Richard Welch senior

1733 - 15th Oct 1782


Biography

Chief Justice of Jamaica in 1779. Owner of Hyde and Georgia estates. Married Lucretia Mary Favel, eldest daughter of George Dehany and Mary Gregory his wife, 23/01/1769. Died 15/10/1782 age 49, buried in Bath Abbey. Of Upper Wimpole Street when he wrote his will in 1781 but children baptised in Jamaica in the 1770s.

Richard Welch contributed £50 to the University of Pennsylvania following Dr John Morgan's fundraising tour of the West Indies in 1772-1773.

Richard Welch of Britain, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1783. Slave-ownership at probate: 224 of whom 117 were listed as male and 107 as female. 45 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £22013.9 Jamaican currency of which £12330 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £5875.4 currency debts and £0 currency plate.


Sources

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. V, pp. 220-221. NB in the family pedigree shown by Oliver in Caribbeana V, Oliver included John Gregory Welch (1776-1854), builder of Arle House Cheltenham, as a son of Richard Welch senior: there is no sign of John Gregory Welch in the will of Richard Welch senior, and he appears to be in fact unrelated, the son of Walter Welch of Cheltenham whose will was proved in 1808.

C. S. Graubard, 'Documenting the University of Pennsylvania's Connection to Slavery (2018) via archives.upenn.edu [accessed 16/01/2019].

Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic
Spouse
Lucretia Mary Dehany
Children
Richard, Mary Elizabeth, Elizabeth Lucretia, John Gregory, Favell (1776-1798), Jane, Georgina, Robert Gregory, Lucretia Favell
Will

PROB 11/1096/368 Will of Richard Welch of Upper Wimpole Street , Middlesex - precis.

Of Upper Wimpole Street Esquire.

Payment of all just debts.

All my estate real and personal to Philip Dehany of this Kingdom, James Pinnock of Jamaica, John Allen of Berners Street, Robert Cooper Lee of Bedford Square and John Grant of Jamaica Esquires for the following uses and purposes:

To my wife Lucretia Mary, £500 sterling per annum for life. Also to my wife £3000 current Jamaican money out of such bonds as she shall choose granted me by Richard Brissett Esquire for purchase of Georgia Estate in Jamaica, the remainder of the bonds given me for said purpose.

Equal share and share alike among all my children, Richard my eldest child included, and any child born after my death shall have an equal share of said remainder with the rest after payment of said annuity to my wife.

My trustees out of the annual produce of my estate called Hyde in Jamaica and all my other estate support, maintain and educate all my children and that they should have the use of the house I now live in for the remainder of my term and all my household furniture together with my coach for their maintenance and education. The remainder to be laid out for the purpose of paying my children's portions: To each of my five daughters Mary, Elizabeth Lucretia, Favell, Jane and Georgina and any child born after my death, £2000 sterling at age 21 or at marriage. Should any of them die before this, then this sum should be devised to my son Richard.

All the remainder of my estate to my son Richard and his heirs.

To my reputed son in Jamaica named John Welch £100.

Signed 20/03/1781[?].

Proved at London 29/10/1782 by the oaths of John Allen and Robert Cooper Lee Esquires and Lucretia Mary Welch widow.


Associated Estates (2)

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
1781 [EA] - 1781 [LA] → Seller

In his will made in 1781 Richard Welch senior left £3000 of the bonds give him by Richard Brissett for the Georgia estate to his wife, with the remainder to his children.

- 15/10/1782 [ED] → Owner

Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Benefactor
University of Pennsylvania...... 
notes →
C. S. Graubard, 'Documenting the University of Pennsylvania's Connection to Slavery (2018) via archives.upenn.edu [accessed...

Relationships (12)

Son-in-law → Mother-in-law
Father → Son
Father-in-law → Daughter-in-law
Father → Daughter
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Daughter
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Daughter
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Daughter
Grandfather → Grandson
Husband → Wife

Addresses (1)

Upper Wimpole Street, London, Middlesex, London, England

Inventories (1)