The State of Trade in Van Diemen’s Land 1833, George Frederick Read to John Ingle

 

If you had asked me what I knew or imagined about van Diemen’s Land before it was re-named Tasmania in 1856, I would have said penal colony and not very nice frontier society with genocidal tendencies . But when I start to read the letter transcribed below and written from Hobart in 1833 I find myself being told about fashions in hats and tastes in wine.

The addressee John Ingle (1781-1872) was one of the first British free settlers in van Diemen’s Land, arriving in 1804. In 1815 the Governor of New South Wales  described him as a “low, Vulgar Man who has Accumulated a Considerable Property by Carrying on Trade at the Derwent [River]”. Having made his fortune, Ingle returned to England for good in 1818 aboard his own ship the Spring but retained property and trading interests which were managed locally by George Frederick Read (1788-1860) who had arrived in 1818 after an adventurous earlier life – he went to sea at the age of eleven - and remained in Tasmania. From 1827 to 1849 he was managing director of the Bank of van Diemen's Land. He is the author of this letter which forms part of a known correspondence part of which has been published in a small edition (see References) with letters from Read to Ingle dated between 1829 and 1852; this letter is not included.

What astonsihes me is that trade could be carried on successfully between England and van Diemen's Land despite the fact that, before the arrival of ocean-going steamships,  letters like this one - and the only means of communicating - took six months to arrive. 

Click to enlarge

Transcription

Addressed to John Ingle Esqr  1 Lower Durnford Street   Stone House   Devonshier

Datelined: Hobart Town 28^th May 1833 

Brought ashore at Penzance indicated by boxed INDIA LETTER PENZANCE [at this time, an India Letter was anything coming from the East …], dated postmark 22 NO 1833 [yes, November …]. Postal charges calculated three times with two crossed out, the third illegible to me.

To John Ingle Esq

My Dear Sir

I enclose you the second of a treasury bill No 3503 for three hundred pounds, am much surprised not not having herd from you by the many vessels latterly arrived, we have sold the hats for 20/- each [twenty shillings equals £1] 6 month credit a very bad price but it was of no use keeping them for many reasons first there was a great many white among them and white hats are at no time much in demand here then the shapes are not liked and last that there are a great quantity of hats in the market, the wine I am sorry to say is likely to remain long on hands having only been able to sell  as yet three pipes it is to sweet quite a different wine from what I wrote Malaga sherry , however the market is at present so glutted that I hardly know what to write for or what would sell so many new merchants so much competition that I am quite frightnend from speculating we have been obliged to commence repairing the wall of the Ship  Inn [in Hobart]. I am fearful the back of the stable will come down the side of the house too is very much shock and will have to be secured. Mrs Lord has given up the house she lives in and I have not as yet been able to get a tenant but do not expect that it will remain long empty, pray let me not frighten you by the long list of grievance as all your tenants (with the exception of Mott who is out) have paid their rents. Clark has built an excellent house on the place were the old butcher shop stood which wretched shed has been pulled down. I have rented them (thew 2 Clarks) the two premises namely the old butchers shop and bird in hand [the Bird in Hand Inn] for 21 years and in case of fire they are bound to lay out seven hundred pounds in rebuilding  this is considered an excellent bargain for you, as I could not undertake to erect such a building as they have already put up for seven hundred pounds, the Banks an both prospering so that with the exception of deduction for repairs your income is perfectly secure. I shall make up my act [account] current o the 30^th June and forward it with any balance due to you , as I expect there will be a vessel leaving shortly after.

I remain   My Dear Sir   Yours Very Faithfully    George Fredk Read

 

References

Jack Richards Tasmanian Letters 1824-1852 (Christchuch New Zealand 1955) – I have a copy

K.A. Green, contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1967), John Ingle (1781-1872)

H.C.C. Langdon, contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1967), George Frederick Read (1788-1860)

Wikipedia: Ingle Hall

Any Port in A Storm – A Prussian vessel takes refuge at Cowes in 1823

 

This business letter sent from Cowes to a prominent merchant house in Bordeaux very straightforwardly illustrates an important function performed by the many small harbours and ports dotted along the south coast of England in the days of sailing ships. They could provide a refuge from bad weather.  The letter also shows that there were persons  on hand locally to assist with formalities and practicalities; a brief internet search suggests that James Day was  an establised merchant with shipping interests of his own. Written in a reasonably clear hand, it makes the reasonable assumption that there will be someone in Bordeaux who can read English; the big merchant houses were usually multi-lingually equipped. But I need Artificial Intelligence to tell me that “A galeas (or galias), in 19th-century Northern Europe referred to a relatively small, shallow-draft, two-masted merchant sailing ship equipped with a mix of square and fore-and-aft sails. They were highly popular in the Baltic and North Sea trade networks”.

James Day's bill for services of just under £34 equates according to the Bank of England calculator to about £3600 today; an 1823  agricultural labourer in southern England would have had an annual income of about £30; an experienced office clerk would have received about double that. 

Cowes circa 1827   J M W Turner

Transcription

Addressed to: Messrs Schroder Schÿler & Co Bordeaux

Datelined: Cowes 17^th Febry 1823

Postmarked COWES, postage paid in advance as far as London with London transit mark of 27 FEB, Mss rating marks.

Docketing note: Cowes le 17 Fevrier 1823 James Day   reçue le 25 dit [ditto] rep [repondu]

Messrs. Schroeder Schÿler   Bordeaux

Gentn.

I beg to inform you that about the 9^th inst the Prussian Galias Henrietta & Jacob, Capt. Notzke, was forced into this Port by contrary Winds & very bad Weather on a voyage to your place from Konigsberg with a Cargo of Timber to your Consignment. Capt. Notzke applied to me to assist him with the Needful to pay his Pilotages Port Charges &c which I accordingly did, and for the amount say £33..17..4 [thirty-three pounds, seven shillings and fourpence] Capt Notzke has given me his Draft on you, Gentlemen, at 2m date [due in two months] as p[er] his letter enclosed, and which I beg to recommend to your protection.

