Newall Berwick

The executor of Newall Berwick, Frederick Ferdinand Hill, claimed unsuccessfully for the compensation for a group of enslaved people at Morant Bay, Jamaica. Newall Berwick was a Scottish merchant and sugar planter, son of James Berwick, a miller, and Agnes Newall. Orphaned when very young, mostly resident in Jamaica from the early 1800s but still with links to Dundee, Scotland. Major in the Jamaican militia, holder of several public offices in Morant Bay, married to Susan Eccles whose family owned Vauxhall estate in St Thomas-in-the-East. Father of Douglas Berwick (q.v.), Elizabeth Berwick (q.v.) and Mary Berwick (q.v.).

1. Baptised 10/02/1782 in New Abbey, Kirkcudbright, Scotland: "Newall son to James Berwick Miller & Agnes Newall who died in child-bed." His father died nine months later. Newall Berwick erected their gravestone in New Abbey cemetary: "AGNES NEWALL died 2nd Feb. 1782 aged 27 years . Husband JAMES BERWICK died 15th Nov. aged 35. Erected by NEWALL BERWICK, their son. My parents dear, both ly buried here."

2. Married Susan [Susanna] Williams Eccles, date unknown. When the first registration of enslaved people in Jamaica occurred in 1817 Newall Berwick's return was completed by Frederick Ferdinand Hill (q.v., later his executor), Alexander Milne and George Watson. In 1826 and 1829 he registered enslaved people in St Thomas-in-the-Vale as guardian of Douglas, Elizabeth and Mary Berwick, an inheritance from Edward M. Eccles. In Frederick Ferdinand Hill registered as Berwick's executor in 1832 but compensation was awarded to Gray Rutherford as his administrator.

3. Newall Berwick manumitted two enslaved persons, Jane Kennedy and child William Dunbar, for consideration money of £229 in October 1822.

4. Berwick borrowed £7000 from Burrage Davenport in 1821 secured by mortgage on land and 'negroes' at Morant Bay; in 1829, when £1500 was still owing, Davenport transferred the land to Margaret Still Mavor of Brighton, to whom in turn he owed £1400.

5. 'At Jamaica, on the 28th Oct. last, in consequence of a fall from his horse, Newall Berwick, Esq., of Belleview, major of the St. Thomas in the east regiment of Militia. The deceased was in perfect health, and had just gone out for a morning ride when the awful sudden, and much to be regretted accident occurred.'

T71/867 St Thomas-in-the-East No. 342.

1. General Register Office for Scotland, Old Parish Records, Births 877 010 199; monumental inscription in New Abbey churchyard, transcribed at http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/SCT-KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE/2003-06/1056167296.

2. See death certificate of his daughter Mary Berwick, General Register Office for Scotland, Deaths 1870 559/01 096 for his wife's name and his profession. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database online].

3. 'List of Jamaican Manumissions of 1825 in the Public Records Office', http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/Manumit3.htm [accessed 11/10/2011].

4. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 3, p. 125: "1829, March 1. Indenture betw. Burrage Davenport of L., Merchant, of the one part, and Margt Hill [sic] Mavor of Brighthelmstone, spinster, of the other. Whereas by Mortg. of 25 July 1821 betw. Newall Berwick of St Thomas in the E., Merchant, and B. D., N. B. owed £7000 c. and conv. 2 parcels of land in Morant Bay and 18 neg. and £1500 is still owing and B. D. owes £1400 to M. H. M., he transfers said land to her. Signed by B. D. Crest: A lion rampant. Motto".

5. The Dumfries Weekly Journal 12/01/1830, transcribed by Diana Henry and Robert Wells, http://www.rjw-data.info/DWJ%20PDF%20files/1830.pdf [accessed 27/11/2019].

We are grateful to Iain Brash for his help in compiling this entry.