Frances King

Possibly the Frances King, "free mulatto", who had at least ten illegitimate children with John Swaby (q.v.), himself the illegitimate son of Joseph James Swaby senior (also q.v.). Certainly the estates of Walham and Mount Pleasant, where Frances owned enslaved people, were bound up in the affairs of the Swaby family. It's not clear where Frances came by the finance but between 1817 and 1820 she purchased around 90 enslaved people from the estate of Charles Loughman and between 1820 and 1823 she purchased around 100 enslaved people from the Crown under escheat of the estate of Joseph Williams. Between 1829 and 1832 she conveyed 91 enslaved people from Waltham estate in Manchester in trust to John Griffith, James Swaby and others.

Possibly also the Frances King, aged 71 who died at New Settlement, Manchester, 10/05/1838: "By the death of this benevolent lady the poor are bereft of a kind benefactress." A Frances King of New Settlement, aged 71, was buried in the Providence Chapel Ground, Manchester, 11/05/1838.

See entry for John Swaby.

T71/65 p. 239; T71/66 pp. 180-182; T71/ 67 pp. 146-149; T71/73 pp. 214-215.

Email from Peter Durbin, 17/03/2015, sourced to Royal Gazette, 26/05/1838, Vol. LX, p. 490. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

We are grateful to Peter Durbin and David Wood for their assistance with compiling this entry.