Roderick Reach

As trustee and executor of Duncan Fraser awarded part of the compensation for enslaved persons on Golden Fleece estate, British Guiana.

1. Probably Roderick Reach (c. 1786-1853), solicitor, one-time proprietor of the Inverness Courier, living with his wife Anna in the household of Jean Matheson, "Lodging H Keeper", at 39 High Street, Inverness, in 1841. Subsequently living with his wife Ann as a lodger at 8 Great Russell Street, Middlesex, in 1851, born in Ferrintosh [now spelt Ferintosh], Ross-shire. There are two connections to make this identification likely. Roderick Reach married Ann Bethune, and the Bethune family from Alness, in Ross-shire, just twenty miles north of Inverness, were prominent planters in British Guiana in the early 19th century. Secondly, also living with Roderick Reach at 39 High Street, Inverness in the census of 1841 was Roderick Fraser, surgeon, age 25, suggesting a link between Roderick Reach and the Fraser family. Angus Bethune Reach, the son of Roderick Reach and Ann Bethune, has an entry in the ODNB.

2. The deceased Duncan Fraser of Golden Fleece has not yet been identified. Duncan Fraser of Kilcoy (q.v.) who originated in Black Isle, in Ross-shire, near Inverness, in Scotland was the nephew of John Fraser of Kilcoy and still apparently alive in the mid-1830s.

3. On demitting office as Cashier/Treasurer of Inverness Royal Academy in November 1832, Thomas Gilzean (for whom see entry on Alexander Gilzean) passed the function to Roderick Reach.

T71/885 British Guiana claim no. 198A&B (Golden Fleece). For more texture on Roderick Reach, see David Alston, Slaves and Highlanders http://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=599209 'Roderick Reach' [accessed 25/08/2017]

1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Angus Bethune Reach (1821-1856) available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23213 [accessed 25/04/2012]; 1841 census online; 1851 census online.

2. David Alston, Slaves & Highlanders John Fraser (Kilcoy).

3. Aberdeen University Library Special Collections KC 874, Ledger of Thomas Gilzean 1802-35, p 364.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his assistance with compiling this entry.