Sir James Fergusson 4th Bart.

1765 - 1838

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Awarded the compensation with Sir David Hunter Blair (q.v.) for the enslaved people on Rozelle estate in Jamaica as owners-in-fee.

  1. Sir James Fergusson [as 'Ferguson'] and Sir David Hunter Blair are identified as 'owners-in-fee' of the Rozelle estate in St Thomas-in-the-East in the compensation records, and the estate appears against the names of Sir A. Fergusson and Sir D. H. Blair in the Jamaica Almanacs in 1811 and then as Fergusson and Blair thereafter. The Rozelle estate had been one of three belonging to Robert Hamilton of Bourtreehill (died c. 1777) who named his Ayrshire estate after the Jamaica property on the building of Rozelle House by Robert Adam in 1760. In 1763, Robert Hamilton sold the Rozelle estate to an Ayrshire neighbour, Charles Montgomery of Broomlands, for £6000. Montgomery in turn sold a half share to Robert Hamilton's step-son William Hunter of Mainholm and Brownhill, and left his own half share to the banker Charles Fergusson, the younger brother of Sir Adam Fergusson 3rd bart. A decade after Charles Fergusson's banking firm failed - it stopped payment 10/06/1772 - Ferguson assigned his interest in the Rozelle estate in Jamaica to Sir Adam Fergusson, who had advanced cash to his brother to avert his bankruptcy.

  2. Sir James Fergusson inherited from his uncle Sir Adam Fergusson, and Sir James Fergusson's son Sir Charles Dalrymple-Fergusson of Kilkerran (1800-1849) 5th bart. is described as a 'colonial proprietor' in his ODNB entry (in the context of a brief discussion of his protectionist politics and condemnation of Peel's free trade policy as 'injurious to the colonies'). The 6th bart. is also in the ODNB as 'politician and colonial governor.'


Sources

T71/867 St Thomas-in-the-East claim no. 510; Jamaica Almanac (1811 et seq.).

  1. Sir A. Fergusson was Sir Adam Fergusson, Sir James Fergusson's uncle, from whom Sir James inherited in 1813; http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,SIG49211Svs,curr,GBP,season,at1,selectedEntry,home/home.html [accessed 15/05/2011]; Eric Graham, Burns and the Sugar Plantocracy of Ayrshire (2014) pp. 28-29.

  2. ODNB online, G.B. Smith, rev. Roger T. Stearn, 'Fergusson, Sir Charles Dalrymple- of Kilkerran [formerly Charles Fergusson of Kilkerran], fifth baronet (1800-1849), landowner.'


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Name in compensation records
Sir James Ferguson
Spouse
(1) Jean Dalrymple (2) Henrietta Duncan
Children
With (1): 1 son (Charles) and 2 daughters. With (2): 8 sons and 6 daughters

Associated Claims (1)

£3,591 8s 8d
Awardee (Owner-in-fee)

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1810 [EA] - 1839 [LA] → Joint owner

Relationships (2)

Nephew → Uncle
Nephew → Uncle
Notes →
Sir James Fergusson was the heir of his uncle Sir Adam Fergusson...

Addresses (1)

Kilkerran, Crosshill, Ayrshire, Southern Scotland, Scotland