Thomas Warren

1. Son of Algernon and Dorothy Warren, born 27/11/1782 and baptised at Kingston 13/04/1783. Brother of Edward B[urdett] Warren, q.v. Algernon Warren and Dorothy Prisleau, spinster, both of Kingston, who had married in St Andrew, 31/01/1767. Algernon Warren was a Master in Ordinary, Chancery Court, a magistrate in St Andrew, and a commissioner for taking affidavits in Kingston, Port Royal and St Andrew; in 1794 he advertised for sale Prospect Hill, a coffee plantation of 800 acres in St Andrew, together with 70 slaves on the property; he was dead by 07/09/1811 when Mrs Dorothy Warren, his widow, was reported to have died “last week”.

2. Thomas Burdett, son of Thomas and Nancy Warren, baptised in Bradford, Wiltshire, in 1812. Edward Burdett, same parents, baptised at the Morice Street Chapel in Devonport in 1813 (when Thomas Warren appears as the officiating minister for many baptisms). Three more children with the same parents baptised in Wesleyan chapels: Kingston (1815, Camelford in Cornwall); Dorothy Jane (1818, Carmarthen); and William Algernoon (1821, Carmarthen).

3. Of the Methodist Chapel, Plymouth, England, and presumably a Methodist Minister, in 1812, when in receipt of a letter from his brother Edward concerning his undivided interest in a pen and enslaved people in Jamaica. Thomas had apparently requested the manumission of his enslaved people for religious reasons and Edward resisted this: "... respecting the Negroes belonging to our Mother's Estate in which you have [one this do?] — namely — that it was impolitic, indeed out of my power to take them specifically and then as your Attorney, [manumisse ?] those who may fall to your share. The Legislature of the Island would not permit such a proceeding, as it would, no doubt, induce the remainder of the Negroes on the Penn to meeting, and perhaps lead eventually to a general insurrection — it may be all well for the [Methodist] Conference to insist on your manumissing Slaves who are exclusively your property, (which I have already fully done, — say Georgiana, her child and Michael) but I cannot think, on a fair and just representation from you, that it would insist on your giving up your right to those on the Penn — they are attached to it, and an {underlined undivided} property — subject to the expenses attending the education and clothing of the [grand?] children — and to pay each of them £100 as they may respectively attain the age of 17 years. Pray take into consideration what I have observed on a subject which appears and no doubt gives you so much uneasiness - and let me hear very fully from you on the subject."

4. Of 17 Trafalgar Place, Plymouth Dock, 1815. Of Redcliff Street, Bristol, wholesale druggist, 1836. Of King Street, Carmarthen, 1845, when he retired from business as a “chymist” (partnership with his son Edward, trading as Thos. Warren & Son, dissolved 07/08/1845). A visitor at Marlbro Hill, Bristol, in the 1851 census when his wife was living at Picton Terrace, Carmarthen. Of 80 Spilman Street in 1861 with his wife Anne age 72, sons Thomas B age 48 and Edward B age 47 and two female servants. Of Spilman Street, Carmarthen, Wesleyan Minister, aged 80, at his death 22/11/1862, when described as “one of the most respected inhabitants of [Carnarthen] and for many years connected with Bristol”.

5. Probate of Rev. Thomas Warren, late of Spilman Street, Carmarthen, Supernumary Wesleyan Minister, was granted 08/12/1862; estate sworn under £5,000. His son, Edward Burdett Warren, of Spilman Street, Carnarthen, wholesale druggist, had died 20/11/1861, aged 48; probate to deceased’s brothers Algernon Warren of Bristol, merchant, and William de Gruchy Warren of Carmarthen, wholesale druggist, 10/1/1862.

6. Thomas Warren commenced his Methodist ministry in 1805 and died “in the work” 1862.

1. Familysearch.org, Jamaican parish registers, Kingston Baptisms 1722-1792, p. 323; Jamaica Almanac (1779, 1782, 1784); Royal Gazette of Jamaica 07/09/1811.

2. Ancestry.com, England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936 [database online].

3. Letters transcribed at http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/letters/warren2.html [accessed 27/11/2020].

4. Ibid.; Bristol Mercury, 01/10/1836; Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette, 09/08/1845 (partnership dissolution); 1851 and 1861 censuses online; Potter’s Electric News, 03/12/1862; Weston-super-Mare Gazette and General Advertiser, 06/12/1862.

5. National Probate Calendar 1862.

6. “An Alphabetical Arrangement of all the Wesleyan Methodist Ministers... and an alphabetical list of the ministers who have died in the work” (Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, London, 1896) p.227 (at archive.org).

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.