The Wind having become favourable yesterday Capt. Notzke lost no time getting his Vessel underway & proceeded on his Voyage, & as the Wind has since continued fair I make no doubt that he will soon be round with you, With a tender of my best Service at this Port on any future Occasion

I subscribe myself Gentlemen with great Respect Your very obedt. Servt.

James Day

Samuel Martin an Absentee Plantation Owner writes to his agent in Antigua 1813-1822

 

On the island of Antigua the second most common surname is Martin; such is the legacy of slavery. The Martins figure prominently in recent histories alongside the Codringtons after whom a library at the University of Oxford was until very recently named and the Nibbs with whose family Jane Austen’s father the Reverend George Austen was connected. I will, however, be brief and informal because I am inviting my readers to work their way through five complex letters transcribed below and running to about 5000 words.

Click to enlarge

Antigua and the neighbouring small island of Barbuda were colonised by the British as early as 1632 and were soon given over to slave plantations which produced tobacco, yams, sugar and rum in proportions which varied over time. Antigua was, however, probably already in economic decline when the letters below were written between 1813 and 1822, none of them wildly optimistic about big profits to be made. Soil exhaustion, the vagaries of local weather, European and American wars and competition all conspired to challenge the ingenuity of plantation owners. From the point of view of the enslaved, the British government’s 1807 ban on the slave trade did provide an incentive for slave owners to ameliorate conditions at least insofar as they might improve the birth rate and reduce mother and infant mortality – there is a reference to that in Letter Three. (Elsewhere on this site, a slave owner writing in 1819 records having had his enslaved people vaccinated against smallpox:  

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/alexander-cameron-slave-owner-in.html )

The first recognised figure in a line of Martin plantation owners - planters is the word - was Major Samuel Martin who in 1701 was hacked to death in a slave revolt occasioned by his demand that his people work on Christmas Day.  His seven-year-old son (also Samuel Martin) was spared a similar fate thanks (from the accounts I have read) to a black nanny who hid him and who was rewarded with her freedom. The fortunate child later became perhaps the most significant 18the century planter advocate for improving the lot of the enslaved, advocacy which was grounded in both moral and prudential calculations and published in a work which went through many London-printed editions from 1754 onwards; titled An Essay on Plantership it made many practical suggestions of which the best known may be his proposal that slaves should be allocated provision grounds – what we would call allotments – where they could grow food. It also insists on the fundamental Christian doctrine that there is only one human race. The practical demonstration of the truth of this claim was to be found in the results of rape and concubinage: the children of “mixed race” relationships were born very obviously normal and healthy and did not display  genetic defects such as  were linked to the repeated  first cousin marriages between members of the Royal houses of Europe.

This second Martin’s eldest son also called Samuel Martin did not succeed him but instead pursued a political career in Britain which earns him a Wikipedia page; his father has one too thanks to the Essay. The online genealogies I have consulted are inconsistent, and I suspect often wrong, and I cannot establish how as a result of some connection a replacement Samuel Martin was found. However it was done: the Samuel Martin (1747-1831) who wrote these letters was born in Scotland the son of a Roger Martin of Glen Cree; the connection is confirmed among other things by the Glen Cree date line of Letter Four. This successor went out to Antigua as a young man and in 1778 married Grace Savage born there in 1759. She died in 1810 and her husband returned to Scotland at the latest by 1813; he  re-married and that explains a reference to his growing family. He is the absentee owner writing these letters (from a known correspondence) to his agent Charles Curtis. Samuel is now being assisted by his son George Savage Martin (1786 -1849) who goes out to Antigua. shortly before the abolition of slavery but when George as inheritor came to claim compensation for lost slaves in the 1830s he was opposed by other claimants; his estates were mortgaged up to the hilt and the mortgagees wanted their money and directly from the compensation fund.  

The letters are dominated by a few themes, notably anxiety about obtaining good prices for sugar exports. Among other relevant decisions is that which decides on the proportion of an annual harvest which will go to each of the ports in England where Martin has merchants who handle the sale of his produce. Climate and weather is a second major theme; they partly or largely determine how good will be the crop. Slave discontent is never mentioned though there are several references to the well-being of “my Negroes”; Martin reckons that the Moravian pastors can do more good for them than the Anglicans and Methodists and, when I check, it’s true that the Moravian church was very well established in Antigua and still is. Finally, it is notable that much of Martin’s work involves acting as Trustee for the estates of a deceased planter Entwistle who owned the Barnacle Point, Golden Grove, and Jolly Hill estates. I don’t think it is always realised that there were usually trustees on stand-by in case a planter – an owner – died or was incapacitated before his children were of age. Trustees might never be called upon but often were; white colonists were vulnerable to local diseases as much as anyone. It was as a stand-by trustee that the Reverend George Austen became involved with the Nibbs estate on Antigua which this Samuel Martin eventually acquired only to regret it. Interestingly, though the Nibbses ceased to be planters many remained in Antigua and pursued other occupations – in my own researches I found one acting as an Auctioneer in the mid-Victorian period.

All except one of these letters is endorsed “Copy” but all have gone through the post. In a period when ships were often seized or shipwrecked it was common to send two identical copies of one letter by different packets (the usual term for a mailboat which also carried goods), reckoning that at least one would survive and arrive.

