William Fyfe

William Fyfe and Catherine his wife had the following children baptised in Kingston, Jamaica: Elizabeth Margaret (1783), Mary Ann (1785), Alexander Barclay (1786), Catherine (1789), Harriett (1791) and Eleanor (1792).

The Morning Post reported the death in Jamaica 06/01/1810 of William Fyfe, late of Wood Street, London. The Scots Magazine gives the same date of death, also in Jamaica, and identifies him as "brother of the late Mr Barclay Fyfe, merchant in Leith." William Fyfe, apothecary, was buried in the churchyard in Kingston 06/01/1810.

Robert Fyfe, son of Mr Barclay Fyfe, merchant in Leith, died in Kingston, Jamaica, 01/08/1794 (Edinburgh Advertiser 03/10/1794). Memorial inscription in Kingston Parish Churchyard, "IN MEMORY OF MR. ROBERT FYFE ONLY SON OF MR. BARCLAY FYFE MERCHANT IN LEITH. THIS STONE IS ERECTED BY HIS UNCLE DOCTOR WILLIAM FYFE, OF THIS TOWN AS A MARK OF HIS SINCERE AFFECTION AND REGARD FOR A NEPHEW WHO, HAD HIS LIFE BEEN SPARED, BY HIS PROPRIETY OF CONDUCT AND A HIGH SENSE OF HONOUR PROMISED TO BE AN ORNAMENT AS WELL AS AN USEFUL MEMBER OF SOCIETY. HE DIED THE, 1st OF AUGT.1 1794 IN THE 19th YEAR OF HIS AGE."

The will of William Fyfe, formerly of the island of Jamaica but now of Wood Street, London, merchant, was proved in London 05/03/1810. In it, he bequeathed his whole estate including "plantations houses lots of land negroes live + dead stock in the Island of Jamaica" to his wife Catherine, son-in-law Robert Dunbar of Old London Street, broker, and Alexander Maxwell Bennett of Queen Square in Bloomsbury, merchant in trust to provide, among other things, an annuity of £400 sterling per annum for life to his wife Catherine. Also mentioned are his daughters Eleanor Fyfe, Elizabeth Margaret (wife of Robert Dunbar), Mary Ann (wife of Richard Henry Thomas Stoweley) and son Alexander Barclay Fife. The will was signed 04/04/1808.

"Sir Robert Dunbar 5th son of David, 5th of Sir Alexander Dunbar, married in 1801, Elizabeth Margaret, daughter of William Fyfe Esqre., M.D. of Jamaica, and had issue."

Death in 1818 at Kentish Town, Mrs Catherine Fyfe, relict of William Fyfe, Esquire, formerly of Kingston, Jamaica, and of Wood Street, London.

Identification of his brother as Barclay and his brother's death in January 1801 aged 55 suggests they were Barclay Fyfe (baptised 06/02/1744/5) and William Fyfe (baptised 13/03/1752), both the sons of Alexander Fyfe of Banff. William's baptism record states he was named after William Fyfe, merchant and William Martin of Excise in Marnoch.

Familysearch.org, Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

Morning Post 22/02/1810; Scots Magazine 01/03/1810; Familysearch.org, Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

Edinburgh Advertiser 03/10/1794; James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies (1875) p. 134.

PROB 11/1509/82.

W. Alexander Feurtado, Official and other Personages of Jamaica from 1655 to 1790, to which is added a chapter on the peerage, &c. in Jamaica (1896) transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/b/bfeurtado08.htm.

Morning Post 07/10/1818.

Death of Barclay Fyfe, GROS OPR Deaths 692/2 160 162 Leith South; baptism of William Fyfe, GROS OPR Births 147 20 542 Banff.