Black Lives Matter

There is a short section in the second edition of William Ince Cabinet Maker about the abolition of slavery in Jamaica.  George Cowell, son-in-law of William Ince, who took on the Chancery Case that ended the partnership of Ince & Mayhew after Ann Ince died, had an interest in the Hopewell estate in Hanover, Jamaica as a trustee for his brother John, who had lent money to the owner, William White.  The owner wanted to close the whole business in 1804, before the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.   Slavery was not abolished in the British Caribbean until 1834 and the son of John Cowell was awarded over £7000 as compensation.   

Charles Vogel Ince, son of Charles Ince  married George Cowell's daughter Isabella.   A notice about their wedding in 1828 in The Morning Chronicle states that Charles was  of Kingston, Jamaica and their daughter Ada was born there in 1830.   Charles was probably helping to run the sugar plantation.    He died there in 1833.  There were still 86 enslaved people on the estate in 1835, but no records to tell us who they were. 

After abolition the newly freed men and women were bound into a system of apprenticeship so they were still not at liberty.    The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership at University College London has a wealth of information.