William Bill Henry WILLIAMS 1847 Trelleck (General)

by Beausoleil, Thursday, February 23, 2017, 04:25 (2832 days ago) @ slowhands

I have no idea if anyone will still be watching this thread 10 years later. I just stumbled across it.

The poster may be interested to know that Thomas Oakley (1774-1831) inherited a profitable sugar plantation, Mount Oakley, situated in the north-eastern parish of Portland on the Caribbean island of Jamaica from his father, Thomas Oakley (b1744). His aunt, Parnel(l) Oakley (1735-1815), who was also brought up and eventually was to die at Lydart House, married a Stephen Attlay from Teignmouth, Devon - owner of the nearby Prospect plantation and an adjacent livestock pen together employing some 170 slaves.

At one point, the younger Thomas Oakley and his cousin, Stephen Oakeley* Attlay (Parnel and Stephen's son), were simultaneously significant planters and slave-owners in the region. Both were ultimately awarded compensation for "assets" they relinquished when slavery was abolished in the Colonies.

In 1786, Thomas Oakley was resident in parish capital Port Antonio as a merchant, handling sugar and rum sent from Prospect for export. By 1817, an individual named Thomas Oakley had become the owner of two properties in Portland parish that collectively employed sixty enslaved workers. Three years later, the slave registration return prefaced the owner’s name with the word ‘Honourable’: a title reserved for members of Jamaica’s Council. The person named was either the Port Antonio merchant, his son Thomas or his nephew (his brother's son), confusingly also called Thomas Oakeley (b.1773), who in 1796 was living on Jamaica under the care of his uncle, but by 1816 had returned to England (or Wales?) in order to re-marry.

On August 24. 1824, Thomas Oakley (likely the son) put his Mount Oakley plantation in Portland, Jamaica up for sale thus:

"To be sold. Mount Oakley, including Lydart, 322 acres and three rods, with the buildings, 60 slaves, 23 cattle, 57 sheep; or, if more agreeable, a part of the land and Negroes as may be most desireable (sic) to a purchaser. Time will be given for the payment, by instalments, on giving good and sufficient security. This property is known to be a very healthy and pleasant residence. Apply to the proprietor on the property." Thomas Oakley

Here Lydart, I suspect. refers to the name of the Plantation House , named to correspond with the name of the Oakley family seat in Monmouthshire

Presumably he was unsuccessful since he was compensated for his lost slaves a decade later.

The Oakleys legacy remains insofar as Mount Oakley is today the name of a moderately populated district south of Port Antonio. Many of its inhabitants - all descendants of African slaves - carry the Oakley surname.

Prospect, located along the north coast east of Port Antonio, has been a housing scheme for at least a century. Locals mostly refer to the community as Land Settlement.

What is my interest in all this? My name is Alan Oakley. My late father Shadrach was born at Prospect Land Settlement in 1919 and his parents George and Rhoda were born at Mount Oakley. According to her mother, my grandmother Rhoda (nee Briscoe - 1888-1965) was named after an "English child" with whom her maternal grandmother had become friendly. I am speculating that the Rhoda listed in the Mitchel Troy household of Thomas Oakley in 1841, presumably his daughter and Thomas William Oakley's sister, may have been that child and that they were children and played together despite their different status.

* Jamaican records feature alternative spellings of Oakley/Oakeley. Stephen Oakeley Attlay references almost invariably include the extra 'e'.

I have read that Thomas and Parnel Oakley were members of the Snakecroft (later Bagnall) Oakeleys: a scion of the gentry Oakeley family of Shropshire. The Oakeley baronecy was created for Sir Charles Oakeley (d1826). His son, Frederick, may be best known as translator into English of the hymn 'O Come All Ye Faithful'.

The Snakecroft Oakeleys originated from Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire, where brother and sister Parnel and Thomas were both born, but the family also possessed land in Monmouthshire. Parnel Oakeley lived out years of widowhood at Lydart House; after her death, members of the Oakeleys resided at Lydart and the 1851 Census provides an indication of their social status. The head of the Oakeley household was a freeholder and farmed 136 acres, while his three sons were occupied as a solicitor, a curate, and an Oxford undergraduate.

Hopefully someone will have found this interesting.