James Bean of Aldbrough in Holderness

???? - 1767


Biography

Returnee, a slave-owner in Hanover who came back to Aldbrough in Holderness, Yorkshire and died there c. 1767. His estate in Hanover, Jamaica has not been identified but could logically be Bean's.

  1. James Beane was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 873 acres of land in Hanover.

  2. Will of James Bean late of the parish of Hanover in the island of Jamaica planter and now of Aldbrough in Holderness was proved 19/08/1767. The will provides a meticulous disposal among several relatives of his property locally in Yorkshire, including the 'dwelling house that I have lately built' to his brother David Bean. He turned towards 'all my real and personal estate near Lucea in the parish of Hanover in the island of Jamaica' towards the end of his will. First, he said 'whereas I am possessed of and entitled to a mulatto girl named....Nancie begotten on the body of a negro woman of mine named...Cuba residing upon my plantation estate in the parish of Hanover,' he freed Nancie and provided for 'a very genteel maintenance' for her. He left his real estate, including the lands he had recently bought of Mr William Clark and his wife Mary to James Bean Benevas [sp?], the grandson of his deceased wife Sarah Bean and son of Mr David Benevas [sp?], Cooper. In order to induce his tenant Edward Knowles to hand over the estate[s] without friction, he left Knowles two parcels of land as a conditional legacy.

  3. The 'dwelling house that I have lately built' in his will appears to have been what is now Wentworth House Hotel in Aldbrough. The history of the house shown on the hotel site states that James Bean (d. 1767) was responsible for rebuilding or remodelling the original 17thC house. The present hotel retains a mid-18thC staircase and plaster ceiling.


Sources

  1. 'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

  2. PROB 11/931/272.

  3. http://www.wentworthhousehotel.co.uk/history.html [accessed 15/09/2015].

We are grateful to Audrey Dewjee for her help with this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic

Legacies Summary

Physical (1)

Country house
Wentworth House [Purchased] 
description →
Mid 18thC remodelling or rebuilding of an early 17thC...

Addresses (1)

Aldbrough in Holderness, Yorkshire, Yorkshire, England