 

Transcription Letter One

Addressed to: Mr Charles Curtis    Golden Grove    Antigua   By the Packet [Boat]

Datelined: Balmae [Scotland] 7^th Decembr 1813   Endorsed: Copy

Docketing notes: .. p [er] 2^d December Packet [arrived on the second Packet which departed in December] Received 24^th Feby 1814 answered 7^th March – p. the 2^d Dep. [departing?] packet. The Postage of this letter & one from Mr Johnson of same Packet cost 10/6 [ten shillings and six pence, equivalent to £36– yes, thirty-six - in 2026]. One unclear postmark

Dear Sir

I have received your letters of the 17^th Augt & 2d Octr & I regret exceedingly the dispiriting details they give of the situation of poor Antigua. Were you blessed with seasonable weather, other difficulties might be surmounted, but while the Sugar Crops are Curtailed, so as to take away the power of sending provisions from this country, the deprivations of the poor Negroes must be severe, particularly while the American War continues, & I fear despite the discomfiture of Mr Madisons friend Buonaparte that peace with that Country is still at a distance. There is however one thing I strongly recommend to you (however pinched we may be in our finances) not to curtail the Corn Allowance  under the legal quantity directed to be given weekly, which if I recollect rightly in nine pints, perhaps the six pints of meal you have been giving them exceeds the quantity of six pints of grain, but be that as it may, I shall not be quite easy till I hear you have given the allowance pointed out by Law & s to the ways &means to pay for that Allowance we must continue to raise them.

The good Accounts you sent me of the Weather in August gave me hopes of seeing a decent Crop in the coming year but yr Oct [October] letter has damped these hopes. Still I shall not lose all hope of something tolerable for it wd. be vexatious indeed not to receive Sugars now that prices are high beyond all example owing to the defeats of Buonaparte & the liberation of Holland.

I shall desire Mr Johnson to send you Copies of the Sales of the 10 hhds [hogsheads] & 35 Tierces [a smaller cask] of Sugar recd in England from the last crop as soon as they can be made up. The Jolly hill Sugars were sold at 92/- [ninety-two shillings; there were twenty shilling to the pound] which is no extraordinary price if they were as good as usual. I have great hopes that the Alfred with the Stores for the late Mr Entwistle’s Plantations [ Samuel Martin was Trustee for them] is now on her way to Antigua, though the Wm & Alfred with my own Stores is left behind for the next Convoy [ because of the wars with America and France, merchant ships were vulnerable to attack by privateers and enemy ships and so travelled in convoys as in later wars]. I regret your having been so ill paid since you had the direction of Mr Entwistle’s Concerns & I wish those Concerns would have enabled me to pay you with the same regularity as when you directed my own Plantation, but you know the impossibility thereof & I must therefore entreat you to get in the outstanding debts for the purpose of paying yourself & to assist in getting Provisions for the Negroes, taking Sugar or Rum, as you think best, to liquidate the remainder of yr. Acct [Account] up to the 31^st of the present month [of December]. As you talk of 100 Hhds from Jolly hill & Golden Grove I flatter myself you will be able to ship Mr Johnson, keeping the remainder & all the Run to carry on the Plantations.

I hope for a cheering letter soon & to hear that mine of the 7^th Octr with the papers therein enclosed has reached you safe. Say to Mr Gorling I am particularly anxious for a statement Mr Gilchrist’s account which I hope has not been overpaid.

I am Dr Sir   Your friend & humb Servt   Sam Martin

In a different hand, perhaps Martin rather than his Copying clerk:

27the Decr 1813

Yours of the 2d Octr is the latest in my possession & I am naturally anxious for further accounts from Antigua great & favorable changes are daily taking place in the affairs of Europe, which will soon be restored to its Lawful Governments & Princes, confining Buonaparte to the Kingdom of France. He hs sued for Peace & the Funds are rising every hour but the most unexampled rise has been upon Sugar the average price of which lst week was 105/= including duty [the Sugar Tax]. This cannot last & I must fear before any of mine can reach a Market, the Sugar frenzy will be at an end. I wish you many happy returns of the present Season.

 

Transcription Letter Two

Addressed to: Mr Charles Curtis    Golden Grove    Antigua   By the Packet [Boat]

Datelined: Balmae [Scotland] 15^th Sept 1814   Endorsed: Copy

Undated postmark of CASTLE DOUGLAS, note “double only” meaning double weight for postage charges

Docketing note: S.Martin Esqr 14^th Novr 1814 Rec’d the 7^th Feb ….. answered 21^st Feb [rest uncertain but apparently sent by a Packet destined for Dumfries].

Dear Sir

Your letter of the 31^st July is a very gratifying one in regard to weather though rather depressing on the score of provisions. The War with America is certainly annoying to he Islands in some respects, but it would be well if it were possible to obtain Supplies through any other Channel for the Sugar markets will be woefully hurt were we at peace with America., they would renew their old trade of being Carriers from Cuba & St Domingo all over the World & the present high price would undoubtedly cease. The Sugar Market having got up lately I as too hasty in selling my own Sugars, as well as those of the Trust Estates, Those by the Cato are not landed, but if they sell s well s some of my last did they ought to fetch 100/- or near it.

I fear from the payment you say you made the widow of the late Dr Hill Jnr you did not clearly understand that it is my own & Mr Peters’s wish to withhold payment of that Balance & the Balance due to Dr Hill Snr till their Balances had been proved by Vouchers. You will of course take Mr Burke’s advice on this Subject, but as neither the Accounts of the father or son have been examined Mr Peters thinks that examination should precede payment & you will act accordingly. I shall hope to her judges have confirmed the Award given in the business of Lightfoot & that we shall soon profit thereby. I shall order the Plantation Stores to be shipped forthwith & I am &c S.M.

New dateline: Collin 16^th November 1814 [Collin is 36 miles from Balmae]

Dear Sir, I have your letter of the 24^th of Sept & I am sorry to learn that the good weather had begun to fail, upon looking at last years letters of a similar date they contained, I see, similar Complaints, & I shall therefore look forward with hope that the next accounts will be more favorable & that the good Crop you predicted, many months ago, will still be reaped, while the markets keep up.

Mr Johnson has got 110/- for the 10 Tierces by the Cato & such a price makes me lament our want of the Second sight, when the preceding Sugars of better quality went off so low, had they been kept, they would have given great proceeds. The day I recd. your letter I informed Mr Johnso of your having omitted Ladles & Skimmers in the list of Plantation Stores. I fear the Invoice was closed & the Ship (the Wm & Alfred) cleared out, but they will be sent, if possible.

