Richard Ottley

???? - 1775


Biography

Father of Warner Ottley (q.v.) and of William Young Ottley (whose entry in the ODNB describes Richard Ottley as a 'plantation owner'). Richard Ottley's second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Young, was the daughter of Sir William Young 1st bart.

  1. Richard Ottley was the original purchaser in Tobago of Courland Bay division (St David parish) Lots nos. 20-23 and 27, which became the Adventure estate, on 19/03/1767 and of Sandy Bay division (St Patrick parish) Lot no. 6, which became Grafton estate, on 12/05/1766. The owner of the Adventure estate Lots in 1773 was shown as James Ottley (q.v.), and the owner of Sandy Bay division Lot no. 6 was George Gibbs. Richard Ottley was also a grantee of 248 acres of land on St Vincent and purchaser of a sugar estate there, which he mortgaged to Oliver Calley, together with an estate in Tobago. The complex arrangements between Oliver Calley and his wife Ann, the Ottley family, Chauvet & Turquand of London and the Boddingtons of London are set out in indentures of 19/12/1786, which recite the background to the indebtedness of Richard Ottley's estates and the efforts to resolve the claims of the various creditors. Chauvet & Turquand had lent £10,000 and the Calleys had £12,000 secured on the estates, which Drewry Ottley of St Vincent had inherited under his father's will subject to these encumbrances. The Boddingtons had paid interest on the £12,000 to Ann Calley, possibly in order to supplant Chauvet & Turquand as consignees.

  2. Will of Richard Ottley of Argyll Street Middlesex (made in 1774) proved 16/11/1775. In the will he rehearses his marriage settlement with Sarah Elizabeth, under which it was agreed he should match his wife's fortune of £10,000 and the whole should be invested in the Island of Tobago and properly secured for the payment of her dower and the fortunes of our children, with an agreement that £10,000 should go to the oldest child and £10,000 be divided between the other children or given to the eldest child as they or the survivor saw fit. Richard Ottley put his estate in trust to secure £1200 p.a. for his wife. He instructed his trustees to sell one or both of his estates and to return £20,000 to his wife, £10,000 to go to their eldest son William at her death and the other £10,000 to be shared as she saw fit. He left his son Drewry a debt receivable from his uncle Thomas Warner of Antigua of £1842 currency. The rest of his estate was to be divided into seven parts, of which two-sevenths was to go to his son Drewry, and one seventh to his other children Elizabeth, Mary Grant, Alice, Richard and Brooke Taylor. In a codicil he adjusted this to 8 shares given that his wife was expecting another child (who must have been Warner Ottley, q.v.). He attached a list of debts due to him amounting to some £20,000, mostly from Caribbean slave-owners in St Vincent and Antigua.

3, The will of Sarah Elizabeth Ottley, widow of St Vincent, was proved in London in 1825.


Sources

There are papers of the Ottley family relating to the West Indies in the National Library of Wales, http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/abs/Ab1985.pdf [accessed 09/11/2013].

  1. '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), pp. 38-39 and 58-59; Vere Langford Oliver, History of Antigua Vol. II pp. 372-3 shows the mortgage with Oliver Calley; consistent with the deed shown by Oliver, Charles Shephard, An Historical account of the Island of St Vincent (1831) Appendix XX 'References to the Plan of the Island, as Published by John Byres in 1776' shows 'Ottley' as original purchaser of 248 acres under Lot No. 100, later combined with Lot No. 101 to form Cane Grove; 'Ottley and Abel' also appear as the purchasers of three Lots, Nos. 21-23, later forming part of Bostock Park - it is not clear that this is the same man as [Richard] Ottley the grantee of Lot No. 100; EAP 688 St Vincent 1787 Deed Book pp. 321 et seq.

  2. PROB 11/1013/115.

  3. PROB 11/1698/219.

We are grateful to Peter Selley for his assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
(2) Sarah Elizabeth Young
Children
William Young; Warner; Drewry; Alice; Mary Grant; Richard; Brooke Taylor; Elizabeth

Associated Estates (4)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1766 [SY] - 1775 [EY] → Owner
12/05/1766 [SD] - 23/04/1767 [ED] → Owner
Mortgage Holder
1770 [EA] - 1770 [LA] → Owner

Relationships (8)

Mortgagor → Mortgagee
Father → Son
Father → Son
Father → Son
Deceased Husband → Widow
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Son
Brother-in-laws

Addresses (2)

Dunstan Park, Thatcham, Berkshire, Central England, England
Argyll Street, London, Middlesex, London, England