James Welsh

Slave-owner in Jamaica, probably but not certainly the James Welsh late of the City of London last of Jamaica whose will was made in London in 1743 with a codicil made in Bristol in 1744 and proved 11/12/1744. He left his estates to his nephews James Carroll (q.v.) and John Carroll, making the estates subject in a codicil to an annuity of £300 p.a. to his cousin William Dover.

1. The heirs of James Welsh were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 1285 acres of land in St Thomas-in-the-East. It is possible this was the same land as that shown in the probate of James Carroll, his nephew and heir, in 1754, in which case James Welsh was the owner of the Oxford and Spring estates.

2. James Welsh of St Thomas-in-the-East, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1746. Slave-ownership at probate: 327 of whom 183 were listed as male and 144 as female. 60 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £24572.27 Jamaican currency of which £13563 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £8380 currency debts and £0 currency plate.

PROB 11/736/419.

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