James Mitchell

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1806

Biography

Slave-owner in Jamaica, resident there but dying in England. He left monetary legacies of £70,000 to his children and an annuity of £1200 rising to £2000 p.a. to his wife in his will made in 1806.

James Mitchell of Moreland, Vere, was a Member of Assembly for the parish of Vere in 1805. By the time of writing his will in July 1806 he was resident in Richmond, Surrey, England.
James's wife Martha nee Delpratt was the daughter of Samuel Delpratt and Martha nee Foord who married in Bristol in 1760. James Mitchell and his wife were named in the will of Martha's aunt Elizabeth How (of Bristol, widow of Robert How) whose will was dated 18/04/1787 and proved 14/01/1804. The will also mentions James's brother David Mitchell of St John Street, Bloomsbury Square (q.v. under David Mitchell merchant of London).

Sources

T71/858 Vere claim no. 111 (Moreland estate).

The Laws of Jamaica: comprehending all the acts in force passed between the forty-fifth year of the reign of King George the Third, and the fiftieth year of the reign of King George the Third, inclusive... (Alexander Aikman, Jamaica, 1824), 2nd ed., vol. 5, p. 27.
Familysearch.org batch no. M17286-5. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 3 p. 151; will of Elizabeth How widow of Bristol proved 14/01/1804 PROB 11/1403/120.

Further Information

Absentee?

Transatlantic

Spouse

Martha Delpratt

Children

James Henry, Elizabeth Jemima, Martha Amelia, William

Will

PROB 11/1450/223.

James Mitchell late of the parish of Vere, Jamaica, but now of Richmond, Surrey.

Payment of my just debts and funeral expenses.
To my dear wife Martha Mitchell for her natural life an annuity of £1200 sterling to be increased to £2000 sterling after all debts have been paid.
To each of my children James Henry, Elizabeth Jemima and Martha Amelia, the sum of £20,000 sterling (in trust for the daughters).
My brother William Mitchell to be executor and guardian of my children in their minorities and in case of his demise then my friends Edmund Pusey Lyon and Robert Stewart to be executors and guardians and then my nephews John Mitchell and William Mitchell when they reach the age of 30.
In a codicil, he registered the arrival of 'my son William, born since first making this will', and revoked his legacies of £20,000 each to his three older children, replacing them with £10,000 to each of his four children, and to any subsequent children (wife currently pregnant).
Francis Smith of the Parish of St Catherine Esquire and Cheyney Hamilton and John Young of the Parish of Kingston Esquires to be executors should my brother William Mitchell not undertake the same.

His residuary heir(s) are hard to decipher because they are contained in an addition in the margin in the PROB 11 records, but appears to be his eldest son James Henry Mitchell at 25, and his heirs, failing whom to his [the testator's] daughters in sequence.

Signed 25/07/1806. Proved in London 23/10/1806; adminstration granted to brother William Mitchell.

Associated Estates (4)

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