Sir Basil Keith

Naval officer and Governor of Jamaica, 1774 until his death in 1777.

Monumental inscription in St Jago dela Vega, St Catherine:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF SIR BASIL KEITH KNT. GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 15th DAY OF JUNE 1777 IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE HE WAS ASSIDUOUS WISE AND IMPARTIAL IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE A FRIEND TO MANKIND AND A FATHER TO THE PEOPLE OVER WHOM HE PRESIDED THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE ASSEMBLY TO TRANSMIT TO POSTERITY THE GRATITUDE OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS ISLAND FOR THE HAPPINESS THEY ENJOYED UNDER HIS MILD AND UPRIGHT GOVERNMENT.

Sir Basil Keith of St Catherine, Governor. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1777. Slave-ownership at probate: 6 of whom 5 were listed as male and 1 as female. 0 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £6380.14 Jamaican currency of which £485 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £135.72 currency cash, £2817.08 currency debts and £1021.93 currency plate.

An oil painting of Sir Basil Keith is held at Greenwich Museum.

James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies (1875) p. 52.

Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/14125.html [accessed 18/10/2019].