Rev. Thomas Pierce Williams

12th Mar 1789 - 23rd Aug 1862

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Resident clergyman, awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on two estates in Manchester and St Elizabeth Jamaica as one of the trustees of the Munro and Dickenson Charity, and for two other smaller groups of enslaved people in St Elizabeth on his own account.

  1. Thomas Pierce, son of Bartholomew Owen Williams and Alice Pierce (nee Ibbott), his wife, born 12/03/1789 and baptised in Kingston 01/11/1789.

  2. Adm. pens. (age 18) at ST JOHN'S, July 25, 1807. [S. of Bartholomew Owen.] B. at Kingston, Jamaica. Matric. Michs. 1807; Scholar, 1807; B.A. (15th Wrangler) 1812; Fellow, 1813-16. D.D., Lambeth, 1843. Ord. deacon (London), Sept. 20, 1812; priest, Mar. 14, 1813. Head Master of Wolmer's School, Kingston, Jamaica, 1813-14. R. of Clarendon, 1815-20. R. of St Elizabeth, 1820-51. Archdeacon of Cornwall (Jamaica), 1850-62. R. of St James, 1851-62. Married (1) -, dau. of George Kemp, of Jamaica; (2) July, 1821, at Long Hill, Eliza, dau. of John Griffith. Died Aug. 23, 1862, aged 73, at the rectory, Montego Bay. (W. Cowper; Clergy List.)

  3. Thomas Pierce Williams' first wife was Eliza Boles [maiden surname Kemp?]. They had four children baptised in Clarendon: Eliza Boles (born 22/06/1816, baptised 03/07/1816); Bartholomew Owen (born 13/09/1817, baptised 18/10/1817); Thomas Pierce (born 19/02/1819, baptised 25/04/1819) and Bartholomew Owen (born 06/03/1820, baptised 24/03/1820). Eliza's name is given in the baptism record of Bartholomew Owen in 1820.

  4. "At the Rectory, Miss Eliza Boles Williams, born on the 22nd of June 1816 was buried on the 8th day of November 1819." "At the Rectory, The Reverend Mrs Williams, aged 24 years, was buried on the 26th of March 1820."

  5. Thomas Pierce Williams married Eliza [Down] Griffith, at Long Hill, St Elizabeth, 21/07/1821. They had five children baptised in St Elizabeth: Eliza Warren (born 25/07/1823, baptised 06/08/1823), Pierce Griffith (born 22/02/1826, baptised 10/08/1826), William Owen (born 25/01/1828, baptised 23/02/1828), Henry Frederick (born 20/07/1829, baptised 20/07/1829) and Pierce Griffith (born 02/11/1830, baptised 04/11/1830).

  6. Eliza Down Williams moved to England at some point after the birth of her youngest son Pierce. In 1846 she was convicted of obtaining goods under false pretences in Bath, England. She was sentenced to 7 months hard labour. At her indictment with her were two sons, the eldest apparently not more than 9 or 10 years of age. These are probably not the children of Thomas Pierce Williams. The following year she was convicted of forgery in London and sentenced to 7 years transportation. At her second trial, her sister Catherine Ann Douglas said Eliza's children with Thomas were with him in Jamaica. The magistrate recommended her children who were living with her in London be taken to the Marylebone workhouse where Arthur Williams, age 8 was admitted soon after. She married Nicholas Valliant in Tasmania in 1849, presumably a bigamous marriage.

  7. Thomas Pierce Williams died on 23/08/1862 at the Rectory, Montego Bay, aged 73, effects under £6000. Eliza Warren Williams, his daughter, of 6 Blenheim Crescent, Clarendon Road, Notting Hill, London, was the sole executrix. Eliza Warren Williams of 11 Shaftesbury Avenue, Lower Weston, near Bath, spinster, died 08/10/1892, probate to Rev. Thomas Pierce Williams, clerk, and Richard Matthias Bridge Sowton, gentleman, effects £3796 11s 3d.


Sources

T71/860 Manchester no. 95 (Knockpatrick); T71/870 St Elizabeth nos. 2 (Grosmond Pen), 724 and 725.

  1. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

  2. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900 [database online].

  3. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. See separate entry for Eliza Down Williams for more details on her life in England and Tasmania and of her younger, very likely illegitimate, children.

  7. National Probate Calendar 1862 and 1892.

We are grateful to Mary Hewitt for her assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Name in compensation records
Thomas P. Williams
Spouse
(1) Eliza Boles Kemp; (2) Eliza Griffith
Children
nine children (see text)
University
Cambridge (St John's) [1807-1812 ]
Occupation
Clergyman
Religion
Church of England

Associated Claims (5)

£5,509 17s 11d
Awardee (Trustee)
£1,322 19s 0d
Awardee (Trustee)
£79 16s 8d
Awardee
£144 17s 7d
Awardee
£1,709 18s 1d
Unsuccessful claimant (consensual)

Associated Estates (2)

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
1820 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Other
1826 [EA] - 1832 [LA] → Other

Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Headmaster
Wolmer's School...... 
notes →
Shown as Headmaster of Wolmer's School 1813-4 in his entry in Cambridge University...

Relationships (8)

Brother-in-laws
Brothers
Brothers
Son → Father
Husband → Second Wife
Grandson → Grandfather
Father → Son
Father → Daughter