John George Nanton

Slave-owner on St Vincent, resident until c. 1848. Given the name of his elder daughter, he was almost certainly the son of John Nanton and his second wife Britannia Nanton who had been active in land transactions on St Vincent in the 1780s.

1. The will of John George Nanton of St Vincent [made in 1846 with a codicil made in Toronto in 1848, and registered in St Vincent in 1849] was proved 28/02/1852. He noted the death of his wife as the cause of his making the will and left his property among his five children (named as Britannia; Edward; Caroline; Augustus; and Georgie), failing whom he left legacies totalling £5250 to a number of individuals (some identifiably on St Vincent) and the residual estate to William Laborde, identified as the brother of his late wife.

2. John George Nanton's grandson Augustus Meredith Nanton has an entry in the Canadian Dictionary of Biography as 'broker, financier, capitalist and philanthropist.'

For John and Britannia Nanton, see e.g. Deed Book 1787, British Library, EAP688/1/1/2, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-2 pp. 254-257. For John Nanton and his first wife Elizabeth see. e.g. the deeds of 29 and 30/10/1776 under which Nanton purchased from James Barclay the executor of David Middleton urban land on St Vincent that John Nanton had originally rented from Middleton in 1772, and the mortgage granted by John and Elizabeth Nanton to Barclay to secure the purchase price, Deed Book 1776-1777, British Library, EAP688/1/1/27, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-27 pp. 121 et seq., and Deed Book 1776-1777, British Library, EAP688/1/1/27, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-27 pp. 128-134.

1. PROB 11/2147/412

2. Peter Hanlon, “NANTON, Sir AUGUSTUS MEREDITH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed December 3, 2020, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nanton_augustus_meredith_15E.html.