William Brumell

Former merchant in Essequibo, partner in Brumell & Heyliger (fl. c. 1815-17) and Brumell & Addison (fl c. 1810), who settled in Newcastle upon Tyne sometime after 1826 and before 1832, and was awarded the compensation for the Exmouth estate in Essequibo. No definitive trace of his life or death in England has yet been found: a William Brumell, gentleman, appeared in the poll books for Newcastle-upon-Tyne between 1832 and 1836 but might not be the same man.

1. In 1798 Brumell & Addison were shown as the proprietors of the cotton estate Two Friends, comprising three tracts of 250 carreaux each. In 1817 as attorney to the executrix of Thomas George Heyliger, William Brumell transported all of her (the executrix's) right and title in and to plantations Exmouth, Dartmouth, lot No. 11 and lot No. 44, uncultivated, together with the slaves, cultivation and other appurtenances belonging thereto on the west of Arrabisch coast of Essequebo, to William Brumell (presumably himself).

2. An affidavit by the bankrupt Liverpool merchants Leigh and Armstrong in 1811 stated that 'previously to 1799 they carried on business at Liverpool as merchants under the firm of Leigh and Co., and under the firm of Armstrong and Co., at Demerara, and that in 1799 they took into partnership with them at Demerara Heyliger and soon after Brumell. The deponents put an end to that partnership in 1801: the accounts were never finally settled.'

3. Until 1804 William Brumell junior had been a partner in the ship and insurance broking firm of Charles Purvis & Co. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.    

T71/887 British Guiana claim no. 2292 (Exmouth).

T71/1259 counter-claim by John Campbell [sen.] & Co. identified William Brumell as previously of the colony but now of the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne; Ancestry.com, UK Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893 [database online] 1832 (which shows William Brumell gentleman at Charlotte Square) and 1836 (William Brumell 8 Charlotte Square).

1. Liste des habitations..., Suriname 1599-1975, http://dpc.uba.uva.nl lots nos. 12, 13 & 14 under the heading ''De Mahaicouni a Mahaica"; Royal Gazette 20/09/1817 http://www.vc.id.au/edg/18170920rg.html [accessed 02/01/2012].

2. William Brown, Report of cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery, during the time of Lord Chancellor Thurlow (London, W. Clarke & Sons, 1819), 'Parr Ex parte I 1811', pp. 65-69.

3. London Gazette 15765 22/12/1804 p. 1550.