Jane Forbes (née Smithson)

Jane Forbes, widow of Bath, awarded the compensation for the Bush Hill estate on Nevis, probably as widow of George Clarke Forbes.  

1. Jane Smithson married George Clarke Forbes at St Giles in the Fields, Holborn June 1801. Will of George Clarke Forbes Solicitor-General of the Island of Nevis proved 09/06/1827. George Clarke Forbes was previously the Attorney-General of Tortola, according to the testimony of John Dougan, a navy agent who was in Tortola in 1806-8: in testimony in the same trial in a case of forgery at the Old Bailey in 1816 the London merchant Thomas Latham (q.v.) testified  that he had 'very large concerns' both with George Clarke Forbes and his father. According to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Registry, Jane Forbes of Bath was the widow and executrix of George C. Forbes of Nevis, Solicitor General of Nevis, and her husband wrote his will 11/13/1826. He left ‘such plantations, messuages’ etc he possessed to his wife. The joint executors were Jane Forbes and his friend George Bucke of Nevis, merchant.

2. On 10/08/1837 Jane Forbes ‘of Bath but now residing in Cheltenham’, with her unmarried niece Christiana Herbert Morton Herbert of Montagu Street, Portman Square, Middlesex, sold Bush Hill plantation in the parish of St John Figtree, through their attorney Robert Claxton, HM Solicitor General, to Walter Lewis Bucke for £3,000 Nevis currency, with 67 apprentice labourers attached, and 27 horned cattle, one pony, one mule and three asses.

3. In 1841 Jane Forbes was living at 4 Cotswold Villas, Leckhampton (now outskirts of Cheltenham), Gloucestershire, aged 62, described as ‘Independent’, not born in the county nor listed as born in Scotland, Ireland or in foreign parts; living with her unmarried sister Sarah Smithson, aged 60, of similar birthplace, and two servants, Sarah Butcher (30) and Mariah Butcher (18).

4. At the time she made her will in August 1843, Jane Forbes was living at the same address in Leckhampton. She did not mention any children and left everything to her sister.

5. Jane Forbes died Q1 1850, probably in Leckhampton, although her death was registered in Cheltenham. Her sister Sarah Smithson’s (born about 1781) death was registered Cheltenham (probably Leckhampton) Q1 1855. The sisters are buried together in Plot No K.157 at St Peter’s Parish Church, Leckhampton and the (indistinct) incription reads: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JANE FORBES, RELICT OF GEOGE CLARKE FORBES ESQUIRE:SOLICITOR GE[NERAL?] OF ST KITTS, - - - ST NEVIS, - - - - WHO DIED - - - - - AGED 84 - - - ALSO MISS SARAH SMITHSON - - -SISTER [OF THE ABOVE?] WHO DIED - - - - - - AGE[D] - - -.

T71/882 Nevis claim no. 19. There was a counterclaim, later withdrawn, from Chales Pinney for a charge under the will of George Clarke Forbes for the benefit of his creditors.

1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]; PROB 11/1727; http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/print.jsp?div=t18160110-45 [accessed 01/02/2012]. Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Registry, Nevis (ECSCRN), CR 1823-1829 vol 2 f516 [or f576?].

2. ECSCRN, CR 1835-1838 ff270-71.

3. 1841 census online.

4. PROB 11/2111 Jane Forbes’s will, proved 22/04/1850.

5. FreeUKGen, England and Wales Free BMD Database, Deaths, 1837-1983 [database online]; Eric Miller, Leckhampton St Peter memorial inscriptions, http://leckhamptonlhs.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/8/7/5887234/sectionk.pdf [accessed 02/04/2020].

We are grateful to Eric Miller for his assistance with compiling this entry.