Charles Bean

Awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on the Richmond estate in British Guiana, and almost certainly the same Charles Bean as the man appearing in five further awards in British Guiana, one as joint proprietor and others as guardian or sequestrator. .

1. The will of Charles Bean late of British Guiana but now resident in Richmond Surrey was proved 02/11/1841, revoking all previous wills 'especially' one written in 1835 in Demerara. The will refers to Charles Bean's children with his second wife Eliza Greene Parkinson (including Madelaine, Mary, Jane, Charles and James), and to his 'present' wife Sarah daughter of John Austin of Demerara (to whom he left an annuity of £200 p.a.), and her children (Sarah Eliza, James, Mary and Letitia Mehetabel: Sarah Bean was the widow of Joseph Beete senior (q.v. under 'Joseph Beete.'). Charles Bean left £50 to Charles Botters, the son of a mulatto woman Judith Botters 'who lived with me in Demerara in the year 1803.' Secondary sources indicate Charles Bean left British Guiana in July 1835.

2. In 1841, Charles Bean age 60 was living at Lower Road, Richmond, Surrey, with Sarah (40), his daughters from his marriage to Eliza - Madelaine (20), Mary Ann (20), Sarah (15) - and Sarah's daughters from her marriage to Joseph Beete - Sarah Bute [sic] (20), Mary (15) and Letitia (15) - four female servants and one male servant. Charles Bean was buried in St Peter's, Petersham, Surrey, 25/09/1841, age 62.

3. In 1851, Sarah Bean had married Rev. Samuel Hope Unwin and was living at Milner Square, Islington, with her husband, two sons and her sisters Madelaine and Mary Ann. In 1871, Madelina S Bean aged 54 and Mary A. Bean aged 52, both 'Income from dividends' and both born Demerara, were living at Meridian Place Clifton. In 1881 the sisters were lodgers in Richmond Terrace Clifton. Madeline Susanna Bean died in Penzance in 1890 leaving £194 17s 6d. Mary Ann Bean died at 6 Princes Buildings, Weston-super-Mare in 1885 leaving £207. Sarah Jane Unwin died at Honfleur, France, in 1875.

4. An online family tree gives Martha Bean as the [natural?] daughter of Charles Bean (c. 1781-28/10/1842) and Magdalena Susanna van der Linde (1785-1813). Martha Bean married John Lucie Smith junior (q.v.) c. 1830.

5. The will of Samuel Bean of Richmond Surrey proved 03/02/1815 showed him as the father of Charles Bean (his second son), to whom he had he said advanced considerable sums of money, between £8,000 and £10,000, to enable him to buy the Richmond Plantation in the colony of Demerary. Charles Bean had assigned half the estate to his father to secure the loan, and Samuel Bean left his wife Martha the amount owed by their son, with a recommendation to his son if he [the son] could not pay off the debt that he paid the interest annually on it to his mother.

T71/887 British Guiana nos. 2290 (Richmond); British Guiana nos. 2301, 2322 (as guardian), 2336 (as sequestrator), 2344 and 2542 as (sequestrator).

1. PROB 11/1953/162; Kenneth Joyce Robertson The Four Pillars pp. 242-243. Robertson associates Charles Bean with Richmond Surrey and cites specific legacies in the will of Charles Bean.

2. 1841 census online (indexed on Ancestry.com as Charles Beau). Ancestry.com, Surrey, England, Burials, 1813-1987 [database online].

3. 1851, 1871 and 1881 censuses online; National Probate Calendar 1885 and 1891. Email from John Clarke, 21/12/2014.

4. http://newmemories.org/Genealogy/getperson.php?personID=P474&tree=LJ1[accessed 29/04/2019].

5. PROB 11/1565/44.

We are grateful for the help of James Clarke and Jim Brennan with compiling this entry.