George Tarbutt

Son of a prosperous London merchant, and probably son-in-law of James Donaldson (q.v.), from whom through his wife he became owner of Prospect Pen in St David, Jamaica.

1. The will of George Tarbutt senior, merchant of Gould Square, London, lists his 3 daughters - Elizabeth (married to Thomas Vardon [[Thomas Vardon was the son of a partner in the Crowley Millington ironworks firm]), Charlotte and Caroline, and leaves them £5000 each. The remaining estate was divided between his 3 sons - George, William and Charles. The executors and trustees were Charles Bryan of Portland Parish Island of Jamaica Esq., Thomas Forsyth of Upper Wimpole Street Esq. and James Steel of Cheape Lane in the City of London. The will was proved in London 05/06/1801. The baptism records of Elizabeth Bryan Tarbutt (1780) and Caroline Forsyth Tarbutt (1788) give their mother's name as Charlotte. At the baptism of Elizabeth Bryan, George's occupation was given as Mariner.

2. George Tarbutt the younger of this Parish and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson at St Mary le Bonne Spinster and Minor by consent of John West her Guardian lawfully appointed were married in St Pancras Old Chapel, London, 08/07/1799. The witnesses were Jno West and Sarah Phipps.

3. George and Mary Elizabeth had 5 children baptised in London: George (born 31/01/1800 and baptised 31/03/1801 St Pancras), Charles (born 14/02/1801 and baptised 31/03/1801 St Pancras), Henry Innes (born 04/05/1802 and baptised 16/06/1802 St Giles, Camberwell), George Donaldson (born 03/07/1804 and baptised 18/06/1804 St Pancras) and Caroline Elizabeth (born 13/10/1805 and baptised 17/03/1805 St Pancras).

4. The next 11 children were baptised in Millbrook, near Southampton, Hampshire: Ellen (17/05/1808), Charlotte Martin (19/10/1808), Forsyth James (11/09/1810), Forsyth Innes (18/09/1810), Thomasina (26/10/1811), William (16/01/1813), Edwin (17/03/1815), Edgar (04/02/1816), Ernest (12/04/1818), Emma (03/03/1819) and Augustus (12/03/1820).

5. George and Mary Elizabeth buried 6 of their children while living near Southampton: Edwin (05/08/1815), Ernest (07/05/1818), George Donaldson (02/04/1819), Augustus (06/10/1820), Edgar (01/01/1821) and William (09/01/1821).

6. George Patton Esq. registered enslaved people at attorney on Prospect Pen for George Tarbutt in 1817 but George Tarbutt registered his own enslaved people in 1820, 1826, 1829 and 1832. Their youngest child, James Donaldson, was born 04/11/1823 and baptised 19/12/1823 at Prospect in St David's parish, Jamaica,

7. "Death - In December, at Prospect Pen, aged 39, Mary, the wife of George Tarbutt, Esq., three weeks after the birth of her nineteenth child."

8. Will of George Tarbutt of St David Jamaica proved in London 19/04/1849 [and attested in Jamaica in 1847]. In the will he rehearsed his marriage settlement of 1799 with Mary Elizabeth Donaldson under which certain property in Jamaica and £7500 was settled. In 1804 Prospect Pen was conveyed to him by his wife. In 1821 trustees used money from the £7500 to buy 37 enslaved people then conveyed to Charles Bryan Tarbutt and William Brackstone Tarbutt [George's brothers]. Mary Elizabeth Tarbutt died in 1823. Tarbutt left Prospect Pen to three of his daughters and the children of a fourth. His residuary heirs were his 'friend' Mary Stewart and his six children with her.

T71/066 St David 79 (Prospect Pen).

1. PROB 11/1359. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online].

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online].

4. familysearch.org batch nos. I02020-3, I02020-4, I03380-2, I03380-3, P01460-1,

5. familysearch.org batch nos. I04092-3 and I03638-1.

6. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database online]. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

7. Oriental Herald, Vol. 1, No. 3, March 1824, p. 542.

8. PROB 11/2092/79. It is indexed under 'George Tarbull' on TNA's site for PCC wills.

We are grateful to Jonathan Cutmore for his assistance in compiling this entry.