Eleanor Blagrove Drake (née Brown)

Owner of enslaved people in St Ann's, Jamaica.

1. John Drake of Buckden, Yorkshire, married Miss Eleanor B. Brown of Saint Ann's, 26/06/1819. On their marriage certificate, she was given as of St Luke's, Chelsea, and he of St George's, Hanover Square. A daughter, Ann, born 19/08/1820, was baptised in St Andrew, Holborn in 1821 when her parents' address was given as Cursitor Street and her father's occupation of Coal Merchant. At the baptism of John George in 1822, their address was Southwark and John Drake's occupation Hop Merchant. Likewise an address of Walworth and occupation of Hop Merchant for Frederick Drake in 1825. They had four children baptised on the same day in 1833, suggesting a return to London after living in Jamaica: the children were Eliza Moncrieffe (born 1829), Eleanor Blagrove (born 1830) and James Barrand and Charles Welsh (both born 1833). A further child, Benjamin Moncrieffe Drake, was born in 1836 and baptised in Jamaica in 1849 when his parents' address was given as Thatch Hill, St Ann.

2. John Drake was declared bankrupt in 1825. At a call for the creditors of the bankrupt John Drake of Richmond Terrace, Walworth, in 1826, the assignees proposed relinquishing all claim for the furniture and effects of the house which was also claimed as her property by Mrs Eliza Brown.

3. Eleanor Blagrove Drake was bequeathed £200 sterling in the will of John Blagrove, a landowner in St Ann's Jamaica who had retired to England. Eliza Brown and Thomas Coates Brown were also mentioned in the will. Soon after the will was proved, John Drake was able to pay his way out of debtor's prison and the couple appear to have settled with their children in St Ann's, Jamaica.

4. Benjamin Scott Moncrieffe registered 3 enslaved people in St Ann's, Jamaica, as attorney to Eleanor Burrows Drake late Brown in 1820. Eleanor registered her own enslaved people in St Ann's in 1826. Benjamin Scott Moncrieffe registered 6 enslaved people as attorney to Eleanor B. Drake in 1829.

T71/859 St Ann claim no.

1. European Magazine Vol. LXXVI, July 1819 p. 81. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]. Ancestry.com, London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database online]. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

2. London Gazette, Issue 18230, 18/03/1826 p. 634.

3. PROB 11/1685/136. Emails from Jayne Jackson, 08/02/2013.

4. T71/44 p. 87. T71/46 p. 234. T71/47 unpaginated.

We are grateful to Jayne Jackson for her assistance in compiling this entry.