Samuel Hall Lord

Slave-owner on Barbados. In some ways, Lord exemplifies the 'transatlantic' character of many slave-owners. While based primarily in Barbados, he had periods of being in England, including 1804-1809, 1812-1814, 1835-1839, and finally returning to England where he died in 1844.

1. Son of John and Bathsheba Lord, baptised 23/11/1778 in St Philip parish Barbados.

2. Samuel Hall Lord, aged 68 [therefore born c. 1776] buried Kensal Green 09/11/1844. He was buried in Catacomb B, beneath the Anglican Chapel. His final address in the Bishop's Transcripts is given as 93 Jermyn Street, St. James, Westminster, 'formerly of Barbadoes', and his age as 68.

3. There is a detailed account of Samuel Hall Lord's life, including his sojourn in England 1834/1835-1839, in Brandow's Genealogies of Barbados Families

4. NB a Samuel Hall Lord of Maidstone Kent is shown marrying Frances Holloway at St Andrews Holborn 13/11/1802. However, it seems unlikely that this was the same Samuel Lord.

5. In 1804, aged 26, Lord went to England to ‘enter’ London and Bath society. Met Lucy Wightwick (aged about 20), daughter of Thomas Dewey Wightwick, owner of Hewelsfield Court near Chepstow, Staffs., and Capel Court, Gloucestershire. Lord and Lucy married 28 February 1808 at Abbey Church, Bath. Seems likely that the marriage took place against the wishes of Lucy’s father. Of the children, only Cecilia survived into adulthood. She was born at Hewelsfield Court, 17 November 1812. Lord treated both his wife and their daughter very badly. In June 1814 Samuel and Lucy returned to Barbados without Cecilia. In April 1815 Lucy returned to England (on hearing that Samuel had ‘sent to England for the child’). By May 1816 she had separated from Samuel: she had to surrender her right to dower but retained absolute guardianship of Cecilia. Samuel never paid Lucy any of the allowance of £300 p.a. due under an Agreement of 5 October 1815. The best he managed was to pay for Cecilia’s education at a school (Miss Webb’s seminary) in Clifton and £100 for one year for her to finish her education in Paris. And much later, following his death in 1844, Cecilia and her husband, James Haywood (a solicitor of Edgbaston, Birmingham), unsuccessfully sought redress. At the same time, Samuel had left his estate to Cecilia's son, Walter Wightwick Haywood; but the debts were so considerable that the estate was worth little.

T71/897 Barbados claim nos. 2820 (Ruby), 2835 (Long Bay) and 2991; T71/899 Barbados claim nos. 4236A&B (Bowmanstown) and 4261 (Pool Estate).

1. Ancestry.com, Barbados Baptisms, 1637-1800 [database online].

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]. (General Cemetery Company register number 5117, deposited 9 November 1844).

3. Colonel A. H. Wightwick Haywood, 'Sam Lord and his Castle' in James C. Brandow Genealogies of Barbados Families (1983), pp. 388-401. [Originally in the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, XXX (1963), pp. 114-26. The author was Samuel Lord's great-grandson.]

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

5. Haywood, 'Sam Lord and his Castle'.

We are grateful to Signe Hoffos for her assistance in compiling this entry.