Justinian Casamajor

9th Sep 1746 - 1820

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Merchant of London. Compensation for Elmes estate in Antigua was awarded to James Newman, executor of Justinian Casamajor, 'who was survivng trustee of a Term of 500 years for securing several annuities - for arrears of subsisting and determined annuities £1663 7s 3d And annuities now subsisting which together with the factorage now amount to £387 3s 9d per annum'. The annuitants were legatees of Matthew Christian, owner of Elmes on his death in 1777 or 1778.

  1. Justinian Casamajor, son of John Casamajor and Hannah Cradock, was born 09/09/1746 and baptised 09/09/1747 at St Anne's Soho, London. He married Mary, daughter of Duncan Grant of Antigua. Justinian Casamajor and his wife Mary had at least 10 children - 3 baptised in Marylebone, 1774-1778 and 7 baptised in Shenley, Hertfordshire, 1780-1792. There were possibly 18 children in total. In the Yale Center for British Art there is a portrait by Daniel Gardner (1750–1805) of ‘Mrs. Justinian Casamajor and Eight of her Children’ (1779)

  2. Justinian Casamajor inherited Potterells in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, and also property in Middlesex, from his friend Charles De Laet who died in 1792 without issue.

  3. The will of Justinian Casamajor or South Audley Street, Middlesex, was proved 17/09/1821. According to an online report, the will mentions interests in Antigua and St Kitts and well as shares in a Bristol warehouse: 'There is something strange about his will as no estate duty was paid, and across it the accountants had written "insolvent" and mentioned a letter from the West Indies'.

  4. Offered for sale: letter from Justinian Casamajor of Potterells Grove dated 19/01/1809 to Mrs Curling, stating that the Court of Chancery has disallowed all charges of interest on the arrears of the annuities of the late Matthew Christian's estates amounting to £2567 2s 5d.

  5. A statement of the annuity account of Justinian Casamajor deceased from the executors of William Hooper as trustee of the annuities on the estate of Matthew Christian dated 20/11/1820 is available online at the Caribbean Documents Collection, University of Miami.

  6. At some point Casamajor also owned a lease on Vernon's estate in Antigua. In a contested claim for compensation for enslaved people on Mount William estate in St Vincent, it was claimed that Casamajor illegally transferred enslaved people from Vernon's to Mount William.

  7. Justinian's daughter Elizabeth Grace (born 15/12/1774) married John Vernon (of Vernon's estate, Antigua) at North Mimms, Hertfordshire, 17/11/1808.


Sources

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 275 (Elmes). T71/1220 and T71/1221.

  1. Familysearch.org batch nos. C06236-8, C04885-2, C03324-1, C03324-2. Langford Vere Oliver, History of the Island of Antigua (London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894) Vol. 3 p. 174.

  2. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery during the Time of Lord Chancellor Thurlston (4th ed., London, W. Clarke & Sons, 1819), vol. 4 pp. 527-536.

  3. PROB 11/1647/416. http://www.brookmans.com/history/casamajor.shtml [accessed 15/08/2013].

  4. http://www.richardfordmanuscripts.co.uk/keywords/antigua [accessed 15/08/2013].

  5. http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/asm0570/id/13/rec/20 [accessed 15/08/2013].

  6. T71/892 St Vincent claim no. 470 (Mount William). T71/1302: counterclaims of the two Vernons were based on the value of enslaved persons sold 'illegally' by Justinian Casamajor from Vernons to Bryan Blake and removed to Mt William. Cecilia Blake replicated, tabling an indemnity from 1821 whereby executor of J. Casamajor surrendered the remainder of his lease on Vernons to Vernon and indemnify Justinian Casamajor's estate, whose executor was James Newman. Notice of appeal vs award, dismissed 07/07/1838.

  7. Familysearch.org batch no. M07272-1. Langford Vere Oliver, History of the Island of Antigua (London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894) Vol. 3 pp. 172-177, 'Family of Vernon'.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Mary Grant
Children
Mary Hannah (1774-), Elizabeth Grace (1774-), Emma (1778-), Louisa (1780-), Henrietta (1782-), Louis James (1784-), Lewis Duncan (1785-), Henry Thomas (1790-), George James (1792-)
Occupation
Merchant

Associated Claims (1)

£1,500 11s 2d
Beneficiary deceased

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
1817 [EA] - 1821 [LA] → Owner
1828 [EA] - 1828 [LA] → Previous owner
1817 [EA] - 1821 [LA] → Lessee

Shown as 'proprietor' but known to be lessee [see under Justinian Casamajor's biographic entry]. .


Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Paintings
Mrs Justinian Casamajor and Eight of her Children, portrait by Daniel Gardener 1779, now in the Yale Center for British Art. The online catalogue describes the Casamajors as a 'landed Hertfordshire... 
notes →
...

Physical (1)

Country house
Potterells 
notes →
Inherited by Justinian Casamajor from his friend, Charles Delaet, on the latter's death in June 1792. [Dates of occupation are...

Relationships (4)

Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Grandfather → Grandson
Son-in-law → Father-in-law

Addresses (2)

Potterells, Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, South-east England, England
South Audley Street, London, Middlesex, London, England