Charles Bowles of New Windsor

Owner of Wakefield estate in St John Jamaica. He was the son of William Bowles of Windsor and Eliz. Modyford, daughter of Sir Charles Modyford bart. Simon Smith shows the estate of Richard Oldfield in Jamaica, probably Oldfield's Bog, passing to Charles Bowles of New Windsor by inheritance after 1739 but carrying a mortgage and passing in turn through the Harvies to the March family.

1. Bowles, Charles s. of William of Windsor Berks. arm. QUEENS COLLEGE [Oxford] matriculated 20 Mar. 1724/5 aged 17. Father of Oldfield 1758.

2. Charles Bowles was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 3231 acres of land in St Catherine and 1973 acres of land in St John, total 5204 acres. Charles Bowles and Ann Modyford were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 5424 acres of land in St Catherine and 1150 acres of land in St Mary, total 6574 acres.

3. Will of Charles Bowles of New Windsor [made in 1775] proved 23/08/1780. Under the will, he left £4000 in trust for his daughter Ann Graham and left the remainder of his estate after some smaller monetary legacies to his son Oldfield. Although one of his trustees was the West India merchant Duncan Davidson, the will is silent on Jamaica property.

Caribbeana Vol. VI 'Bowles of Jamaica'; Simon D. Smith, Family, Slavery and Gentry Capitalism in the British Atlantic p. 203.

1. Ancestry.com Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online]

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. PROB 11/1068/239.