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This page may include detail of Robert Douglas of Better Hope, who
may or may not be one and the same person.
Robert Douglas registered 82 enslaved people on an estate called
Fyrish being Lot No. 3 on the Corantyne Coast (Guyana) as his own
property in 1819. His death was reported at Edinburgh 5th April 1826(5).
Son of William Douglas of Fyrish near Alness, Scotland, and Jane Bayne.
"Captain [William] Douglas [of the Marines] was part of an expedition
against Martinique and Guadaloupe in 1758-59. He faced a court martial
in 1764, which he himself requested, having refused to return to duty
during a period of sickness. He was acquitted with honour. He died at
Fyrish on 24 August 1788."
Will of Robert Douglas planter of Demerara proved 10th June 1826. In the
will Robert Douglas described his property as: 'one half of the
plantation Better Hope situated on the east coast of the colony with the
one half of the slaves attached thereto their number at present being
one hundred and ninety five'; one half of the plantation Geneva situated
in Canal No. 1 and the one half of the slaves attached thereto
consisting of six; and 'whatever sum I may yet have to receive under the
will of my uncle William Ross Munro.'
Douglas' own will provided for the 'purchase of two mulatto children
which [sic] I believe to be mine.' He left half his estate after
bequests to his 'beloved wife Mary Douglas', and the other half to be
divided equally between his lawful children; in the absence of lawful
children, his brother Joseph(3) and his sisters became heirs.
Douglas said in his will that he was heir to his uncle
Gilbert Douglas' estate of Douglas
Park and the Boggs in Lanarkshire after the death of Mrs Cecilia
Douglas; if he predeceased her, he willed the property follow Gilbert
Douglas's will and pass to Robert Douglas' issue.
His uncle, William Ross Munro was presumably the brother of Robert
Douglas's mother Ann Munro, daughter of John Munro, proprietor of
Tirivan in Kiltearn.
In view of the clues that Robert's wife was Mary, and that he had a
brother, Joseph, it is probable that he was the son of Rev George
Douglas, himself the son of Robert Douglas, farmer of Balcony, parish of
Kiltearn (son of Robert Douglas in Ketwell, a brother of Captain William
Douglas). 'Our' Robert married Mary Caird, who died 1825. They had two children:
• Anabella Stuart Agnes, married, 1864, to James Brodie, D.A.C.S.,
Edinburgh. She died 1875.
• Robert Douglas, of Douglas Park, Glasgow, married, in 1858, Mary Ann,
daughter of the Rev. Stephen Butler, of Trinity Church, Southampton.
London Gazette
PURUSANT to an Order of His Honour the President of
the Honourable Court of Criminal ond Civil Justice for
the United Colony of Demerary and Essequebo, bearing date the
8th instant;
I, the undersigned, in capacity as Deputy First Marshal of
said United Colony, at the request of Mary Douglas, Executrix,
and Richard Gray,
Executor, to the cstate aud effects of Robert Douglas, late of
Plantation Better Hope,
in this Colony, de ceased, do hereby, by edict ad valvas curiæ,
summon all
known and unknown Creditors of said Robert Douglas, de ceased,
and of his
estate Butter Hope, to appear in person, or by his Attorney,
before the
Bar of the Honourable Counsellor Commissaries, attending
at the ordinary fourteen days Roll Court, to be holden at the
Court-House, in George-Town, on
the 18th and following days of June next, in order then and
there to render in their claims, properly attested and
substantiated,
and in due form, against the estate.
Whereas, in default of which, will be proceeded against the
non-appearers, according to law—Demerary this 20th January 1827.
J. D. HALEY, Deputy First-Marshal. |
Notes:
1. This family is part of the
Douglas of Mulderg family
2. UCL Department of History and other slavery researchers make th
claim the Robert was the son of William. William did indeed have a
son who died in Demerara, but this does not appear to be him.
3. I am unable to trace this brother. Was he a nephew?
4. Robert may have died in Demerara.
5. Robert's date of death is uncertain. The will of
Robert Douglas planter of Demerara was proved 10/06/1826, so before
this.
a. Robert Douglas of Esquire of "Dumerria [sic] from 27
India Street Died 10th Inst Interred in the Southside of Mrs Douglas, a
ground west side of the yard", recorded in the Parish Register of
Canongate, Edinburgh, 13/04/1826.
b. Death "at Edinburgh, on the 5th [sic] instant, Robert Douglas
Edq. of Better Hope Plantation, Demerara, eldest son of the late Rev.
George Douglas, of Tain, in the county of Ross, N[orth] B[ritain]."
c. The Families of Mulderg and Robertson of
Kindeace - Robert Douglas, died 05/04/1826.
d. Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Volume 19 - 5
June 1826 'At 25, India Street, Robert Douglas, Esq. of Better Hope,
Demerara.
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