Hon. Henry Cox

Major attorney in Jamaica, in part through his father-in-law Abraham Hodgson, and also a slave-owner in his own right, but heavily indebted to Hodgson (who received the compensation for the enslaved people on Henry Cox's estates), and 'very poor' at the time of apprenticeship. Hon. Henry Cox was a President of the Colonial Church Union, Custos of St. Ann's, a Major General in the militia and a Member of the Jamaica House of Assembly.

Higman gives a birth-date of c. 1803 and a death-date of 1855 for Hon. Henry Cox the son-in-law of Abraham Hodgson, referencing an inscription in Wright's Monumental Inscriptions of Jamaica, and shows this man's widow as Margaret. However, Epping estate in St Mary was registered to Henry Cox as early as 1799, possibly the father of this Henry Cox, and the shift between the two men - if such they were - is not clearly apparent in the Slave Registers for Epping, Spring Garden or Industry. Similarly, the Henry Cox shown as attorney for e.g. Brimmer Hall in 1817 cannot have been born in 1803. David Dobson shows instead Henry Cox b. 1776 assemblyman St Mary's, Custos Rotulorum St Anne's [sic] Jamaica, dying Devonport 20/12/1844, referencing Gentleman's Magazine NS 23 (1845) p. 215. The will of Abraham Hodgson shows his son-in-law the Hon. Henry Cox as the husband of his daughter Jane Alexander (the death of a Jane Alexander Cox is shown at Stoke Dammerel - adjacent to Devonport - Devon Q4 1846). LBS' conclusions, therefore, are that (1) the Hon. Henry Cox the son-in-law of Abraham Hodgson was Henry Cox (1776-1844), and (2) Henry Cox (1803-1855) was a son, possibly natural son, of the Hon. Henry Cox (he could not have been the son of Jane Alexander Cox nee Hodgson, the daughter of Abraham Hodgson and wife of Hon. Henry Cox, who was baptised in 1809).

1. William Cox, "quadroon" infant, reputed osn of Mr H. Cox, was baptised in St Mary 25/03/1796.

2. Hon. Henry Cox, Custos of St.Ann, married Jane Alexander Hodgson, spinster, 10/06/1823 in St Mary.

James Williams, Facts and Documents Connected with the Late Insurrection in Jamaica: With a Narrative of Events Since the First of August, 1834 (Cambridge University Press, 2012), p.7; B.W. Higman, Plantation Jamaica (2005) p. 86; Ancestry.com Jane Alexander Cox in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database online].

1. Familysearch.org, Jamaican parish registers, St Mary, Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1752-1841 p. 27.

2. Ibid. p. 115.

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.