The last paragraph of your letter mentions the Suit instituted by Mr Scholes for the enormous sum of £52000 I was concerned to read, but I was much more so, & indeed astonished, to learn that Mr Horsford has accepted a fee against the Executors, having hoped he would, in all suits at Antigua, have remained our Counsel. Though you had received my letter recommending his having a Retainer, if agreeable to Mr Burke, it does not appear you has acted upon my advice & I regret the circumstance more than I have words to express. Still I flatter myself the report of his being retained agt [against] us is unfounded & should this be the fact & Mr Burke approves of giving him a fee, a Bill for Fifty pounds Serling as a Retainer would be well laid out. I shall enclose a few lines to Mr Horsford which may be sealed & delivered to him, if Mr Burke has no objection. [This enclosure would be the cause of the “double weight” note]. I wish most sincerely Mr Gorling was in Antigua to look into the Accounts, particularly as he thought (you say) that the balance was rather against than in favour of Mr Scholes. I shall write to him & press his return, though I know not where he is, nor have I ever had a letter from him.

In regard to the alteration you wish at Golden Grove to obtain a good Curing house I have not a shadow of objection but that is a subject on which you should particularly consult Mr Burke & abide by his advice.

I never got the Turtle you were kind enough to send, it was landed in good health & condition, but sent, by mistake the Captain says, to a wrong Owner he ought not have replaced it & talked of doing so, but the Turtle Season is gone by, & I have given up all expectation of his keeping his promise at present. [Turtles were imported to make soup].

I am Dr Sir Your friend & hum Servt    Sam Martin

 

Transcription Letter Three

Addressed to: Mr Charles Curtis    Antigua   By the Packet [Boat]  Endorsed: Single [sheet]

Datelined: Balmae [Scotland] 21^st febr 1816   Endorsed: Copy

Docketing notes: S.Martin Esqr p[er] 1^st May mail. Rec^d 14^th June ---1816 answrd 19^th Do. When Express [a ship?] followd the 2d April packet. 9/- paid for P …to go p[er]Express

Dear Sir

On reperusing  your letter of the 9^th of Decr it appears that you consider the Custom house rent (£300 currency) as belonging to me & you have, of course, made use of the money for my Plantation Concerns but the fact is, I have ceased for some years having anything to do with it, being merely the Recvr. for Mr Whitehead’s benefit though I desired Mr G[eorge] Martin to make use of the £300 to help him out in housekeeping & that I would pay the Stg [sterling] amount to Mr Whithead in this Country. had Mr Whitehead gone to Antigua this Spring as I advised him to do I would have desired you to pay over to him the two qrs. you recd from Mr J. Jarvis & also the qr. you wd. receive the 5^th of last month, but as I hear he has no intention of quitting England & as I do not wish that any of the monies recd. since Mr G. Martin left Antigua, shd. go through my hands. I must entreat you to purchase a Bill & remit it to Mr Whitehead mentg. [mentioning] to him the different sums yo had recd. & the particular qrs, for which they were recd. his direction is the Revd. R. Whitehead Arnside Lodge Appleby [Westmoreland] & if you have made use of the money there can be no alternative but disposing of Rum to purchase the Bill. You will see by my preceding letter that if my Crop does not exceed 160 Hhds [hogsheads], it is my wish that 30 hhds only shd. go to Whitehaven & 10 to Liverpool so that Messrs OConnor &Moore may have 120 but I think some of the Sugars from the Trust Estates [ Entwistle estates] (now you expect a good crop) might go to the Outports leaving 2/3^ds for London. Perhaps you might be able to spare 20 hhds for Bristol, 20 for Liverpool & 20 for Whitehaven, but at all Events I wish the first 20 for the Bristol Volunteer & I am disposed to help Capt. Dawson of the ship Antigua Packet. We have no prospect of good prices, which are indeed declining daily in the few Sales that are made & if it were possible to get 75/- Currency at Antigua for my own Sugars, paid with good Bills even at six months date I shd. be greatly in pocket, but doubtful Bills would not do. I am blamed by some of my W.India friends, both in England & Antigua, for thinking of sending Beans or Pease from this Country, Indian Corn, they say at 18/- Currency payable in Rum at 5/- being a more moderate priced food (at the same time better liked by the Negroes) than any grain sent from here which must be paid for immediately. My determination will rest on the account I receive from you of my Yam Crop, having use for every shilling I can scrape together in this Country & it would be ridiculous to distress my finances by unnecessary shipments of provisions, if they are not absolutely wanted for my Negroes.

Balmae 26^th April 1816

Dear Sir

Your letter of 21^st of february  to Mr G.Martin is arrived after being long looked for , & I, upon the whole a very gratifying one in regard to weather & the price of American Corn, & there are I understand letters down to the 1^st of last months with accounts equally good, so we have much cause for thankfulness notwithstanding the failure of the Yam crop. By the bye, I have written to Mr Johnson to know if any Ship is up for Antigua, so as to forward some white Pease for the use of my sable friends being disappointed in obtaining the Oatmeal I intended for them from Liverpool & which I think would have been a food both palatable & nourishing for I do not like Beans, & Mr G.M. [Martin] recommends Pease in their stead. If we could be sure of Indian Corn keeping at the moderate prices you quote in febr. no supply of any kind would be wanted from England but this you do not seem to expect owing to your cramped trade with America & I fear from all I hear, Government is not disposed to relax in this point, so that your St Johns [Antigua] Traders ought to set seriously to work on dispatching british bottoms for such Articles as the Islands stand so greatly in need of & which we can have alone from the United States. This trade merely wants a serious beginning & we shd. in a short time receive ample Supplies. Mr Johnso will keep you informed of the miserable state of the Sugar Market & the small expectation of Amendment, so that the 180 hhds I looked forward to would have very opportunely to meet the increase & daily increasing wants of my large family, but you stil talk in yr letter of the 21^st of febr of 150 only & I must therefore submit  & be thankful – indeed I ought to be so after reading your detail of he poor returns of the neighbouring Plantations particularly the short Crops expected at Jarvis’s which will prove a sad disappointment to my friend Mr Nibbs. 

