Henry Bengough

Alderman, attorney and banker of Bristol, co-founder of the Bristol City Bank (a predecessor of RBS) and with his fellow co-founder Matthew Wright party to a deed of 1808-1809 concerning the Rivulet and Revolution Hall estates on St Vincent and the enslaved people attached to them. The nature of the transaction is not entirely clear but Bengough and Wright appear to have become trustees under a transfer of mortgage from Protheroes & Claxton. Bengough also appears to have held a mortgage over unnamed estates (and enslaved people) in Jamaica.

1. The elaborate trust will of Henry Bengough Alderman of Bristol proved 17/1/2/1818 has not yet been analysed by LBS. It was the subject of a subsequent Chancery suit, Bengough v Eldridge.

2. From 1765 Henry Bengough was described as 'Attorney' in the bankruptcy of Henry Casamajor.

3. Description: Power of attorney (endorsed : not used) from Arthur Palmer & Rev. Charles Cadell Edridge (executors of will of Henry Bengough) to ....... : to take possession of plantations in Jamaica & enforce mortgage securities for £17000 and int. Date: 1831.

'f. 106‐36 Entered 26 April 1809 Transfer of mortgage: an indenture made on 21 October 1808 between i) Edward Protheroe, Robert Claxton and Philip Protheroe (merchants and copartners, Bristol) and ii) Henry Bengough (esquire and alderman of Bristol) and Matthew Wright (merchant, Bristol). The Protheroes & Claxton sell [presumably a mortgage over] Rivulet estate, Saint George parish, Saint Vincent, 162 acres plus 45 acres of pasture in the valley of Marriaqua, Saint George parish. Also sold is Revolution Hall plantation, Saint George parish, Saint Vincent, 146 acres, to Bengough and Wright. The buildings, utensils and slaves of these estates are included in the transactions. Numerous financial details given in this long document. Two schedules of the names of the slaves on Rivulet and Revolution Hall plantations are included.' Prof. Kenneth Morgan, EAP345: A survey of the endangered archives of St Vincent, West Indies, during the slavery era http://eap.bl.uk/downloads/eap345_survey.pdf [accessed 31/03/2017]. The deed summarised by K. Morgan is included in full in EAP 688 St Vincent Deed Book 1809, and shows the transaction as a transfer of mortgage from Protheroes & Claxton to Bengough and Wright as trustees for the benefit of Robert Claxton and Butler Thompson Claxton, around the time Robert Claxton withdrew from partnership with the Protheroes and formed a new partnership with his son Butler Thompson Claxton.

1. PROB 11/1611/219; London Gazette 17945 2 August 1823 p. 1271.

2. London Gazette 10511 6 April 1765 p.3.

3. Bristol Archives, 14183/27.