pp. 122-137.

2. PROB 11/973/276.

3. PROB 11/957/261.

We are grateful to Rita Lamb for her assistance with compiling this entry.