Sir John Stuart of Maida

Slave-owner of a 'gang of slaves' attached to an estate known as Stuart's Manor in the Bahamas. He was also residuary heir of his cousin John Reid of Grenada and Greenwich (q.v.), who appears to have sold his estates and enslaved people before his [Reid's] death. In the event Sir John Stuart predeceased his cousin by a matter of weeks in 1815.

1. The will of Sir John Stuart Colonel of HM's Regiment of Minorca was proved 30/05/1815. In the will he left property to his niece Mary Fenwick, with remainder to Frances Anderson, failing whom he instructed that his his 'negroes' and other property in the Bahamas revert to his cousin James Stuart. Mary Fenwick's inheritance and subsequent sale of the enslaved people was the subject of litigation after her marriage to Henry Grant Derbishire in 1817.

Gregory, Desmond. "Stuart, Sir John (1761–1815), army officer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 26 Apr. 2020. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-26717.

1. PROB 11/1569/145; Derbishire v Home (1853), https://vlex.co.uk/vid/derbishire-v-home-806335009 [accessed 04/12/2021].

We are grateful to Victoria Lane of Lloyd's of London for pointing out the sequence in which John Reid of Grenada and Greenwich and Sir John Stuart died, and directing our attention to the references to 'slave-property' in the Bahamas in the will of Sir John Stuart.