James Brebner Gordon born Brebner

1724 - 1807

Slave-owner and antecedent of claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Grandfather of James Adam Gordon (q.v.), father of James Gordon (1758-1822) (q.v.) and Mary Anne Brebner Gordon (q.v.), who married Sir William Abdy the 6th bart. (q.v.). James Brebner took the name Gordon on inheriting from his uncle James Gordon of Antigua (q.v.). 

  1. The will of Stephen Lavington proved 08/12/1759 recites an indenture between himself and his sister Ann and brother-in-law James Brebner of Antigua then of Argyle Street of 1755. The text of the indenture shows Lavington conveying his property on Antigua (one unnamed freehold estate - presumed by LBS to have been Lavingtons - and two-thirds of Monk's Hill and Roundhill, and leaseholds over a small acreage at Willoughby Bay and over the other one-third of each of Monk's Hill and Roundhill) to [his brother-in-law] James Brebner in exchange for Brebner taking on Lavington's debts up to £4000, paying Lavington £1300 and granting Lavington an annuity of £500 p.a. in addition to the annuity his wife already held of the same amount.

  2. Will of James Gordon of [Moor Place Hertfordshire and] St George Hanover Square [made in 1798] proved 11/05/1808. He left annuities of £100 p.a. to his sister Mrs Jean Gordon, £60 p.a. to his niece Mrs Thurston and £130 p.a. to his housekeeper Mrs Catherine Pringall [?], and £30,000 [with further legacies to them of £5000 in a codicil of 1801 and another £5000 in 1802] to his grand-daughters Catherine, Charlotte and Harriet Abdy in capital or joint stock of the Bank of England, to be distributed among them according to the will of his daughter Lady Abdy, to whom he left his house at Upper Grosvenor Street. He left his plantations and enslaved people in Antigua and St Vincent in trust (his trustees were Sir William Abdy; Thomas Boddington; Evan Baillie; and Thomas Dunn of Lincolns Inn] for his son James Gordon for life and then his grandson James Adam Gordon.


Sources

  1. Vere Langford Oliver, History of Antigua Vol. II part II pp. 166-167; PROB 11/851/159.

  2. PROB 11/1479/109


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Anne Lavington
Children
James Gordon

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1766 [SY] - 1807 [EY] → Owner

'Brebner' was the original purchaser of Lot No. 132 on St Vincent (177 acres) which together with Lots Nos. 100 and 101 (28 and 81 acres), originally leased to French settlers, came to form Fairhall, owned at the time of the Slave Registers by James Brebner Gordon's son James Gordon.


Legacies Summary

Physical (1)

Country house
Moor Place [Built] 
description →
Country house in Hertfordshire, built 1775-1779 by Robert Mitchell for James Brebner Gordon on an existing Elizabethan manor. Extant, privately...

Relationships (9)

Husband → Wife
Marriage Details →
30th Nov -0001 1777
Father → Daughter
Father → Son
Grandfather → Grandson
First Cousins
Brother-in-law → Sister-in-law
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Grandfather → Grandson
Nephew → Uncle

Addresses (1)

Moor Place, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, South-east England, England