I regret to see by your last letter that your old complaint the jaundice has returned & should you, on Mr G.M.’s return to Antigua consider a change of climate absolutely necessary I cannot have a shadow of objection, or of continuing to you (as far as my power extends) your Salary during your absence. You will of course place the Trust Estates in proper hands for the time & I need not assure yo of my son’s readiness to repay what you are now doing for him, by a similar accomodation. It is not possible however to fix the time of his return, for though he has recovered his strength, his stomach considers i a very disordered State, & he is still following regimens recommended by medical men. My own opinion is that the good weather now beginning will do more for him than any prescriptions.

I hope you will find the Ploughman [ an improved plough, using sharper metal and lighter to handle] I sent from Liverpool a valuable acquisition to the Trust Estates. Should you be inclined to make a tryal of clay ashes, he will be useful in that way also & Mr Hodge will give you a reading of the documents I cut out & sent him from the Scotch Newspapers. I fear we can do noting in that way at H[igh] Point or Nibbs’s, but I hope in time to hear of the Negroes there from the use of the Plough , for we must now do all in our power ( putting humanity out of the question) to Ease their labour & keep up our numbers [after the abolition of the slave trade] & more than usual attention should be given to the Children & their Mothers both before & after their Confinement, in addition thereto, religious principles & the necessity of being faithful to their Husbands should be invariably inculcated, as well as the constant attendance (when in their power) o the Moravian Pastors, who in my mind should have a preference to the Church of England & the Methodists, as being better suited to their capacities.

I am glad to hear the Trust Books have got into the hands of the Master & I hope your next letter will announce Mr Gorling’s being set seriously to work in the investigate of the Accounts, from which I anticipate incalculable benefit to Mr Entwistle’s heirs from his knowledge & diligence. I had nearly forgot to say that my friend Sir David Maxwell was for many years subject to periodical attacks of jaundice, from which he has been completely relieved by James’s Analeptic Pills. He takes two every day between dinner & Tea, which have little or no operation & require neither confinement nor change of living. You had better try them.

I am Dr Sir   Your friend & humb Svt   Sam Martin

 

Transcription Letter Four

Addressed to: Mr Charles Curtis   Golden Grove  Antigua   By the Packet [Boat]   Endorsed: Single [sheet]

Datelined: Glen Cree [Scotland] 20^th Novemr 1821   Endorsed: Copy

Postmarked NEWTON STEWART [on the River Cree] and DUMFRIES

Docketing notes: Rec^d  the 11^th January 1822 ….  17 Do. [Ditto] answrd  pr return of November packet.

Dr Sir

I have been favored with your letter of the 26^th of Sepr & I regret sincerely your not having it in your power to speak so favorably of the weather as my previous letters from Antigua gave me reason to expect. My son George’s of the 13^th while it detailed the damages sustained by the Buildings on the 9^th, was nonetheless a cheering one in consequence of the abundant rains which accompanied the Gale & the showers which had succeeded for two or three days afterwards, but it appears from your letter that their continuance was of short duration & that the Canes were not recovering. This account added to the afflicting prospect of a Yam Crop, cannot fail damping my spirits, at a time when my finances re exhausted & (in consequence of the miserable state of the Sugar Markets) the poor West Indian can only keep from sinking by abundant Crops.

My best Sugars this year will scarcely give me £15 p hhd [per hogshead]  & as for the trash shipped in the William I have no prospect of their reaching £12. Surely some plan might be devised to improve the quality even in the worst Sugar soils, for though we can never expect them to approach the Green Castle qualities, which are now fetching 84/- in the Irish market while mine cannot command 61/- still were a trifling amendment obtainable they might produce 18 or 20 £ phhd, beyond which I never expect to see mine.

I entertain some hope from the Iron Sugar Boilers, in consequence of hearing that the Demerary Sugars had been thereby improved dull 4/- p cwt [per hundred weight?], & to me such an improvement would be invaluable, during most of the time you lived at High Point & for a few years afterwards, my Sugars had so good a character  in the Dublin Market, as to be enquired for by the Buyers, & it was only about the year 1815 they began to be complained of, since which they have been yearly getting worse. It is this which puzzles Messrs OConnor & Moore & it is not of my power to give them a satisfactory reason for it. When the Barnacle point Sugars sold so well this year my hopes were raised in consequence, thinking my qualities could not fail being similar, but I have been woefully disappointed, for they so not sell even so high  as those from Golden Grove [in trust with Martin] – by the bye your first shipment from the latter Estate is, I believe, still on hand, but the others, considering the Credit given & some other circumstances, are equal to the Whitehaven sales. From Messrs Hyndman & Co I have merely heard that the 10 hhds to their address had arrived safe, but I have heard nothing as yet of their being sold & I therefor suspect the Irish Market has not this year supported its former good Character, owing to the general distress in that Country.

The same Post which brought me your letter of the 26^th of Sepr brought me yours of the 14^th of that month to Mr Peters, sent me by his desire under cover from Mrs Peters, he being unable from some indisposition to attend at present to business. As it is similar in its Contents to yours of the 11^th of August to me, both of which I could not fail to red with surprise as well as regret, I shall at the end of this letter, give you a copy of my answer to Mrs Peters and I assure you, in the arrangement contemplated by Mr Peters, not the most distant disrespect was intended to yu, both of us being sensible of your knowledge & ability in the line of your profession & equally so, of the improved condition of the Trust Estates from your attention.

Mr Osborn being an old schoolfellow of Mr Peters’s & a man in whose praise he has heard much from more quarters than one, has ever been intended as one of his Attorneys at the termination of the Trust. Mr Burke’s name would, of course, stand first in the Power, & my Son George would, in all probability, be considered the acting Attorney, but surely none of the Gentlemen just named would interfere unnecessarily with you , if your health permits you to remain in yr. present Situation.

