Arthur Holdsworth merchant of Dartmouth

Arthur Holdsworth merchant of Dartmouth, Devon, was an investor in annuities secured on 'slave-property'. He was among a group of individuals purchasing, for a total of £15,000, annuities from John Mills secured on the latter's estates and enslaved people on Nevis in 1774, when for £550 he bought an annuity of £50 p.a. shown as on the life of his daughter Elizabeth Holdsworth aged 8 but probably also on a second life omitted from the deed. In a second such investment, he was among a group of 16 annuitants created in 1775 when each purchased an annuity from Jacob Kladen (q.v.) secured on Kladen's St Vincent property, including named enslaved people, to raise £11,000. Holdsworth purchased an annuity of £50 p.a. in common with almost all the other subscribers.

1. Arthur Holdsworth merchant was identified in the will of Arthur Holdsworth the Governor of Dartmouth Castle proved in 1777 as his 'cousin'. The MPs for Dartmouth Arthur Holdsworth (1757-1787) and Arthur Howe Holdsworth (1780-1860) were the son and grandson of Arthur Holdsworth the Governor (d. 1777). No will has been found for Arthur Holdsworth merchant, who was possibly himself also the Governor of Dartmouth Castle who died in 1807.

Common Records 1775-1776, British Library, EAP794/1/1/15, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP794-1-1-15 pp. 65-94; Deed Book 1770-1776, British Library, EAP688/1/1/25, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-25 pp. 528-540.

1. PROB 11/1034/210. A memorial in St Petrox Church is possibly for the annuitant, IN MEMORY OF/ARTHUR HOLDSWORTH/GOVERNOR OF DARTMOUTH CASTLE FROM1787 TO 1807/DIED AUGUST 20TH,1807,/AGED75 YEARS./ALSO OF ELIZABETH HIS WIFE/DAUGHTER OF GEORGE and MARY OLIVE/OF POOLE DORSET/DIED APRIL11TH 1775/AGED 39 YEARS/THEY HAD ISSUE/THOMAS ARTHUR. ROBERT. MARIA/DIED IN INFANCY/ELIZABETH DIED JUNE 10TH 1782/AGED 16 YEARS./HARRIET DIED OCTOBER19TH,1788,/AGED 17 YEARS./HENRY HOLDSWORTH./LATE OF HARDNESS HOUSE AND HILLFIELD/ BORN APRIL 8TH 1774/ DIED JANUARY 17TH , 1841,/AGED 67 YEARS, https://www.lsew.org.uk/church/dartmouth-st-petrox/ [accessed 25/09/2020].