Thomas Lee Brodbelt

26th Jul 1802 - 1845

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Eliza Lee Brodbelt, James Lee Brodbelt and Thomas Lee Brodbelt were creditors on three estates in St Catherine, Clarendon and St John. The three were the 'reputed children' of Francis Rigby Brodbelt Stallard Penoyre (ne Brodbelt) (q.v.) who died in England in 1827.

  1. Their mother was Jemima Johnson Lee - Eliza and James were baptised 30/09/1800 in St Catherine where the record describes their mother as "free mul[atto]". Thomas was baptised 26/08/1803 with his mother given as Jemima Johnstone, "free mulatto".

  2. James and Thomas graduated as Doctors of Medicine from Edinburgh University, 01/08/1824 when they were listed as "from Jamaica".

  3. James Lee Brodbelt, married Charlotte Varlo Stransham in St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, England, 15/07/1826.

  4. James and Thomas are registered as the owners of nos. 50 and 54-58 Leadenhall Street, London, which were tenanted, 1836-1842. At this time, James's address is given as St Helier's, Jersey, and Thomas's as 24 Bentinck Street, Cavendish Square. The three Brodbelts were given as 'Great Britain' in the compensation records. Thomas was of Bentinck Street Marylebone when he made his will in 1837. Catherine was resident in Tredegar Park, St Catherine, when she wrote her will in 1850. The compensation for enslaved people on Tredegar Park was awarded to Jemima Johnson Thomson (née Lee) as executor of her late husband Isaac Deleon Thomson.

  5. James Lee Brodbelt and his wife emigrated to Columbus, Ohio, in 1848, where Brodbelt Street is named after them. According to a 2008 report in the Columbus Dispatch, James "moved in abolitionist circles".

  6. The legal case Brodbelt v. Thomson (1858) reveals further details of this family. James Lee of Jamaica wrote his will in 1821 bequeathing his house in Spanish Town to his friend John Gardner Milward and all rest and residue to Francis Rigby Brodbelt and Brodbelt's reputed children Eliza Lee Brodbelt, James Lee Brodbelt and Thomas Lee Brodbelt as tenants-in-common. In a codicil written at sea a week later, he revoked the gift of his house to Milward and instead bequeathed it to his reputed daughter Jemima Johnson Lee, daughter of Eliza Gardner Johnson and also made Jemima an executrix. James Lee died on the voyage. Later that year, Jemima Johnson Lee married Isaac Deleon Thomson; the only child born of the marriage was Adriana Lee Thomson. Francis Rigby Brodbelt, for reasons unspecified, changed his name to Stallard Penoyre, and bequeathed his property from the will of James Lee to his three reputed children Eliza Lee Brodbelt, James Lee Brodbelt and Thomas Lee Brodbelt as tenants-in-common; Stallard Penoyre died in 1826. Jemima Johnson Lee survived her husband, and died 13/06/1833. Thomas Lee Brodbelt died in 1844 and bequeathed his property to James Lee Brodbelt and Eliza Lee Brodbelt. Eliza Lee Brodbelt died in 1850 having bequeathed her property to James Lee Brodbelt. Adriana Lee Thomson brought a legal claim in 1852 for the recovery of a moiety of the house in possession of James Lee Brodbelt which she claimed was previously the property of her mother Jemima Johnson Lee.


Sources

T71/859 Clarendon claim no. 414; T71/854 St John claim nos. 283 A & B.

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

  2. Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 22 (Edinburgh, 1824) p. 442.

  3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

  4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965 [database online]. T71/1187 Clarendon claim no. 414 counterclaim. PROB 11/2155. T71/852 St Catherine claim no. 685 (Tredegar and Park pen).

  5. 'Brodbelts put historic stamp on lane', Columbus Dispatch, 17/01/2008.

  6. James Lee Brodbelt v. Adriana Lee Thomson, http://www.commonlii.org/uk/cases/EngR/1858/865.pdf [accessed 28/07/2020].

We are grateful to Robert Lancashire and Peter Selley for their assistance with compiling this entry.  


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
died unmarried
Children
d.s.p.
Will

PROB 11 2011 - precis.

Thomas Lee Brodbelt of Bentinck Street, Marylebone, Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine.

My whole estate to my brother James Lee Brodbelt of St Helier, Jersey, Doctor of Medicine, and to my sister Eliza Lee Brodbelt of Bentinck Street, Middlesex, sprinster, share and share alike as tenants in common. They are also to be my executors.

Signed 02/10/1837. Witnesses Sophia Bond, 18 Museum Street, Henry A. Bond, same address, W. Hallowes, 52 Gloucester Street, and Queen Square.

Codicil.

Being about to proceed with my sister Eliza Lee Brodbelt of Bentinck Street on a voyage to Jamaica I am desirous of guarding as well against the contingency of our being lost together at sea as of my said sister dying at any time before me... then I leave all my estate to my brother James Lee Brodbelt of St Helier, Jersey. Signed 02/10/1837. Same witnesses.

University
Edinburgh [1824 ]
Occupation
Physician

Associated Claims (3)

£2,683 18s 8d
Awardee
£1,704 9s 1d
Unsuccessful claimant (consensual) (Mortgagee)
£115 0s 8d
Unsuccessful claimant (consensual) (Judgement creditor)

Relationships (5)

Brother → Sister
Brothers
Grandson → Grandmother
Natural Son → Father
Natural Son → Mother

Addresses (2)

24 Bentinck Street, Cavendish Square, London, Middlesex, London, England
Leadenhall Street, City of London, Middlesex, London, England
Notes →

James Lee Brodbelt and Thomas Lee Brodbelt owned the freeholds of nos. 50 and 54-58 Leadenhall Street from at least 1836 to 1842; the properties were tenanted.