Yorkshire Almanac The will of James Bean of Aldbrough (Holderness), proved today, frees and provides for his ‘mulatto’ daughter Nancie on Jamaica

19 August 1767: The will of James Bean of Aldbrough (Holderness), proved today, frees and provides for his ‘mulatto’ daughter Nancie on Jamaica

James Bean. 1767. Will of James Bean, Planter, of Aldbrough in Holderness, Yorkshire. Aldborough. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

Whereas I am possessed of and entitled to one mulatto girl named — and known by the name of Nancie begotten on the body of a negro woman of mine named —- and known by the name of Euba residing upon my plantation estate in the parish of Hanover in the said island of Jamaica —- I do hereby give —– and discharge the said mulatto girl called Nancie of and from all duty slavery and service which she owes to me and of and from all —- and title power and authority whihc I have over or in her and all the —- and —- of her body begotten or to be begotten on the body of the said mulatto girl named Nancie and I will that the said Nancie all all the —– of her body shall forever hereafter be free and at her own will and disposal and further my will is that the said mulatto girl named Nancie shall have a very genteel maintenance with all —– whatsoever allowed her at the expense of my said Jamaica estate and my desire is that said Nancie shall have a good dwelling house built for her on my Jamaica Estate at the expense of the owner of my said Jamaica estate and the said Nancie to live peaceably and quietly in my said estate without any molestation whatsoever or —- for and during the — of her the said Nancie’s natural life in ——- to her and not otherwise provided that —-

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

I’m struggling a bit with the transcription of the relevant passage, bounded by red squiggles.

What happened to Nancy? Was Euba (elsewhere: Cuba) dead, or did she not merit liberation?

Via the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery

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Comment

I’m struggling a bit with the transcription of the relevant passage, bounded by red squiggles.

What happened to Nancy? Was Euba (elsewhere: Cuba) dead, or did she not merit liberation?

Via the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery

Something to say? Get in touch

Similar

24 November 1839: Betsy Sawyer, a freed Antiguan slave, and family servant to the Rev. Thomas Murray, dies at Yeadon

20 June 1795: The London painter Joseph Farington hears from a solicitor the details of the slavery-financed will of Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood and builder of Harewood House

26 February 1787: William Butterworth of Leeds arrives at Grenada (West Indies) from Calabar (West Africa) on the Hudibras (Liverpool) with the survivors of a cargo of 360 slaves

16 November 1814: Blacksmith Samuel Hick pantomimes for Selby Wesleyans a dream in which he sails to the West Indies to liberate the slaves

15 October 1838: Apologies from “imprisoned” Huddersfield workers are read to the great Chartist rally on Peep Green (Hartshead Moor), accusing middle-class radicals of betrayal

23 January 1640: Andrew Marvell’s father drowns in the Humber at Hull

21 May 1785: Aged 15, William Butterworth of Leeds runs away to sea and joins a slaver

18 May 1734: The epitaph on the tombstone of the prolific William Strutton of Patrington, buried this day

18 February 1889: An effigy of Jack Nelson, wife-beater, is paraded with rough music through Hedon (Holderness) by a furious crowd

30 July 1820: Primitive Methodists try to disrupt the traditional Maudlin Fair football match between Hedon and Preston (Holderness)

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Comment

Although Mary Magdalene’s feast is conventionally 22 July, the Maudlin Fair was celebrated on and around 2 August on Magdalen Hill, Hedon. In 1820 the Sabbath preceding the fair was 30 July. John Nicholson, 70 years later, seems to suggest that it might not have been as unpleasant as the Methodist killjoys suggested:

As the Fair became of less importance, the tenant of the field tried to prevent anyone entering on the day appointed for the fair, and though sometimes unsuccessful, by dint of bribing and giving a shilling each to those desirous of entering, the fair was finally abolished about 1860. The following is a reprint of a song, descriptive of the fair in its best days:

Let lords in their bag wigs, and ladies in gauze,
At court strut and stare, or at balls seek applause,
Can such create envy, can aught give us care?
While pleasures invite us like Magdalen Fair.

No plotting ambition, no polished deceit,
No patches or paint, at this revel we meet;
Our greetings are blessings not purchased by wealth,
The smile of content, and the rose bloom of health.

Maidens long wishing for this happy day,
Pray old father time to pass quickly away;
To reach this gay scene, all contrivance they try,
And those who can’t get there – they sit down and cry.

Here damsels all beauty, enlivened by youth,
With eyes full of lightning and hearts full of truth;
Impelled by dame nature in spite of their dads,
Parade in their finest! and skyme [squint] at the lads.

And gallant young yeomen, our nation’s chief pride,
For such can be found in no country beside;
Each anxiously striving from notice apart,
To catch a kind look from the girl of his heart.

All sports and diversions for old and for young,
A medley of frolic is this jovial throng;
Shrill whistles and trumpets, bagpipes and gewgaw
Pots boiling, dogs fighting, and game of E.O. [badger-baiting].

Here’s wrestling and vaulting, and dancing on wire,
With fiddling, and juggling, and men eating fire,
Bold sergeants recruiting, lads ‘listing for life,
And family lessons from Punch and his wife.

Stalls hung with fine trinkets, before and behind,
Rich sweets for the palate, and books for the mind,
Famed singers of ballads, excelled by none,
And tellers of fortunes, who don’t know their own!

Huge giants, dwarf pygmies, wild beasts and wise ponies,
Rough bears taught to dance, with arch pug-macaronies!
Raree shows and safe horses, a penny a ride,
With grand entertainments, a thousand beside.

In words all the wonders would never be told,
The way to enjoy, is to come and behold;
The king’s coronation could nothing compare
To half the delights of the Magdalen Fair.

The badgers were obtained from the woods at Burton Constable, and were housed in barrels on the Fair ground. Sometimes there would be a dozen or more present at once. The man, who wished his dog to try conclusions with the badger, paid the owner of the badger sixpence; but the attempt to draw the badger not unfrequently ended in the death of the dog (Nicholson 1890).