Nicholas Richards

Nicholas Richards of St Kitts and then Cheshunt appears as a trustee or executor in the wills of John Baker of St Kitts (q.v.), William Julius (q.v.) and William Priddie (q.v.) which show him as of St Kitts until at least 1792; in the will of John Collins of Berners Street (q.v.) which shows him of Cheshunt c. 1806; and as of England when he was a co-mortgagee with members of the Baker family on an estate on St Vincent c. 1803, presumably again as trustee. Despite his network among major St Kitts' slave-owners, LBS has to date found no direct estate-ownership for him.

1. The will of Nicholas Richards of Cheshunt [made in 1801] was proved 17/12/1813. The will is silent on slave-property in St Kitts but in it he manumitted 'my old slave and servant Black John and strongly recommend him to the assistance, protection and friendship of my widow and children during the remainder of his life should he merit their continued favour.' He left: £500 to his grandson Nicholas Richards Salisbury; an annuity of £60 p.a. to his daughter Peggy Bowrey Richards provided she remained unmarried, otherwise £2000 as a marriage settlement; and his residuary estate to his wife for life and then among his three children. In a codicil he revoked the appointment of his son-in-law Nicholas Salisbury (q.v.) as executor and replaced the legacies to Salisbury's wife Ann Bowrey Salisbury with a trust for her benefit and in a separate codicil with £500 to Ann's daughter Martha Margareta Lister Salisbury (who appeared on he marriage record with Peter Ewart in 1831 as Maria Margaret Lister Salisbury).

2. Nicholas Richards' son, John Baker Richards, the namesake of John Baker of St Kitts, was Governor of the Bank of England 1826-1828 and a pioneering textile industrialist at the Broadford Works in Aberdeen.

1. PROB 11/1550/302.

2. https://archives.aberdeencity.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DD1744&pos=1 [accessed 22/10/2020].