Mary Berwick

Mary Berwick (c.1810-1870), daughter of Newall Berwick (q.v., a Scottish-born, Jamaica-based merchant) and Susanna Williams Eccles; she inherited a share of nine enslaved persons from her mother's family.

1. Born in Jamaica c. 1810, her father Newall Berwick was a local merchant and her mother Susanna Williams Eccles was a scion of a family of planters. Her father Newall completed a return for ownership of eight enslaved persons in St Thomas-in-the-Vale in 1826 on behalf of Mary, her sister Elizabeth Berwick and her brother Douglas Berwick (both q.v.), "By inheritance from Edward M. Eccles agreeable to the Will of Mary Eccles Deceased". These enslaved persons were registered by Douglas Berwick after the death of his father in 1832. It is not clear how ownership had changed from St Thomas-in-the-Vale to St Thomas-in-the-East and Kingston by 1834.

2. Mary was not in Britain in the 1841 census but by 1851 she was living at 63 High John Street, Glasgow, with her brother-in-law William Brown and his family. She is age 32, unmarried, a teacher of pianoforte, born in Jamaica. By 1861 she is living at 12 Abbotsford, Tradeston, Glasgow, age 41, unmarried, a teacher pianoforte, living with William Brown and his family. She died at 1 Maxwellton, Paisley, on 17/03/1780 age 60.

T71/863 Kingston Nos. 2516 and 2517; T71/867 St Thomas-in-the-East No. 340.

 1. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database online].

1. 1851 census online; 1861 census online; General Register Office for Scotland, Deaths 1870 599/01 096.

We are grateful to Iain Brash for his help in compiling this entry.