Sir Walter Farquhar

Walter Farquhar of London was shown as mortgagee-in-possession of Retreat Pen in St Ann 1786-1792 and of Great River in St James in 1785-1790, and was almost certainly the same man as the London physician Sir Walter Farquhar (made a baronet in 1796). Retreat and Great River were shown in this period as the property of the heirs of William Harvie or Harvey; the will (proved in 1786) of Elizabeth Harvie, almost certainly the widow of Alexander Harvie (q.v.) the brother of William Harvie, described Walter Farquhar surgeon as her 'brother-in-law' and acknowledged the debt she owed him. Sir Walter Farquhar's wife was Ann or Anne Harvie nee Stevenson or Stephenson (from a Barbadian family), whose first husband had been 'Dr Harvie a physician' according to the ODNB.

1. Owner of 57 enslaved people and 21 stock in St Ann, Jamaica, in 1792.

2. Will of Sir Walter Farquhar of St George Hanover Square proved 30/06/1819. The will is silent on Jamaica property. His main heir was his son Thomas Harvie Farquhar.

J. F. Payne, ‘Farquhar, Sir Walter, first baronet (1738–1819)’, rev. Kaye Bagshaw, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9181, accessed 5 Oct 2016]

1. 'A List of slaves and stock in the parish of St Ann taken the 28th March 1792 pursuant to order of the Honourable House of Assembly... transcribed from papers presented to the British Museum by Charles E. Long ref. Add. 12435' transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/mstann1792.htm.

2. PROB 11/1617/422 .