Rev. Richard Austin

Clergyman and slave-owner in Surinam. From a Barbados family, brother of William Austin and Thomas Austin (both British Guiana slave-owners) but by 1832 the owner of 250 enslaved people in Surinam. Father of Wiltshire Stanton Austin, Charles Adye Austin and William Paul Austin (each of whom q.v.). Reported to have died in Surinam in 1851.

1. The will of Richard Austin was made 14/04/1824 when he was 'about to make a voyage to Europe to arrange various family concerns.' He appointed his two beloved sons, William Paul Austin and Charles Adye Austin, and the husband of his daughter Mary Jane named Benjamin Fuller Tuckniss as his executors to take possession of his rights etc which are now claims on Plantations Kleinhoop, L'Assistance and a third estate which appears to be Appecappe, of which he was in possession not only by virtue of his marriage to Joanna Wentworth niece and co-heir of Paul Wentworth, but also by virtue of a contract between him as attorney to the guardians of the late [i.e. the former] Jane Elizabeth Smith now married to the Rev. Bruce of Belfast in Ireland. He left the estates to his three children, subject to a legacy of £1000 to the Rev. Wilshire Stanton Austin, his son by a former marriage and the transfer of specified enslaved people who had belonged to Sarah Stanton his first wife ('men - Sam. Walker Jos.Tom and a woman named Rose').

http://www.carib.dsl.pipex.com/thomasaustin/tree/pafg02.htm[accessed 16/05/2016]. The will is transcribed at Nationaal Archief, Den Haag: 'Suriname: Oud Notarieel Archief toegang nr. 1.05.11.14 Inventaris nr. 908, Scans 251-253', http://www.gahetna.nl/en/collectie/archief/inventaris/gahetnascan/eadid/1.05.11.14/open/c01%3A2.c02%3A0.c03%3A7./nodes/YTo5OntpOjA7czo2OiJjMDE6Mi4iO2k6MTtzOjY6ImMwMToyLiI7aToyO3M6NjoiYzAxOjIuIjtpOjM7czoxMjoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuIjtpOjQ7czoxMjoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuIjtpOjU7czoxMjoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuIjtpOjY7czoxODoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuYzAzOjcuIjtpOjc7czoxODoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuYzAzOjcuIjtpOjg7czoxODoiYzAxOjIuYzAyOjAuYzAzOjcuIjt9/inventarisnr/908/level/file/scan-index/251 [accessed 10/05/2017].

We are grateful for the help of Okke ten Hove and Ank de Vogel-Muntslag with this entry.