Notes |
- Inherited £1,000 from his father's estate in 1803.
In the Sugar Plantations Map of Barbados by Francis Barrallier 1825, showing the surnames of the owners of the major sugar plantations nine years before emancipation, Jacob Belgrave is listed as the owner of Sterling Plantation in St Philip. [2]
- Jacob Belgrave II (1770-1828) was responsible for continuing the legacy of his father. In his lifetime he established achievements which were unmatched by any of his coloured contemporaries.
He started his business life as a merchant, owning properties in close proximity to those of his father and brother in High Street. By 1800 his stores had a rental values of £70 and £25 per annum, in comparison with his fathers of £7 10s, and his brother’s of £50.
In the early 19th century Jacob Belgrave is recorded in numerous transactions in the official records buying and selling slaves, and buying and selling land.
His largest land holdings included Hopeland plantation which was sold in 1805 to Alexander King for £15,000. The 109 acre plantation was located in St Michael. In 1807, he purchased “Woods” in St Philip from John Sargeant. The estate was 290 acres with 134 slaves and was the core of the plantation later called Ruby, which was fused on to a smaller estate of 116 acres purchased from the Gittens family. In 1817 he began the purchase of Sterling in St Philip of 179 acres with 74 slaves from Ann Jones, and Gascoigne Clarke, an absentee living in England. He promised to pay £7,833 6s 8d. In 1820 he started transactions with John Cholmley Roach to sell the Ruby. Roach confessed judgement before Judge Nathan Lucas to pay £22,000, secured by a judgement of £44,000 sterling. Roach used his property of Graeme Hall as security for the mortgage. By 1826, when Roach could not complete the deal, Belgrave was able to gain possession of Graeme Hall through the Chancery Court for £14,428. The estate was 243 acres.
In addition to these large estates Jacob Belgrave owned properties at Holbom, the Shrubbery at Collymore Rock and other properties in St Michael.
Jacob Belgrave II had a complex family life. His first wife was Charlotte Murrell a coloured St Philip resident. They had a number of children out of wedlock before they were married. Others were born in wedlock. Their children were Thomas, Jacob III, Renn and Dorothy Lindo Belgrave.
Charlotte Belgrave was apparently a devoted wife. When Jacob 0was jailed for assaulting a white man called Mr Gittens between 1803 and 1804, Charlotte wrote a number of letters to Governor Seaforth trying to secure her husband’s release.
After Charlotte Belgrave died in 1810, Jacob married Elizabeth Ann Barrow in 1811. Elizabeth Ann was heiress to Sarah Barrow, widow of wealthy Jewish merchant Joseph Barrow. Sarah Barrow, was bom a Massiah, of another prominent Jewish family.
Jacob and Elizabeth Ann were the parents of Elizabeth Maria, Joshua Caddel, Sarah Barrow, Maria, Allen Howell, Thomas Gittens, Emma, Catherine Crowther and Antoinette Adams Belgrave.
The following list of marriages of Jacob’s children is an indication of connections with other prominent coloured families.
• Thomas Belgrave m Sarah Jane Dummett (daughter of Dr James Dummett)
• Jacob Belgrave II m Rebecca Maria Coppin (daughter and heiress of William Coppin
• Renn Belgrave m Mary Frances Hinds (daughter and heiress of Jacob Hinds)
• Elizabeth Maria Belgrave m Nathaniel Roach (a leading coloured educator)
• Joshua Caddel Belgrave m Mary Maria Collymore (daughter of Renn Phillips Collymore)
• Thomas Gittens Belgrave m Anna Augusta Cummins (daughter of Thomas Joshua Cummins)
• Catherine Crowther Belgrave m Edwin Ruthren Taylor (a coloured land owner)
• Maria Belgrave m William Versupuy Fitz Thomas (a coloured lawyer)
Both the males and females found eligible spouses from among well to do families.
Jacob was phenomenally wealthy for his age. There was a concomitant conservatism in his attitude. He was a victim of the insurrectionists of 1816 who caused severe destruction to Ruby and Summervale. He was accused by the slaves of siding with the whites to prevent them from gaining their freedom.
With his father and brother he was an early activist to get the right for coloureds to give testimony against whites in a court of law and to vote. He was one of those commended for taking the side of the planters in the 1816 uprising. The Testimony Bill was granted in 1817 because of his attitude and that of other conservative coloureds. In 1823 his address to the Legislature requesting the right to vote was couched in such supplicatory and moderate tones that it attracted the ire of more radical coloureds.
He was the acknowledged leader of the free coloured and chaired the Committee to fight the Alien Bill. Among those who belonged to his group and co-signed the 1823 address with him were his sons Jacob Jr and Renn, as well as John Montefiore, Henry Brathwaite, Thomas Harris Sr and Jr, Thomas Jordan and William Bourne, other acknowledged elite leaders of the free coloured movement.
The vociferous reaction to the Belgrave address by the Collymore brothers and others led to a serious split in the coloured movement.
While the Collymore faction was condemned by the planter class, Jacob Belgrave U was praised by the planters.
His reputation as an activist has to be considered against his signature to petitions in 1799, and his leadership in the coloured struggle in 1811 and 1812, and not only on the controversial events of 1816 and 1823. There is no indication that he was an advocate for slave emancipation but he was a skilful and diplomatic advocate for amelioration of the conditions of the coloureds.
At Jacob’s death in 1828, he lived at Graeme Hall and owned Sterling, along with his town house, the Shrubbery at Collymore Rock, and he was owner of 16 acres at Holboum with William Coppin.
An inventory of the properties in 1828 valued Graeme Hall at £15,538 and Sterling at £11,833. Jacob Belgrave provided that the properties should be sold and a trust established to provide for his children, share and share alike.
After Jacob’s death his widow married Thomas Harris Sr (1796- 1850), one of the associates of Jacob Belgrave in the Civil Rights movement.
Jacob’s son Jacob Belgrave III (1799-1850’s) married Rebecca Maria Coppin, heiress of William Coppin. He owned properties at Holbom, and Brighton. His son Jacob William Belgrave IV (1829- 1860) lived in St Philip and sold off much property he owned in Roebuck Street to Thomas Crumpton, a merchant. He had no sons who survived to take his line forward.
Jacob’s son Renn Belgrave (1807-1876) married Mary Frances Hinds (1816-1901). Renn’s son George Gordon Belgrave was a curio dealer of Bay Street. He married Mary Ann Herbert and their son Herbert Allen Belgrave attended Harrison College and was a 1912 Barbados Scholar. He died in World War I.
Jacob’s son Thomas Gittens Belgrave married Anna Augusta Cummins and produced a son Joshua Cummins Forde Belgrave (1852-1900), a merchant’s Clerk who married Rhoda Evelyn and had a son William Norman Cummins Belgrave (1891-1951), a Barbados Scholar of 1908, graduating from Harrison College. His marriage to Vera Gale resulted in daughters who are still alive.
These descendants of Belgrave and Cummins links are continuing representatives of these elite coloured families.
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