John William Inness

Executor and residuary devisee of Alexander Innes or Inness (q.v) mortgagee, and as such awarded compensation for enslaved persons on Kings Bay Estate, Tobago and counterclaimed for the compensation for enslaved people on Kingstown in St Vincent.

1. The will of Alexander Innes of St Pancras was proven 23/10/1830. 'Alex. Innes[s]' was described as the consignee in the counterclaim for Merchiston estate on Tobago, and was a partner with Coll Turner (q.v.) in London.

2. From his age in the 1841 census and at his death in 1847, the very likely baptism of John William Innes is recorded at St Gabriel, Fenchurch, on 24/05/1787, parents Alexander Innes and Mary, his birth recorded as 28/04/1787.

3. Letter from the Compensation Commission to John William Inness outlining the procedures for claiming on Tobago nos. 58 and 63 gives his address as the Admiralty. This matches the record for John William Inness, Admiralty clerk: Extra Clerk 3 May 1804-28 Sept. 1807; Junior Clerk 28 Sept. 1807-5 Feb. 1816; Second Class Clerk 5 Feb. 1816-22 Jan. 1822; First Class Clerk 22 Jan. 1822-24 May 1847; died 24 May 1847.

4. Marriage of John William Innes Esquire of the parish of St Pancras, Bachelor, to Caroline Beechey of St Mary-le-Bone, Spinster, took place on 29/05/1819 at St Mary-le-Bone. One of the witnesses was Alexr Innes. The baptism records for the births of their four sons place them at Burton Crescent (1823, 1825 and 1829) and 23 Upper Baker Street (1832).

5. In the 1841 census, John Innes, age 54, married, was living on Roslyn Street, St John Hampstead, "Cl. Admiralty", with Caroline Innes, 57, Frederick Innes, 18, George Innes, 15, Arthur Innes, 9, all born in Middlesex, and four servants.

6. Burial of John William Innes, 27/05/1847 at Paddington Green St Mary, London, age 60, abode: Albert Road, Regent's Park. Will of John William Innes [sic] of the Admiralty proved 22/11/1848. He left his all his property and estates in the West Indies and all his other property to his wife Caroline Innes.

T71/891 Tobago claim nos. 58 and 63.

1. PROB 11/1777/88.

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online].

3. T71/1593; 'Alphabetical list of officials: A-J', Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660-1870 (1975), pp. 106-135, available at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16697 [accessed 04/04/2012].

4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

5. 1841 census online.

6. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]; PROB 11/2083/245.