The Legacy of Slavery in Jamaica, 1806

[Jamaica] [Fair Copy of a Well Known Will Making Provisions for a Planter's "Quadroon" Children]

Parkinson, Ralph

Publication: Jamaica: 1806.

Notes: A contemporary fair manuscript copy of a seven-page will that has been reprinted and cited a number of times for its explicit acknowledgment of the author's "four Quadroon children" born to a formerly enslaved woman, Betty Grant, who the author bought and emancipated. This copy is docketed and designated for "Mr. Cardale" in Bedford Row, an apparent reference to the London solicitor William Cardale who had offices at 2 Bedford Row.

Ralph Parkinson (Picton, Yorkshire, England, 1762 – St. James, Jamaica, 1806) emigrated to Jamaica in 1778. He seems to have prospered and left a substantial estate when he died. The source for the citations of the will is volume 5 of Caribbeana (p. 291–292), edited by Vere Langford Oliver. The editor notes that the text is "abstracted from an old copy in the Editor's possession." It seems likely that this is that same copy. A comparison of the text shows that considerable detail was removed during the abstraction process.

For example, the will begins by arranging for Parkinson's burial and then continues, "my next wish is to provide for my Four Quadroon Children, which I have had by a Mulatto Woman named Betty Grant that I purchased from Tryall Estate in Hanover." The published abstract continues "and set free." The actual will reads, "and which I have set free from the day I first purchased her." Parkinson names the four children and grants them £2,000 each at age 21

Parkinson continues, "It is also my particular request that they be Educated in England & never to return to Jamaica." He suggests that his children learn a trade and be finished with their apprenticeship before receiving their inheritance, so the money can be used to set them up in a business. This plan for their lives is omitted from the published abstract.

As an example of the morally bizarre cruelty of slavery, Parkinson directs that four of his enslaved servants should take care of his children. After his children leave Jamaica, Parkinson gives the enslaved servants to the formerly enslaved Betty Grant. He also pre-arranged their sale to another plantation owner, with the funds going to Grant.

The will grants various sums and annuities to brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, and closes with a codicil that provides funds to buy Betty Grant a house.

Paul Dawson, who quotes from the will abstract in The Battle Against Slavery: The Untold Story of How a Group of Yorkshire Radicals Began the War to End the Slave Trade (2022), reports being unable to determine what happened to Parkison's four children after his death. The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery reprinted the abstract but not this original text.

PROVENANCE: Vere Langford Oliver (likely); Jay Kislak.

Edition + Condition: The will is copied in a legible hand on two leaves of watermarked paper folded to make 8 pages measuring 8 by 12-1/2 inches. The final leaf is blank except for docketing. The sheets were folded twice (three horizontal folds) and they are splitting at the folds, two of which have old cloth tape repairs.

Item No: #364030

Price: $1,500