Zachary Hume Edwards

Deceased party to the Chancery suit of Alexander Grant v Z. H. Edwards, into which was paid the compensation for Nonsuch and Unity in St Mary Jamaica.

1. Son of Bryan Edwards, the MP and historian of Jamaica, and Martha, daughter of Thomas Phipps of Westbury. Bryan Edwards died in 1800. 'His only son, Zachary Hume Edwards, inherited his vast wealth, but died on board the "Montague" packet on his passage from Jamaica to England in 1812.'

2. Zachary Hume Edwards married Selina Innes in Millbrook, Hampshire, 22/08/1801. Selina was the daughter of William Innes and Selina nee Chambers (q.v.). They reportedly had five children, all baptised in Wiltshire - William Bryan (1803), Zachary Bailey (1805-), Lavinia (1806), Elizabeth (1807) and Mary (1809) - although in his will his sons appear in sequence as Zachary and Bryan. Z.H. Edwards Esq. appears as a subscriber under Wiltshire in e.g. Racing Calendar 1807. Zachary Hume Edwards appears to have been imprisoned for debt in 1804 when one of the plaintiffs was William Innes, possibly his father-in-law.

3. Will of Zachary Hume Edwards of Westbury Leigh Wiltshire [made in 1810] proved 04/02/1815. Under the will he entailed his estates [and enslaved people] in St Mary Jamaica to his son Zachary Edwards and his heirs, in default of whom to his son Bryan Edwards and his heirs, in default of whom to his daughter Lavinia and her heirs, then to his daughter Eliza and her heirs and then to his daughter Mary and her heirs. He secured £5000 each on the estates for his younger children not in life-possession of the real estate itself. In a codicil of 08/12/1811 he acknowledged that the estates would not support these [which he described as £5000 to the sons and £4000 to the daughters] and reduced them to £2000 each, and revoked the legacies of £2000 each to his two executors Thomas Fitzgerald and George Robinson. In a note headed 'Jamaica Gibralter [sic] estate 3rd August 1812' he said he had not mentioned his wife Selina because she was well provided for under their marriage settlement , with an annuity of £1000 p.a.

T71/ St Mary Nos. 165 and 439.

1. Frank Cundall, Studies in Jamaica History (London, Sampson, Low, Marston and Company for the Institute of Jamaica, 1900), p. 63.

2. Familysearch batch nos. I02020-3, C13568-9 and C00658-4; Email from Jennifer Harrison, 06/11/2013; Racing Calendar (1807) Subscribers p. xxvi; Ancestry.com, London, England, King's Bench and Fleet Prison Discharge Books and Prisoner Lists, 1734-1862 for Zachary Hume Edwards [database online].

3. PROB 11/1565/84.

We are grateful to Jennifer Harrison for her assistance in compiling this entry.