John Blagrove the elder

Slave-owner on Jamaica, owner of Orange Valley, Unity, Pembroke, Magotty and Cardiff Hall estates in Jamaica. Died in 1755.

1. Will of John Blagrove of St Ann Jamaica [made in 1754] proved in London 07/06/1766. He left a moiety of Orange Valley [which he said he had settled with his uncle Thomas Williams] and Unity to his grandson John Blagrove the younger and the rest of his estates to his son Thomas. [However, Thomas died before probate was granted and all the estates passed in trust to John Blagrove the younger.]

2. John Blagrove was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 301 acres of land in St Ann and 1579 acres of land in Hanover, total 1880 acres. Williams and Blagrove were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 2955 acres of land in St Ann, presumably John Blagrove the elder and Thomas Williams.

3. John Blagrove of St Ann, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1755. Slave-ownership at probate: 929 of whom 515 were listed as male and 414 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £78854 Jamaican currency of which £25110 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £31901.5 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

'Papers of John Blagrove (1753-1824), West Indian plantation owner, regarding estates in Jamaica', held at the Royal Bank of Scotland Archives, http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1502-gm/443 [accessed 01/07/2016].

1. PROB 11/919/182.

2. '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.

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