Rev. Benjamin Fuller Tuckniss

Yorkshire clergyman, deceased husband of Mary Jane Austin, the daughter of Richard Austin of Barbados, who appears in the Surinam slave compensation records with other members of the Austin family, as a creditor of several slave-owners there.

1. Adm. Fell.-Com. at ST CATHARINE'S, Oct. 16, 1826. B. in the Colony of Demerara. Matric. Lent, 1827; B.A. 1831. P.C. of Raskelf, Yorks., 1832-45. Of Demerara in 1845. Disappears from Clergy List, 1852. A son, Richard Austin, was adm. at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1845. (Foster, Index Eccles.; Al. Oxon.).

2. The death of Benjamin Fuller Tuckness [sic] was registered at Easingwold in Yorkshire Q4 1845. Will of Rev. Benjamin Fuller Tuckniss incumbent of Raskelf [made in 1840 when he was about to leave for Pernambuco with his family] was proved 28/09/1848. Under the will, if he and his family died on voyage, his property was to go to his mother for life and then to charities and family members, including his brother-in-law Rev. Charles Adye Austin (q.v.). If his family survived him, then 2/3rd of his property was to go to them and 1/3rd to his mother.

In 1863, claims were made on behalf of William Paul Austin as creditor for the enslaved people on several estates in Surinam. In turn William Paul Austin was shown as having some form of power of attorney dated 1859 from C.A. Austin of Pernambuco and Mary Jane Austin and her [deceased] husband Benjamin Fuller Tuckniss (q.v.) [also given as 'Benjamin Tullen Tuckness'] of Blandford Dorset; Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 223, claim no. 17, Plantage Berg en Dal (aan de rivier Suriname, divisie A); Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 223, claim no. 29 Plantage Breukelerwaard (aan de rivier Boven Commewijne, divisie C).

1. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online].

2. Ancestry.com, England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index 1837-1915 [database online]; PROB 11/2081/211.

We are grateful for the help of Okke ten Hove with this entry.