James Fraser younger of Belladrum

Mary Fraser widow of James Fraser counterclaimed for an annuity secured on the Golden Fleece estate in Berbice. James Fraser was shown as owner and then co-owner of Golden Fleece between 1818 and 1831. Identified as James Fraser 8th of Belladrum by David Alston.

1. The marriage of Mary Fraser 'of this parish' and James Fraser of St Marylebone by licence was recorded at St Mary Abchurch 17/12/1799: the witnesses included John Fraser, Jean Fraser and Archibald Alves. The same marriage on the same date is recorded for St Lawrence Pountney in a second source.

2. Died 04/10/1832 at Albary, Demerara.

David Alston's Slaves and Highlanders site records a number of items of correspondence from the National Archives of Scotland concerning James Fraser younger of Belladrum and his speculative activity in Berbice and Demerara, which appears to have been highly profitable in the early 1800s but then to have incurred losses leading to the sale of the Belladrum estate (on which James Fraser reportedly spent heavily from the proceeds of the sale of the Dochfour estate in Demerara for £49,000 in 1803) in 1812.

1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]; Ancestry.com, England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 [database online]. The two parishes had reportedly been united after the Great Fire of London.

2. Email from David Alston 06/04/2018 sourced to Inverness Courier 19/12/1832: "The following elegant and tender lines on the death of the late Mr Fraser of Belladrum, at Abary, Demerara, on the 4th October last, appear in the Demerara Courier. We insert them at the request of a friend of the deceased..."

We are grateful to David Alston for his assistance with compiling this entry.