Jonathan Worrell senior

1734 - 1814

Slave-owner and antecedent of claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Slave-owner on Barbados, absentee in England from c. 1764, and a factor in the settlement of Prince Edward Island as a purchaser of land.

  1. Father of Jonathan and Septimus (both of whom q.v.), and of Charles, for whom he bought blocs of land on Prince Edward Island in the early 1800s as compensation for bequeathing the Barbados estates to his older sons.

  2. Jonathan was the only son of Dr Jonathan Worrell (who died in '21/09/1755' according to Caribbeana but 1753 in other sources) and his wife Mary. Baptised 06/06/1734. Matriculated Glasgow University 1752.

  3. "Mary Hellet a negro girl servant to Jonathan Worrell Esq, baptised Ipswich St Nicholas, 23 June 1768."

  4. Jonathan Worrell bought Juniper Hall In Surrey with the reputed manor of Fridley and about 50 acres c. 1803: it was sold in 1814, either by Worrell or by his heirs.

  5. In a Levy Book list for an unidentified parish [probably St Andrew], Barbados, 1804, Worrell was listed as owning 139 enslaved. It is possible that this referred to the Sedge Pond estate, St Andrew and probable that the return referred to this Jonathan Worrell rather than his son (q.v.).


Sources

BITTERMANN, Rusty; MCCALLUM, Margaret. The Pursuit of Gentility in an Age of Revolution: The Family of Jonathan Worrell. Acadiensis, [S.l.], nov. 2014. ISSN 1712-7432. Available at: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/22685/26326" [accessed 22/08/2018].

  1. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 5, p. 45. See also separate entries for Jonathan and Septimus Worrell.

  2. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol. 2, p. 81-82.

  3. 'Black and Asian Sources at the Suffolk Record Office' available at http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/home/SccSearchForm?Search=jonathan+worrell&action_results=Search [accessed 02/03/2013].

  4. Unsourced history of Juniper Hall at http://www.le-prince-de-talleyrand.fr/jh.html [accessed 02/03/2013]; Victoria County History of Surrey.

  5. Levy Book for unidentified parish [probably St Andrew], 1804. Barbados Department of Archives, RB9/3/7.

We are grateful to Brian Bouchard for his assistance in compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
(1) Jane Harrison (2) Catherine Weston
Children
Jonathan; William Bryant; Charles; Edward; Septimus

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
1757 [EA] - 1814 [LA] → Owner

Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Paintings
Mrs Worrell as Hebe (c. 1776-8), by Benjamin West, commissioned by Jonathan Worrell (1734–1814), of Barbados, London and Juniper Hall, Surrey; his widow, the sitter, Catherine Worrell... 
notes →
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/west-mrs-worrell-as-hebe-n00799/text-catalogue-entry, which describes Worrell as 'a wealthy Barbadian...

Imperial (1)

Landowner
Canada: Prince Edward Island 
notes →
Charles Worrell, born into a prosperous Barbadian landowning family which by 1800 had removed to Juniper Hall, Mickleham, in Surrey, England, was trained as a lawyer and practised briefly at...
sources →
M. Brook Taylor, “WORRELL, CHARLES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed July 3, 2018,...

Relationships (4)

Father → Son
Father → Son
Father → Son
Father → Son

Addresses (3)

Hainford Hall, Suffolk, East Anglia, England
Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey, South-east England, England
Silent Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, East Anglia, England