George Webbe senior of Nevis

Resident slave-owner of Nevis. His uncles Josiah Webbe (q.v.) and George Webbe of Westbury upon Trym (q.v.) , inherited property and enslaved people on Nevis from their father, also named George Webbe, as tenants-in-common. After Josiah Webbe's death, George Webbe senior of Nevis (then known as George Webbe junior of Nevis), to whom Josiah Webbe had left his half of the estates, forced a division of the property, with Stoney Hill being split into two (and the named enslaved people being divided 79 to George Webbe of Westbury upon Trym and 88 to George Webbe junior) in 1779, and with George Webbe of Westbury upon Trym taking New River and George Webbe junior taking Deodand in 1781.

1. Administration of the will of George Webbe [senior] of Nevis [made in July 1802] granted 21/02/1806 to Fanny Ross. Under the will he left annuities of £600 p.a. to his wife Mary (plus £2000 at her disposition) and £200 p.a. to his sister Fanny Ross; £10,000 to his daughter Frances; 30 guineas a year to 'my man Dark Horse [sic]'; £50 p.a to 'my servant woman Sally', 10 guineas a year to her eldest daughter Caroline Matilda (provided the latter was still in the 'service' of the family at Webbe's death, otherwise she was to receive a lump-sum of 20 guineas), 20 guineas a year to Sally's third daughter Fanny with the same proviso; £60 p.a. for five years, £80 p.a. for the following five years and £100 p.a. for the following four years, then a lump-sum of £2000, to Sally's son William; and £500 to Sally's youngest daughter Maria Henrietta after 15 years and an annuity of £50 p.a. until then. His son Josiah Webbe was to be executor when he arrived in England, but he [the son] died before he reached England.

2. Josiah Webbe was of Fort St George India when he made his will in 1801: administration was granted 23/07/1806. He left £15,000 to his father. He was Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras.

Articles of Agreement dated 05/09/1781 between George Webbe senior of Stratford Wiltshire and George Webbe junior of Stoney Hill in Nevis recorded the division of estates on Nevis between the two men [who were uncle and nephew], after George Webbe junior had inherited under the will of his uncle Josiah Webbe (who with his brother George Webbe senior of Stratford had inherited as tenants in common under the will of their father, also George Webbe). At the instigation of the younger man, the two men had previously split the Stoney Hill estate. Under the new indenture of 1781, George Webbe senior took the New River estate (243 acres) and George Webbe junior the Deodand estate (194 acres), with an adjustment of £500 to reflect the higher value of the New River estate. It has not been possible to date to map these estates with complete confidence onto the estates named Stoney Hill and New River in later sources, but by inference the portion of Stoney Hill that went to George Webbe junior was that combined with Deodand that was mortgaged to James Wildman in the early 1800s. Common Records 1783-1785, British Library, EAP794/1/1/19, https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP794-1-1-19 pp. 1-12.

1. PROB 11/1439/104; date of death by email from Jonathan Spencer Jones 23/08/2018..

2. PROB 11/1447/81;Edinburgh Gazette 6146 27/01/1852 p. 65.

We are grateful to Jonathan Spencer Jones for his assistance with compiling this entry.