Dame Frances Stapleton (née Russell)

Slave-owner in St Kitts and Nevis, predeceased by her two sons Sir William Stapleton 4th bart. and James Russell Stapleton. Her second husband was Walter Hamilton (q.v.), Governor of the Leewards, although she appears to have kept her name [and title] from her first marriage.

1. Will of Dame Frances Stapleton [made in 1743] proved 26/03/1746. She left her property English and Caribbean in trust to pay off any balance remaining of the £11,000 she had settled on her deceased son Sir William Stapleton on his marriage, and passed the English property to her grandson Sir Thomas Stapleton. She instructed £8000 to be raised on her St Kitts estates to pay £3000 to the younger children of her dead son Sir William Stapleton and £5000 to the children of her dead son James Russell Stapleton, and the estates and enslaved people themselves to pass to all her grandchildren. She left her house at Cheltenham to Catherine Stapleton, daughter of James Russell Stapleton.

1. PROB 11/746/86.