George Rosewell Bennett

1st Jun 1738 - 1791


Biography

19/06/1738 in St Thomas-in-the-East Parish Register: "Christened at the house of John Harris Esqr. a male child of George Bennett jnor. Esqr. & Ann his wife, aged 18 days & named George Rosewell, whose godfathers are Messrs Charles Burnet & William Donaldson, & godmothers Mrs Sarah Swarton & Mrs Elizabeth De Lapierre; the father & mother being present."

Gravestone in St Andrew Parish Church cemetery:

Here lieth Interr'd the Body of Mr. GEORGE BENNETT who Came here a Soldier under General VENABLES the 10th day of May Anno Domini 1655 and one of the first settlers He was of a Dorsetshire Family

Here also lieth Interr'd the Body of Mrs. SARAH BENNETT late Wife of his Grandson the Hon'ble GEORGE BENNETT Esq'r. who departed this life the 8th day of October Anno Domini 1733 Aged 58 Years and Married 39 Years and 2 Months She was a Wise good Wife and all that knew her will Say the same and the only Daughter of Mr. JOHN ROSEWELL a Sommershire Family And also the Bodies of Seven Children (Viz.) ANN and MARY ROSEWELL WILLIAM JOHN ANN ELIZABETH and REBECCAH BENNETT

"In 1755 a widow, Anne Bennett of Saint Thomas-in-the-East, filed a petition on behalf of her infant son, George Rosewell Bennett - a slaveholder by inheritance - to recover the value of an enslaved man who had been killed in pursuit of a band of runaways. The assembly paid the infant forty pounds for his loss."

George Bennette was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 1118 acres of land in St Andrew, 1862 acres in St David and 480 acres in St Ann, total 3460 acres. Presumably this is George Rosewell Bennett, although it doesn't state that he was a minor.

Richard Thompson and George Bennet were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 2330 acres of land in St Thomas-in-the-East. Presumably this referred to either George Bennett of St Andrew or his son George Rosewell Bennett, although one was deceased and the other a minor at the time.

George Rosewell Bennett, married, was buried at Westminster, London, in March 1791. He had been imprisoned in the Fleet Prison for debt in 1788.


Sources

Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=120274076 [accessed 21/06/2016].

Vincent Brown, In the Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008) p. 77.

'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.

Findmypast, Westminster Burials [database online]; Ancestry.com, London, England, King's Bench and Fleet Prison Discharge Books and Prisoners Lists 1734-1862 [database online]


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?
Spouse
Married but no further details

Associated Estates (3)

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
1769 [EA] - 1769 [LA] → Joint owner
1773 [EA] - 1788 [LA] → Owner

The estate was in the hands of a receiver from 1786 to at least 1801.

1773 [EA] - 1788 [LA] → Owner

Relationships (5)

Brother-in-laws
Father → Son
Notes →
Charles Price Bennett succeeded George Rosewell Bennett as owner of Georgia estate in St Thomas-in-the-East. The will of his aunt Sarah Rosewell Archbould (nee Bennett) gives him as the son of her...
Son → Father
Brother → Sister
Son → Mother
Notes →
This is speculative by...