Joseph Marryat senior

London merchant and politician, with an entry in the ODNB as 'West Indian slave owner, ship owner and politician.'

1. MP for Horsham (1808-1812) and Sandwich (1812-1824) and author of Thoughts on the Abolition of the Slave Trade (4th edn., London, 1816) - an argument claiming, among other things, that slavery would die a natural death. Joseph's wife, Charlotte (d. 1854), was the daughter of Frederick Geyer of Boston, Massachusetts, and was of German origin. She was one of the first women to be admitted a fellow of the Horticultural Society of London, Charlotte Marryat had a notable garden at Wimbledon House. Their children included Joseph (1790-1876), Frederick (1792-1848) and Charles (1803-1884). Marryat was an important figure in the West Indians defence of slavery in both Parliament and through the West India Committee. He was also Agent for Trinidad 1805-15, Grenada 1815-1824; and was chairman of Lloyd’s 1811-1824.

2. Member of the West India Committee and the 'Committee of April 25, 1823' formed to press the government for ameliorationist measures for the Crown colonies and to resist moves towards emancipation.

Catherine Hall, ‘Marryat, Joseph (1757–1824)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2016 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107425, accessed 7 Oct 2016]

1. See entries for Marryat in the History of Parliament online: Entry for 1790-1820 and Entry for 1820-1832

2. Alexandra Franklin, Enterprise and advantage: The West India interest in Britain, 1774-1840 (University of Pennsylvania, Unpub. PhD, 1992), p. 214 citing West India Committee Minute Books, 25 April 1823.