Paul Benfield

1741 - 1810

Previous owner (non-claimant)

Biography

Paul Benfield invested some of his East India wealth into the Bogue estate in Jamaica alongside Alderman Richard Atkinson (q.v.) c. 1780, and also owned the 'Benfield estates' in Berbice, which included at one time Edinburgh, Glasgow, Welgelegen, Herstelling, New Welgelegen, Belmont, Union, Mon Choisi, Zeelught and Edderton. By the time of compensation only Herstelling and Welgelegen appear to have continued in the hands of his daughters Caroline Martha Berkeley and Henrietta Sophia Berkeley and their respective husbands, George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge Berkeley and Robert Berkeley (each of whom q.v.).

  1. Paul Benfield has an entry in the ODNB as 'financier in India.' The entry is silent on his 'slave-property.'

Sources

Alexander Winter, 'Coffee cultivation in Berbice, 50 years ago', in Timehri: being the journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana Vol. 1 (1882), pp. 272-3.

  1. ODNB online, P.J. Marshall, 'Benfield, Paul (1741-1810), financier in India.'

Further Information

Spouse
Mary Frances Swinburne
Children
Caroline Martha; Henrietta Sophia; 1 son
Occupation
Banker
Oxford DNB Entry

Associated Claims (2)

£7,619 4s 4d
Previous owner (not making a claim)
£6,926 13s 3d
Previous owner (not making a claim)

Associated Estates (3)

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
1789 [EA] - 1791 [LA] → Joint owner
- 1810 [EY] → Owner
- 1810 [EY] → Owner

Relationships (5)

Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father → Daughter
Father → Daughter
Business associates