Calliaqua, later Villa Estate

[Name] Calliaqua  

274 acres of cleared land and an island, now known as Young Island, bought on behalf of Sir William Young in 1766 from Toussant Reviere 'and several other French inhabitants'.

Email from Peter Marshall, 04/09/2017 sourced to: Bodleian Library Oxford, MS W. Ind, f.1 (notes this is the first volume of a collection of the papers of Young's son, the second Baronet; it largely deals with the management of his inheritance of West Indian lands from his father by Sir William Young the second); National Archives, TS 11/214-17; Public Ledger 03/10/1774 and further advertisements for the largely abortive sale of Young's assets that appeared in the London press between 1774 and 1776.

[Name] Calliaqua  

Mortgaged in 1770 to Maitland and Boddington of London, part of £61,690 secured on three St Vincent estates. Then said to be being worked by 100 enslaved people.

Ibid.

[Name] Calliaqua  

Inventory of the buildings and of the enslaved people available for 1773. Value then assessed at £32,715. Young probably lived at Calliaqua from 1780 to 1783 again from 1787 to his death in 1788. He presumably built the spacious dwelling house which gave the estate its later name of the Villa. This must have required rebuilding, both after the 1780 hurricane and the ravaging of the estate by the Caribs in 1795.

Ibid.

[Name] Calliaqua  

An indenture of 27/09/1803 between Alexander Donaldson and George Glenny of the one part and William Manning, John Inglis, Joseph Dorin and John Robley (each representing, and partner in, a different firm of London merchants) conveyed from Donaldson to the London merchants: (1) Lowlayton estate in St George Jamaica plus two other parcels of land totalling a further 920 acres, one specified as having been purchased by William White from Isaac Lascelles Winn, and both cultivated as part of Lowlayton, together with the enslaved people attached to the estate; (2) the Calliaqua estate on St Vincent of 338 acres with the enslaved people attached to the estate; and (3) the Pembroke estate on St Vincent of 520 acres with the enslaved people attached to the estate. A second indenture of 28/09/1803 gave the [extended] background, and showed: (1) the conveyance to Alexander Donaldson of the Orange Vale estate in St George and the enslaved people attached to it by George Churchill and Elizabeth his wife in 1801, subject to a mortgage to John Elmslie since extinguished; (2) the conveyance to Alexander Donaldson of the Stoakes Hall estate and the enslaved people attached to it on 31/12/1802 by Eliphalet [sic] Fitch in consideration of the £49642 1s 3d and three farthings owed by Fitch to Donaldson, a further £12356 14s 5d farthing current money [apparently a new advance by Donaldson] and another £25136 4s 3d of additional indebtedness to Donaldson (the indenture said that Fitch had purchased the estate from Thomas Cargill and Elizabeth his wife), subject to earlier encumbrances including an annuity of £300 p.a. to Elizabeth Hodgins Cargill (q.v.) from 1771, a mortgage to Philip Livingstone for £5300, £3500 of a legacy of £5000 under the will of Richard Cargill and a further annuity of £400 p.a. to Elizabeth Hodgins Cargill, and a mortgage over 100 enslaved people from Eliphalet Fitch to Protheroe & Claxton, most of which encumbrances Donaldson had paid off (3) the conveyance to Alexander Donaldson of an estate known as Fairfields in St George Jamaica with the enslaved people attached to it (4) 53 'negroe and other slaves' conveyed to Donaldson by Dugald Campbell as the executor of Kenneth McLuan of St Andrew; (5) the conveyance to Donaldson of the Low Layton estate by Alexander Shaw and Aaron Holt of Kingston, who had mortgaged the land and 'part of the slaves' to John Roebuck, George Roebuck and John Farrer of the City of London to secure the payment of a series of bills of exchange drawn by Alexander Shaw on Phyn Inglis of London totalling more than £40,000, and on which Alexander Donaldson was owed more than £60,000; (6) the conveyance [by mortgage] on 6 and 7/07/1801 to Alexander Donaldson and George Glenny, in exchange for a payment of £30,000 to Sir William Young of Huntercombe, of the Calliaqua estate, secured also by a bond of £60,000 from Sir William Young; (7) the conveyance of the Pembroke estate in St Vincent by Sir William Young for £30,000 [possibly under the same mortgage as Calliaqua]; (8) the (re)conveyance of the latter mortgage to Andrew Jourdain and Benjamin Shaw of the City of London, to whom Donaldson and Glenny owed £27,500, subsequently repaid and the mortgage reconveyed to Donaldson and Glenny; and (9) the borrowing by Donaldson and Glenny of £60,000 of new capital from the firms of Manning, Inglis, Dorin and Robley secured by the estates and mortgages details previously. Schedule B appears to show in fact 12 amounts of £5000 each, from a total of 8 firms (the 4 firm named in the deeds, plus John Brickwood; James Allan (twice); Robert Bent; Jordain & Shaw; William Christie; James Brymer) many drawing on each other.

Deed Book 1804, British Library, EAP688/1/1/18, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP688-1-1-18 pp. 82-84 and pp. 86-138.

[Name] Calliaqua  

n 1804 John Robley and Charles Brooke agreed to pay Alexander Donaldson £69,511 1s 6d for mortgage debt of £94,511 1s 6d secured on the estates (and the enslaved people) of Sir William Young bart. The estates were identified as Old Road in Antigua and Calliaqua and Pembroke in St Vincent. No cash appears to have changed hands upfront: instead John Robley & co. issued to Alexander Donaldson bills drawn on themselves. On 10 & 11 September 1804 Betsey's Hope on Tobago and the enslaved people on it were added to the security package underpinning the £94,511 1s 6d mortgage debt and any further advances Robley might make (up to £10,000 was envisaged for Betsey's Hope, it appears). In 1809 Robley bought the equity of redemption of Calliaqua and Pembroke under a sale by the Provost Marshall. The 'Calliaqua' estate, referred to as such by Sir William Laurence Young 4th bart in the 1830s, appears to have been described as the Villa estate in the compensation records.

Richard Bligh, New Reports of Cases Heard the House of Lords (1835) 'Robley v Brooke' Vol. VII pp. 92 et seq.

Richard Bligh, New Reports of Cases Heard the House of Lords (1835) 'Robley v Brooke' Vol. VII pp. 92 et seq.

[Number of enslaved people] 152(Tot)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

John Robley and Charles Brook as owners. 1 runaway and 1 enslaved people with Mr. Robley in Tobago

T71/493 164-166

[Number of enslaved people] 130(Tot) 69(F) 61(M)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

The heirs of John Robley and Charles Brooke as owners [34 deaths].

T71/495 73-74

[Number of enslaved people] 122(Tot) 62(F) 60(M)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

The heirs of John Robley, and to Charles Brooke.

T71/497 50-51

[Number of enslaved people] 117(Tot) 59(F) 58(M)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

Heirs of John Robley, and to Charles Brooke.

T71/497 79

[Number of enslaved people] 118(Tot) 61(F) 57(M)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

The heirs of John Robley, and to Charles Brooke.

T71/499 79-

[Number of enslaved people] 120(Tot) 63(F) 57(M)  
[Name] Villa Estate  

Villa Estate. The property of the heirs of John Robley, and Charles Brooke. Statement sworn by Adam Jeffrey. Register taken on 1st May. Total on 1st August 1834 was 120 enslaved people.

T71/500 125-126