Thompson Spottiswoode

Original purchaser 05/06/1770 as Thompson Spottiswood of Sandy Bay division (St Patrick parish) Lot no. 43 (adjacent to Black Rock as no. 42) in Tobago;. By 1773 'J & T Spotteswoode' were shown as Present Proprietor[s] of this Lot, and also of Queen's Bay division (St Paul parish) Lots no. 15 and 16 (originally purchased 19/05/1769 by R. Buglass and A. Scott) and of Sandy Bay division (St Patrick parish) Lots no. 15 and 16 (originally purchased 12/05/1766 by William Whitehead), the latter two of which became Cromstain estate.

1. At his sister's Mrs Wauchope at Falmouth, [death of] Thomson [sic] Spottiswoode of the island of Tobago, whence he lately arrived in a very bad state of health (1796). Will of Thomson [sic] Spottiswoode of Flushing Cornwall proved 07/12/1796.

2. 'Mrs Wauchope' was the Mrs Helen Wauchope, daughter of John Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode deceased and relict of George Wauchope of Falmouth Devon, who died in Bath in 1820.

3. There is clearly a direct family connection with the publishing family of Eyre and Spottiswoode. According to the History of Parliament, Andrew Spottiswoode (1787-1866), MP for Saltash 1826-1830 and Colchester 1830-1831, and later King's Printer with the firm of Eyre and Spottiswoode, was the son of John Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode (d. 1805) (q.v.): Andrew's eldest brother, also John (1780-1866), inherited 'the Scottish estate and property in Tobago' on their father's death in 1805. The parents of the John Spottiswoode who died in 1805 were John Spottiswoode (1666-1728, 'an eminent advocate and legal author') and Mary Thompson of Fife. Although it seems at first inspection a stretch that John Spottiswoode (d. 1805) had married only in 1779 (when he must have been over 50) and conceived his last son (Henry, who died in 1806 aged 13) in 1793, it seems very likely that Thompson or Thomson Spottiswoode was the son of John Spottiswoode and Mary Thompson and, if the History of Parliament is correct, the brother of John Spottiswoode (d. 1805). This is confirmed by the will of Thomson Spottiswoode 'formerly of Tobago but now of Flushing in Cornwall.' After he had left articles to his manager, provided that 'Ibo Katty' should be served by Martha during the days of her life, live in the house on the estate, have as much provision grounds as she could manage and receive the same salt provisions as the rest of the enslaved people, and left his clothes to her and 'Mulatto Betty' equally, he left the residue of his estate to his brother John Spottiswoode.

4. The will of John Spottiswoode of Edinburgh Midlothian was proved 27/04/1805. In his will, John Spottiswoode (d. 1805), specified that his children were all under the age of majority and left his property to his eldest son John. The will makes it highly likely that the the 'J. Spottiswoode' the joint-purchaser of Tobagan property with Thompson Spottiswoode was John Spottiswoode (d. 1805).

'Tables showing the Lots in each Parish, numbered as originally granted - the original Grantee - the name of the Lot, or lots, if one has been acquired, and the present Possessor where there is one' and 'A Table, showing the Estates in cultivation in 1832, and their Owners, in 1832, copied from the list appended to Byres' map of that date, with those in cultivation in 1862', Henry Iles Woodcock, A History of Tobago (Ayr: Smith and Grant, 1867; new impression London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1971); John Fowler, A summary account of the present flourishing state of the respectable colony of Tobago in the British West Indies illustrated with a map of the island and a plan of its settlement, agreeably to the sales by his Majesty’s Commissioners (London: A Grant, 1774).

1. Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 66 No. 2 (1796) p. 1059; PROB 11/1283/73.

2. The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany Vol. 85 (1820) p. 192 Register- Deaths, February.

3. David R. Fisher, History of Parliament online Volumes 1820-1832, 'Spottiswoode, Andrew (1787-1866), of 9 Bedford Square, Mdx and Broome Hall, Dorking Surrey'.

4. PROB 11/1424/278. The History of Parliament online gives PROB 11/1424/302, which refers to an unrelated will. The will of another John Spottiswoode Gentleman of Brixton Surrey was proved 31/10/1825, PROB 11/1704/498.