Captain Charles Henry Fraser

Awarded one-third of the compensation for Schepmoed in British Guiana: the other two-thirds went to Jane Agnes Wilhelmina Fraser Rich and Charlotte Mary Ann Woodford and their husbands, George Frederick Rich and Sir Alexander Woodford (all of whom q.v.). The women were the sisters of the Charles Henry Fraser in the award.

1. Charles Henry Fraser the father of Jane Agnes Wilhelmina Fraser Rich and Charlotte Mary Ann Woodford (and almost certainly of the Charles Henry Fraser of the award) had been a diplomat and was the son of William Fraser, secretary of state for Foreign Affairs in Pitt's ministry 1783. Charles Henry Fraser was appointed His Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary to the Circle of Lower Saxony, and Resident with the Hanse Towns, in the room of Emanuel Mathis deceased in 1790. He had previously been Secretary to the Embassy in Madrid, and Minister Plenipotentiary there in the absence of HM's Ambassador. He died before 1820 - he was described as 'late' in the announcement of his daughter's wedding to Colonel Alexander Woodford in 1820, and was probably the Charles Henry Fraser of Camden Place Bath whose will was proved 06/06/1814. Under this will Charles Henry Fraser commented that his children by his first wife had been amply provided for by the fortune of their mother: this was probably the 'Mrs Fraser born Westrik' shown in the 1825, 1828 and 1831 Slave Registers for Schepmoed.

2. Will of Captain Charles Henry Fraser Captain of HM's Army of Cleveland Row St James proved 21/03/1836. In it he left his share of the estates of Schepmoed and Essendam & Sans Souci to his two sisters Jane Agnes the wife of Maj-Gen Alexander Rich and Charlotte Mary Ann spinster, subject to debts of £1800 to Henry Thompson of Chiswick and George Bedford of Bedford Row in London, £852 6s 8d to Philip Combauld and £1000 he left in a codicil to his half-sister Mary Elizabeth Fraser.

3. Public auction of Schepmoed, following a fiat 03/11/1843 in favour of the executors of William Gramberg, against the same group (still including Captain Charles Henry Fraser, not signalled as 'late') as owners of the plantation, May 1845.

T71/885 British Guiana claim nos. 426A-B (Schepmoed).

1. Lionel Mordaunt Fraser, History of Trinidad 1781-1813, Vol. 2 p. 2; London Gazette, Issue 13238, 18/09/1790 p. 581; London Gazette, Issue 13114, 14/07/1789, p. 493; Edinburgh Magazine (Sept. 1820), p. 286; PROB 11/1557.

2. PROB 11/1859/57. George Bedford of Bedford Row was a London solicitor; it is possible that Henry Thompson of Chiswick was the Henry Thompson who was partner in the Chiswick [Griffin] Brewery, later Fuller, Smith & Turner, which is still extant.

3. London Gazette, Issue 20401, 08/11/1844, pp. 3815-6.