James Colyear Dawkins

James Dawkins, son of Henry Dawkins II and Lady Julia Colyear. Took the additional name Colyear by Royal License in 1835.

1. John Biddulph and Samuel Pepys Cockerell as trustees of James Dawkins received the compensation for ten estates in Jamaica. Biddulph and Dawkins were added in 1834 to supplement Sir William Henry Cooper, the sole surviving (and presumably ailing) trustee 'under an indenture of 28/06/1822', who then died in January 1836. It is possible that the original trustees were appointed under a marriage settlement for James Dawkins 'of Petersham', whose second marriage to Maria Margaret Forbes was conducted under special license by John Deedes, the Rector of Wellingdale Essex at the house at Ham of the bride's father, General Forbes, on 20/09/1822.

2. However, Butler sets out a different version: 'Shortly before his death in 1812, Henry Dawkins bequeathed his Jamaican plantations to his eldest son, James. The inheritance included seven sugar estates, three livestock pens, and various smaller properties throughout the island. The plantations, which included Parnassus, Old [sic] Plantation and Sutton's in Clarendon, and Dawkins Caymanas in St Catherine parish, carried annuities totaling £40,000 for the benefit of his widow and younger children. The bequest stipulated that the estates should be mortgaged if their profits did not meet the expense. In 1817, the estate's trustees threatened to take possession unless James Dawkins raised the £40,000 or paid £8,000 annually towards liquidating the debt.  Although his father had clearly intended the rents and profits to cover the bequests, James Dawkins was forced to mortgage the property to Biddulph and Cockerell. By 1836 it was clear he could not pay off the principal, and the partnership collected over £33,400 in compensation and used it to reduce the debt.'     

3. James Dawkins of Petersham, widower, married Maria Margaret Forbes, of Kingston-upon-Thames, in Kingston in 1822. Will of James heretofore Colyear Dawkins of Richmond, Surrey proved 09/05/1843.

T71/859 Clarendon claim nos. 1,2, 7, 11 and 277; T71/855 St Thomas-in-the-Vale claim no. 14; T71/858 Vere claim nos. 46 and 77; T71/852 St Catherine claim nos. 499 (Dawkins Caymanas) and 515.

1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database onlie].

2. Kathleen Mary Butler, The economics of Emancipation: Jamaica and Barbados 1823-1843 (Chapel Hill and London, University of North Carolina Press, 1995) p. 55. The paragraph is sourced to: 'John Dawkins to John Randall 7 August 1836; John Randall to Henry Dawkins 12 August 1836; miscellaneous documents dated 1812 and 5 September 1817, Dawkins Family Papers, MSS D.D. Dawkins, C47. PP., 1837-38 (215): 1,4, 19-21.'

 3. Findmypast.co.uk, Surrey Marriages [database online]; PROB 11/1979.