James Wildman of Fenchurch Street

1785 - ????


Biography

  1. London merchant of Fenchurch Street, son of Henry Wildman, brother of Frances and Thomas Wildman (all q.v.). Followed his father into partnership, bankrupt in 1821 after his father's death, when he had property in both the East and West Indies. Given that the Phillips estate on St Kitts was registered to 'assignees of James Wildman' in 1822 and 1825, the estate had almost certainly belonged to this man.

  2. Press reports of Kynaston (James's principal assignee in bankruptcy ) v Mitchell (several suits, eventually nonsuited, but particularly 1823, 1824) indicate that Thomas had split with his brother James over the latter's decision to go into whaling, and had later made his own arrangements with James's overwhelming Jamaica creditors, the Mitchells, who may have been keeping James solvent for more than the statutory period allowed before bankruptcy became inevitable, but seem never to have been successfully made to produce the documents.

  3. Auction of six lots pursuant to an order of the Commissioners, named in a Commission of Bankrupt against James Wildman of Fen Court, Fenchurch Street, merchant. Lot 1: the mortgage debt of £9000 charged on Pindar's Valley estate and 85 enslaved people working there, also the pen in Clarendon called Pindar's Lodge, consisting of about 800 acres. Lot 2: a gang of 53 enslaved people working on Pindar's Valley, the absolute property of James Wildman. Lot 3: the morgage debt of £1800 on Sunning Hill sugar estate in St Thomas-in-the-East, containing 1274 acres, except 303 acres thereof previously sold, and a gang of about 89 enslaved people, subject to a prior mortgage of £6600. Lot 4: a sugar estate in St Thomas-in-the-Vale called Shenton containing 119 acres and a gang of enslaved people, subject to an annuity of £800 per annum during the life of a lady aged about 71 years. Lot 5: a debt of £8000 sterling charged upon Craig's Mill in St George and the enslaved people thereon, subject to an annuity of £150 for the life of a lady aged about 42 years. Lot 6: a gang of about 70 enslaved people on Esher Plantation in St Mary.


Sources

  1. London Gazette 17693 31/03/1821 p. 748; ibid 17797 09/03/1822 p. 414.

  2. Email from Jim Brennan 11/02/2019 sourced to British Newspaper Archive; sale of 53 enslaved people worked on the estate of Pindars Valley, Clarendon, assigned to the Mitchells, London Courier and Evening Gazette 22/01/1825.

  3. Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser 13/12/1824.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for his assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Occupation
Merchant

Associated Estates (6)

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
- 1824 [LA] → Mortgage Holder
1822 [EA] - 1825 [LA] → Other

The enslaved people on Phillips were registered to 'Assignees of James Wildman' in 1822 and 1825

1817 [EA] - 1824 [LA] → Mortgagee-in-Possession
- 1824 [LA] → Mortgage Holder
- 1824 [EY] → Mortgage Holder

Auction sale in 1824 as a result of the bankruptcy of James Wildman, of Fen-court Fenchurch St., Merchant of a debt of £8000 to James Wildman secured on the Stoney Hill and Deodand estates, subject to a prior mortgage charge of £6000, and a debt of £15,000 or thereabouts due on open account to James Wildman by Henry Rawlins and Wm. Worthington Wickes, the mortgagers of the plantations. Times 11/12/1824 p. 4.

- 1824 [LA] → Mortgage Holder

Relationships (6)

Brother → Sister
Uncle → Nephew
Uncle → Nephew
Son → Father
First Cousins
First Cousins