Mr Bell (with whose Chancery knowledge Mr Burke is well acquainted) in his opinion on the Trust Concerns thinks the Lord Chancelor would appoint Mr Petres to conduct those Concerns for his own & Mr Hague’s benefit, but Mr Peters never had a thought of sending out a power to Attorneys to act for his benefit alone. When Mr Peters is better I shall, in all likelihood, have some further correspondence with him on the subject & in the meantime I am & have always endeavoured to be, Dr Sir, Your friend & Humb.St.     Sam Martin

Quote marks indicate this is the copy of the other letter he mentions: “Dr Madam

I have been favored with your letter of the 7^th enclosing one from Mr Curtis, the contents of which being similar to one written to me I have nly to observe that I know not how to account for his dissatisfaction, for if you will attentively peruse his quotation from my letter to him, so far from giving the most distant hint of a wish for removing him from his present situation I expressed a hope of his health permitting him to remain. He has hitherto acted under Mr Burke’s direction & he acted under mine during the short time I resided at Antigua & should my so & Mr Osborn be appointed Mr Peters’s Attorneys at any future period he would act under them, but as those gentlemen are well acquainted with Mr Curtis’s knowledge & abilities as a Planter it is not to be supposed they would interfere more than would be absolutely necessary in their capacity of Attorneys, Sensible of the value of Mr Curtis’s service I some years ago recommended, unsolicited by him , an addition to be made to his Salary, with which he appeared to be quite satisfied, in a letter which he wrote to me last year he said his health was in so dangerous a state that he feared he could not remain at Antigua more than a few months. The letter from me, which Mr Curtis quotes, was in answer, i which I said I hoped to receive better accounts of his health so as to enable him to retain his situation to the termination for the Trust & that if his health would permit his remaining beyond that term I was persuaded the Attorneys wd. be happy go receive his services, more I could not say then, nor can I say more at present, but when Mr Peters is better able to attend to business I shall be ready & willing to do whatever he recommends on this subject”  S.M. 

Pray rembr. me most kindly to Mr Burke when you show him this letter. I have long been in the hope of hearing from him & I am happy to hear from you that he continues in tolerable health.

Transcription Letter Five

Addressed to: Mr Charles Curtis   Golden Grove  Antigua   By the Packet [Boat]   Endorsed: Single [sheet]

Datelined: Cardoness [Scotland] 9^th febr. 1822   Not endorsed: Copy

Postmarked GATEHOUSE [Scotland] and DUMFRIES

Docketing notes: pr 1^st Feby Mail [Packet]Received the 4^th April …1822 answrd 22d April Do. [ditto] …of 2d Feby packet 1^st Mrch mail do answered… Second March mail reached Antigua the 26^th April ‘22

Dr Sir

Being from Home without my papers with me, I do not recollect the dates of yur two last letters which conveyed the melancholy tidings of the death of my old & respected friend Mr Burke who I had hoped it would have pleased God to have spared to see a termination of the long Trust committed to his care & mine by the last Mr Entwistle. His character stood high in the community where he had so long resided & if he had Enemies (for which of us can boast of not having some) they were fewer than fall to the lot of most men, & occluded as his latter days were, still his loss will be felt.

I was gratified to understand that my son’s interference in the Trust concerns was not greater than to give you satisfaction & having no doubt of the continuance of this friendly intercourse I flatter myself you will remain in your present situation beyond the period you mention in a late letter to Mr Johnson.  The termination of the Trust ought to take place next Sepr., but owing to Mr Hague’s unfortunate state of mind, some delay is likely to take place & if your health would permit Mr Peters & I would be glad if you could postpone your return to England ‘till the Summer of 1823, before which period the Trust business will be brough to a close. IN order to effect this it will be necessary to have the Accounts during Mr Burke;s administration (commencing at the time I quitted Antigua) sent to England & I mentioned this in a letter I had occasion to write to Mr Gorling some months ago, adding that copies of the Books would not assure the purpose (they would indeed rather perplex than make matters clear) but that kind of Plantation Account which is usually transmitted by Attorneys to the Proprietors in England.

There is one Account in which I am materially interested & in the making up of which I must beg you will give yr assistance. I mean an account of all the Crops made on the Trust Estates since Mr Entwistle’s death, with their disposal, particularly noting [?] those, the proceeds of which came into my hands, such as were appropriated by Mr Burke in paying off Mr Scholes & such as were disposed of in the Island for the support of the Plantations. To the making up of this Account I beg your particular attention. I am much puzzled what to recommend to my son about the unfortunate property at St Vincents, the lease of which expires on the 1^st of July next, The regular way would be to have a reappraisement previous to that date & to require payment of the sum due thereon. In consequence of the mortality among the Negroes it is likely that the sum will be a large one & Messrs Purnell & Huggins as honest men would no doubt pay it, but then they (for the wish to have a new lease) would give little or no rent now that the Negroes re so reduced in number. I think you said you had an acquaintance at St Vincents to whom you would write on the subject & I shall of course be anxious to know what answer he has sent. As Mr Burke had in all probability some plan in view about that property he would naturally communicate it to you & if so I beg you will assist my son i coming to some determination on the Subject. In case no satisfactory information can be obtained from the St Vincents Gentleman just alluded to, I think my son shd. send some judicious person from Antigua to examine into the business & see what can be done.

In my last lettr to my son George I mentioned my expectation & desire that the supplies for the Trust Estates might be effected as they have heretofore been done, without drawing Bills upon te exhausted funds in England & I earnestly entreat your attention to this subject.

