Quintin Kennedy in Ayr to Alexander West Hamilton in Jamaica 1815

 

I am often applied to by young Men who wish to be sent to Jamaica …

When I picked this letter out of a dealer’s box it struck me as odd that it showed no signs of tropicalisation, the shorthand word used to describe the effect of hot and humid climatic conditions on writing paper. The explanation proved to be straightforward: the recipient Alexander West Hamilton, who had been working in Jamaica since 1784, finally returned to his native Scotland soon after it was received and took it with him. He was coming into an inheritance from his childless uncle Hugh Hamilton who preceded him in Jamaica from 1776 to 1784, long enough then to make a fortune turned into fine houses at Pinmore and Rozelle in Ayrshire.

By the end of his career in Jamaica, Alexander West Hamilton had performed many roles for multiple clients as the contents of this letter suggest; he is variously described as a customs agent, factor, estate manager; by 1814 he was managing the core Hamilton family plantations of Pemberton Valley and Rozelle and in addition estates at Bonny Pen, Cromwell, Fontebelle, Hunterston, and Tremolesworth. When slavery was abolished he received compensation for 102 slaves but as “mortgagee in possession” and “trustee”. The extended Hamilton family had complicated interests in Jamaica for almost one hundred and fifty years, finally disposing of their failing properties there around 1850.

Letters which crossed the oceans often got lost on the way, sometimes because ships sank. It was therefore common to send more than one copy of a letter as does the cautious author of this one. Likewise, you carefully acknowledged the letters which you had received, giving their dates, so that the sender could check if any had gone missing.

Quintin Kennedy, a senior banker who later became Provost of Ayr on the west coast of Scotland, does both of those things and also writes as if handling commercial secrets. In 1815, not only did ships sink; sometimes they were seized by privateers. He writes of “the Proprietors” as if they are shadowy figures rather than intimates of himself or the addressee and he writes of “our Friend Pinmore” rather than more straightforwardly “Hugh Hamilton”.

It is very much a business letter which incidentally illustrates something of the complexity of transatlantic trade which brought sugar from Jamaican slave plantations to Scottish ports and brought back from Scotland the supplies needed in Jamaica, including in this case herrings and a queried shipment of Madeira wine. There are ships to be found, agreements to be reached with their owners and captains, insurance to be organised, decisions taken about whether to hold onto or sell immediately an incoming shipment of sugar. Though Britain had criminalised the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, children of those currently enslaved were still born into slavery and they along with their parents could continue to be bought and sold, as this letter indicates.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Alexr West Hamilton Esquire  Pemberton Valley Estate   St Mary’s  Jamaica  Despatch postmark of Ayr and endorsed Packet

Datelined: /Copy/   Ayr 29^th Jany 1815

My Dear Sir

Since I had the pleasure of writing you I have been favoured with your letters of 7th October & 10^t Novem, the first advising the purchase of 26 Negroes, which the Proprietors approve much of, one of your drafts on that account has been presented and accepted, and due honour will be shewn two the others, when they make their appearance, as well as the one for £250, which your letter of the 10 Novem advises your intention to draw. J McClymont forwarded Invoices on the 6^th Novem of the Supplies sent out by the Aurora, which sailed from Cork the 17^th Current, but the Provisions from that place were put on board the Isabella, Capt Crawford, notwithstanding directions to the contrary, however I hope this will not be attended with any inconvenience to you.

I need hardly repeat the continued conviction upon the minds of the Proprietors, that under your directions their affairs have greatly prospered, I refer you to J. McClymonts’ letter for an account of the Sugar market. I availed myself of the late demand, and sold the remainder of the Crop, at the same time I am inclined to think the Holders will probably gain considerably by retaining, but I did not consider myself entitled to speculate upon the property of others, especially as they were quite satisfied with the prices then given.

I remain &c

Ayr 24 Febry 1815

My Dear Sir

Since writing you on the 29^th ulto of which letter prefixed I hand you a Copy I have had the pleasure to receive your favours of the !0^th Novem, 28 Decem & 13 Ult. I am happy to think that the herrings were got and forwarded by the Aurora since you stood so much in need of them. I wrote to Galbraith & Co very strongly who in conjunction with the owner of the vessel succeeded in procuring them. Sibbald & Co did not omit to advise me of the draft on account of the Madeira, but it’s being consigned to Mr Fergusson, and Mr McClymont being under the impression that you did not without instructions from yourself wish any sent to that Estate [ suggesting that Alexander West Hamilton had responsibility for more than one estate], I declined accepting the draft. I shall however attend to your wishes and have accepted the one you advise for £69.2.9

I have written Mr Graham about the Insurance of Sugar p Coquetto which he has delayed for a few days in expectation that the rate would fall greatly. I am sorry to observe the complaints as to the quality of this years Sugar, last Crop was dark but held very strong.

I am often applied to by young Men who wish to be sent to Jamaica, would you be so good as to mention in your first letter whether it would be of advantage to the Proprietors to send out Book keepers or Tradesmen of good characters when they offer, as our Friend Pinmore [probably Hugh Hamilton of Pinmore, the addressee’s uncle] seems to think it would, but I do not like to do any… of the kind without direct instructions from yourself, and it is a point on which the Proprietors are as ignorant as myself.

I am My Dear Sir    Yours very truly

Quintin Kennedy

Reference

David Alston, Slaves and Highlanders. Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean (2021)