William Falconer

Slave-owner in Jamaica, apparently an absentee in Scotland. He does not appear in the compensation records and must have sold or assigned the estates and enslaved people shortly after the 1832 Slave Registers in which they are shown for him.

1. Jane MacGillivray's investigations on Falconers in Jamaica, published online, indicate that William Falconer was probably the brother of Aeneas Falconer of Blackhills in Nairnshire. He had returned to the Highlands in 1805, having been more than twenty years in Jamaica, and for a time lived at Brightmoney, Auldearn. In 1806 he married Christian, the daughter of Provost John MacIntosh of Inverness. Falconer finally settled at Lentran, just west of Inverness, on the shores of the Inner Moray Firth. His burial was recorded 29/02/1851 [sic] at Wardlaw Cemetery.

2. Identified in the will of John Kelly of St Catherine as his cousin. The baptism of John Kelly gives his parents as Alexander Kelly of Newmill and Christian Robertson, his [paternal] grandmother as Elizabeth Falconer and his [maternal] aunt as Anna Robertson. This places William Falconer as the son of John Falconer of Blackhills and his wife Magdalen Robertson of Cawdor. Madgalen Robertson was the sister of Christian Robertson (1726-1746); the sisters' parents were Hugh Robertson and Jean Grant.

3. William, lawful son to James Falconer in Kentown (so named out of regard to William Falconer late in Berraley[? possibly Beauly]), was baptised 05/01/1765, witnesses Dr William Robertson, Mr William Dunbar, merchant in Thurso, and Anne Robertson in Blackhill.

4. Marriage 20/12/1805: "At Inverness, William Falconer, Esq. late of Jamaica, to Miss Christain Macintosh, eldest daughter of John Macintosh, Esq. late Provost of Inverness." The baptisms of his children in Auldearn 1806-1816 give him as William Falconer of Brightmony. A Mr Falconer, identified in the index as William Falconer of Sky Mount, was elected to the House of Assembly in Jamaica in 1803. William Falconer was a member of assembly in Jamaica in 1812. His property at Berry Hill in St Thomas-in-the-Vale was put up for sale in 1817. The first available indication that he is back in Scotland is a donation to the Society for educating the poor in the Highlands reported in the Inverness Courier in 1818, and his son William appears in the prize lists for Inverness Royal Academy also published in the Inverness Courier, as William Falconer, Brightmony in 1819. By 1825 he had settled at Lentran, as his son's progress in the same lists indicates.

5. At Lentran in the census of 1841, age 76, of independent means, born out of county, with Christian age 55, James age 30, 3 female servants and 1 male servant.

6. For reasons which are unclear, Falconer's death was announced in the Sydney Morning Herald: "On the 25th February last, in his 87th year, Wiliam Falconer, Esq., of Letran, near Inverness, Deputy Lieutenant for the county."

7. A Mr Falconer, identified in the index as William Falconer of Sky Mount, was elected to the House of Assembly in Jamaica in 1803. William Falconer was a member of assembly in Jamaica in 1812. His property at Berry Hill in St Thomas-in-the-Vale was put up for sale in 1817. The first available indication that he is back in Scotland is a donation to the Society for educating the poor in the Highlands reported in the Inverness Courier in 1818, and his son William appears in the prize lists for Inverness Royal Academy also published in the Inverness Courier, as William Falconer, Brightmony in 1819. By 1825 he had settled at Lentran, as his son's progress in the same lists indicates.

1. http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/falconer/603/ [accessed 24/08/2017].

2. PROB 11/1424/99. See separate entry for John Kelly of St Catherine. Note that Jean, John and George Forteath, also identifed as cousins in John Kelly's will, are on his father's side and not related to William Falconer.

3. GROS OPR Births 133/ 30 27 Dyke.

4. Scots Magazine vol. 68 part 1 p. 154 (February 1806); GROS OPR Births 121/ 30 195 Auldearn; GROS OPR Births 121/ 30 239 Auldearn; Lady Nugent's Journal pp. 158 and 298; Royal Gazette of Jamaica 21/11/1812, 23/10/1813 and 22/02/1817; Inverness Courier 22/04/1819.

5. Pigot and Co.'s National Directory of Scotland (1837); 1841 census online.

6. Sydney Morning Herald 15/08/1851 p. 3.

We are grateful to Jim Brennan for bringing Jane MacGillivray's information on William Falconer to our attention.