On a supposition that the Crop from the Trust Estates in the present year might reach 150 hhds I requested that60 might be sent to Mr Johnson; 40 or 50 to Messrs OConnor & Moore & the remr. [remainder] to Whitehaven, after the necessary reserve for purchasing plantation supplies. From what you say in your last letter to Mr Johnson it appears you have no expectation  of more than 100 hhds. This is depressing intelligence indeed & all I ca say is that shd your expectation be unfortunately realized, the remr of what is left after you have calculate or provided for paying for supplies must be divided between Mr Johnson & Messrs OConnor & Moore & in case I shd, not write to my Son by this Packet I beg you will communicate this to him.

IN an old letter you said it was a general opinion that Messrs Hyndman were better Sugar Sellers than the other House, but I have had proofs to the contrary for while the former were getting 61/6 for the G[olden] Grove Sugars my last shipment to the latter (which were equally bad) brought 63/- Irish.

I dread receiving letters from Antigua in consequence of the unfavorable weather in Decr, for having entangled myself with engagements in this Country I never had more occasio for abundant crops. I would indeed prefer a small & secure Income her to double the amount from an uncertain & precarious Income from abroad & I wish you would persuade some of your rich mercantile friends in St John’s to give me a good price for Nibbs’s [purchased during the period covered by this correspondence] so as to induce me to part with it. Wishing you health I remain Dr Sir Your assured friend   Sam Martin

 

References

https://sugarmills.blogs.bucknell.edu/

Wikipedia: Samuel Martin (planter)

Wikipedia: Samuel Martin (Camelford MP)

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/aboutus/resources/stella/projects/starn/prose/journal-of-a-lady-of-quality/antigua-and-st-christopher/ 

Padraic X Scanlan “Slaves and Peasants in the Era of Emancipation.” Journal of British Studies 59, no. 4 (2020): 495-520.

Chris Jeppesen, ‘East meets west: exploring the connections between Britain, the Caribbean and East India Company, c.1757–1857’, chapter in R. Hanley, J. Moody & K. Donington (eds.), Britain's History and Memory of Transatlantic Slavery: Local Nuances of a ‘National Sin (Liverpool University Press, 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1841 Archibald Kelso in Jamaica to John Gladstone in Liverpool, plantation owner father of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone

 

In the recent past a postal history dealer put this letter into one of their boxes at a pencilled price of 75p. Since it had been carried “by hand” – that is to say, outside the Royal Mail system -   from Kingston Jamaica to Liverpool England it has no postal markings and thus of no interest to postal history collectors.

After slavery was abolished in 1833, John Gladstone (1764-1851; from 1846 Sir John Gladstone) put in a successful claim for compensation which proved to be the largest of all pay-outs:  £106,769 for the loss of 2,508 enslaved people on plantations in British Guiana and Jamaica and equivalent to about £10 million at today’s prices taking 1837 as the base year.  Rather than employ people who were now free, Gladstone - who was always an absentee owner -  sought to employ indentured labourers imported from India; this proved unsuccessful and in this 1841 letter it is clear that Gladstone (now aged about 77) is trying to sell or lease out his estates rather than continue to own and actively manage them. One interested party is Alexander Gladstone who is not his son (despite what AI tells me) and is almost certainly not a near relative; he is at present an estate manager as indicated by a passage in the letter. The UCL database does not  list Alexander Gladstone as a claimant under the compensation act; as a manager he would not have owned slaves and if he progressed to owning or leasing estates - as the letter suggests he will - it was in the post-slavery period. 

The Estate which is called “Lacovia” in the letter appears in the UCL slavery database as “Shaws” in quotation marks and is grouped with Holland as it is in this letter.  

In the letter Archibald Kelso, currently Gladstone’s agent in Kingston Jamaica, reports back to him; letters between Kelso and  John Gladstone and his brother Robertson Gladstone are  held in archives including the Gladstone Library, formerly known as St. Deiniol's Library.

Transcription

Addressed to: John Gladstone Esqr Liverpool

Datelined: John Gladstone Esqr   Kingston   14^th May 1841

Docketing notes: 1841 Archd. Kelso to J.G. Kingston 14^th May / Tems of lease of Holland & Lacovia to J Gldstone. Produce on hand of Oxford, Eden & Fair Prospect; Recd 8 July 1841

My dear Sir

The two last Packets have brought me yours of the 13^th, 15^th, 24^th, 27^th Mar to the several contents of which I pay due attention.

The mail for England will be despatched tomorrow morning. I regret that the time of its departure had not been a few hours later, when I should have have had it in my power to communicate the result of our [auction] Sale. At present I am unable to say anything more of our prospects than after my first arrival in the Colony. Intending purchasers, if such, as I hope, there be, keep very quiet & make no enquiries as to terms or conditions. The North side Estates will have a large portion of the present years crop left on the ground, which will be an inducement to parties to buy, & bring the price nearer to what you fixed for them, but otherwise Mr Wilson, & Davies as well, consider that none would give the money required. The former says his subsequent letters to that of 31^st Jany to you would give you the prices of several Properties sold in the Island, by which you would see that they went low. Fair Prospect they say is generally over-valued in their opinion. If I am unable to sell at the sum fixed & also to rent, I must then according to present appearances give way considerably before getting clear of them. The crops likely to remain on the ground I had estimated when visiting the Estates.

As to Holland & Lacovia I think it will end in our leasing them to Alexr. Gladstone. I have given him your letter on the subject, & he begs me to acknowledge the receipt of it & to thank you for it. When he wrote to you about renting, he referred only to Holland but it would never do to separate them, the Lacovia people would all go to work at Holland if he were to have the latter only. The means he calculated on for paying for the Cattle were principally his Comison [Commission] on the last & present crop with some little money besides, altogether not amounting to more than £1,600 or £1,700. He hopes to get ample security but is very much averse to commiting himself with anyone else in the lease. If he rents the Properties I feel confident he will do every justice to them, he is more enterprising than most of the Planters here, & manages the people well. He does not like to go to India, if he can do anything in this country, & he is so well known & thought of that I have little doubt of his obtaining employment if he should have to seek for it [presumably as a manager elsewhere, in order to supplement his income]. Both Logan [another manager] & he are here Mr Davies recommended their coming up to answer any enquiries Bidders for the Estates might wish to make.  

