Charlotte Anne Howard formerly Gray (née Cort)

Slave-owner in Surinam. Daughter of William Cort (q.v.), and niece of Frederick Cort (q.v.). Baptised 18/09/1811 at Yattendon, Berkshire. Her first husband Thomas Gray had purchased Burnside plantation in Surinam in 1840 [and Potosi with 150 enslaved people in 1854]; after his death in 1856, she inherited the estates and enslaved people and went on to purchase in 1860 the neighbouring estate, Hope, with 85 enslaved people. She remarried, to Anthony Howard, at St Marylebone 05/08/1862 but died shortly afterwards on 11/11/1862 in Barbados, where her gravestone at St Leonards Anglican Church Cemetery describes her as 'a native of England.'

1. In 1863, the heirs of Charlotte Anne Howard nee Cort (her five stepchildren, the children of her second husband Anthony Howard) were awarded the bulk of the compensation of 114,000 guilders for the 380 (of 396 registered) enslaved people on Plantation Burnside (creditors received the balance of some 3,000 guilders); they also received 45,300 guilders for 151 (of 156 registered) enslaved people on Potosi. The five children were given as Juliana Ruth married to Harry Leslie Croney; Mary Jane married to Wiliam Waithe; Henrietta Carolina Howard; Emma Louisa Jane Howard; and Alfred Ernest Howard.

David Alston, Slaves & Highlanders, 'Cort', http://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=609368 [accessed 23/06/2016]; Ancestry.com, England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database online]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online] - the entry shows Anthony Howard widower as son of William Henry Howard and Charlotte Anne Gray as a widow, daughter of William Cort 'planter'. In Parliamentary Accounts and Papers – Slave Trade – Vol. 32 Session 24 January-28 August 1860, p. 90, Letter no. 96 of Consul Munro to Lord J. Russell, she appears as Mrs C. Gray and is shown as having inherited Burnside (bought 1840) and Potosi (bought with 150 enslaved people in 1854) from her husband in 1856, with 500 enslaved people in total.

1. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 223, Claim no. 34 (Burnside); and Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 227, claim no. 176 (Potosi).

We are grateful to Okke ten Hove for his help with this entry.