Mr Davies fears, contrary to Messrs Freshfield’s expectation, that Parties here will not be satisfied with the different Titles unless completed which you are aware they were not with the view to saving the heavy stamp duties & this also will be borne in mind on their sale, & a higher price required.

I am glad to hear of the improvement which has again taken place in the Sugar Market the Account of which has come in good time to help us. The Rains on the North & East side are long of setting in, & the yielding of the Canes is getting worse & worse. I have letters from both F. Prospect [ Fair Prospect], Oxford & Eden [estates] today telling me that at all three places they have to lower their Estimates again. On the first the crop of this year made, amounts to abt [about] 22 Hhds [Hogsheads,large casks] & 8 Tces [Tierces, smaller casks]  & there remains for the year from 25 to 30 Hhds more. On Oxford there will not remain to be cut more than enough to make 60 Hhds besides the 11 Hhds & 2 Tce[Tierces] already made, & on Eden in addition to the 21 Hhds 17 Tce[Tierces] made there will remain to make about 36 Hhds. The Crops remaining of last year are

 FP      14 Hhds Sugar 4 Puns [? Puncheons, larger casks] Rum

    E      15 ---- 5 ----- 

     O     47-----23 Tces  14 ------

These will require a good many HHds to repack .... 

Click to Enlarge

What the Union [sailing ship] does not take, will be shipped as opportunities offer.

I hope to hear that the operation on your eye has fully succeeded & that you have made a good recovery, In hopes of being able to inform you of the Estates being sold in my next I remain meanwhile my dear Sir

Very sincerely yours

Archd Kelso

References

Wikipedia: Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/search/   [UCL Legacies of British Slavery]

 

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Augustus d’Este and the Aborigines Protection Society

Augustus d’Este (1794-1848), who appears as the boy Prince Augustus elsewhere on this site (see References) saw active military service in Canada and the USA during the war of 1812-1815. Later in life, when his mobility was increasingly limited  by multiple sclerosis, he took an active part in the affairs of the London-based Aborigines Protection Society formed in 1837. He took a particular interest in the affairs of first nation Canadian populations, receiving their emissaries in his London home and using his access to government ministers to advance the petitions they brought seeking recognition of their land rights which were being eroded by European immigrant settlers supported by the colonial government of Canada.

The letter transcribed below shows him taking on financial commitments on behalf of an indigenous person named La Graisse who was prosecuted for some unclear but serious crime but acquitted. I have been unable to discover details of the case or of La Graisse’s tribal allegiance. His employment by the Hudson’s Bay Company opens the possibility that he is a native Inuit, a community often in conflict with the Hare (a sub-group of the Dene) mentioned in the letter. The writer of the letter, the Reverend Lusher (c 1787- 1849), is a prominent Methodist minister, writer, and newspaper editor. Wesleyan Methodist missionaries were deeply embedded in Canadian indigenous society and were the foremost defenders of native rights. They encouraged agricultural innovation and promoted schools (including higher level schools) for both boys and girls.

*

Transcription 

Addressed to: Sir Augustus d’Este      Connaught Square       London

Datelined: Montreal Nov 6 1840

Honoured and dear Sir

I have the pleasure to inform you that the Indian La Graisse in whose behalf you have so kindly interested yourself has at last been brought to trial, and acquitted, on the ground of the moral incompetency of the witness – the one only witness which appeared against him. I immediately took him under my care, and wrote to James Keith Esqr. of the Hudson Bay Company, resident at La Chine requesting that he might be again taken into the Company’s employ; but that he should be sent to another part of the Territory than that where the Massacre took place, as he would be in danger from the Hare, among whose tribe the outrage was committed. Mr Keith at once saw the propriety of this, and has sent him down to one of the Company’s posts below Quebec. 

La Graisse is in good health and I believe very deeply feels the obligation he is under to you for all your kindness. I asked him what I should say to you about him when I wrote to inform you of his acquittal? He said he wished me to assure you of his gratitude – that he would strive to avoid all wicked practices in future – that he hoped to be enabled to love and serve God, and finally that he should happy if he might spend the rest of his life as your servant. I believe him to be sincere and grateful.

I am sorry however now to have to inform you that in consequence of his trial being for various reasons postponed from time to time, the Fee and Expenses of Counsel will amount to nearly £90. Messrs Fisher & Smith assure me that in consideration of the nature of the case, they have made the charge as low as possible. I am not sure whether it is their intention to draw on you for the amount or wait until we have the honour to hear from you. I shall request them to await your answer. 

I feel greatly honoured and obliged by the favour of receiving two or three London papers for which I presume I am indebted to your kindness. Most earnestly do I hope that the just claims which your illustrious birth and connexions entitle you to urge, will speedily prevail to secure to you that high and Princely rank and consideration which are legitimately your due. Pardon Most Excellent Sir, so humble and obscure an individual as I am, venturing to express to you these sentiments. I do it in the sincerity and fulness of my heart, and from not only a profound respect for you as a member and Prince of the illustrious House of Hanover, and of the Royal Family of England, my beloved country; but also from admiration of your Christian condescendion and philanthropy which has led you to compassionate the case of a poor despised Indian, and at so much trouble and expense, seek to promote his temporal and eternal welfare. May “the blessing of him who was ready to perish come upon you”.

Waiting your further commands, I have the honour Illustrious and dear Sir to be

Your obedient Humble Servant

R. L. Lusher

Docketing note: No. 5 From the Revd. Lusher stating the amount of the Attorneys Bill £90 – for La Grasse’s defense. Dated November 6 Received December 16^th 1840

References

Wikipedia: Augustus d’Este

Wikipedia: Aborigines Protection Society

Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Robert Langham Lusher [author: Nathan H Mair]

Aborigines Protection Society: Report on the Indians of Upper Canada (1840) – a detailed and highly informative short work available as Print on Demand

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/lady-augusta-murray-duchess-of-sussex.html