[Carib] ANDERSON British Guiana Demerara Berbice & Spanish Town Jamaica
Nivard Ovington
I have long been researching my ANDERSON & SMITH line who were in British
Guiana from around 1831
George ANDERSON & Co are mentioned as Plantation owners in 1840 (Plantation
Ogle) there are various plantations mentioned but Ogle seems to have been
owned from 1840 to at least the 1860's perhaps into the 1880's
I have recently made contact with a cousin in Australia who descends from
Georges only son Ernest George b1839 in Hastings Sussex England, she has
passed me a copy of a photograph of him which I would say is likely to have
been taken around 1880 to 1890 (I descend from Ernests older sister Ellen
Georgiana)
The photographer was "W. H. Stevens, Photographic Artist"
Does anyone know where this photographer was based? Jamaica, Demerara or
Berbice ?
Ernest had children in Demerara 1871 - 73, Spanish Town Jamaica 1874 to 1875
and Berbice 1877 to 1879
What is access like for birth or death information for those locations at
that time?
Ernest had a son George Ernest ANDERSON who was born 1871 in Demerara, after
schooling in Glasgow he returned to the Demerara and raised a family there
before returning to England in the 1930's
Best wishes Nivard Ovington, in Cornwall (UK)
bobcu...@gmail.com
It's a long time since your message about George Anderson was posted on 27/10/2008 but I would be interested to know if you found out any more about him. I'm writing a biography of William Schaw Lindsay. Aged about 16 as an orphan he plied the ships in Liverpool Docks for three or four weeks in c1832 looking for work. He eventually found a job as a cabin boy on George Anderson's ship the Isabella (apparently only recently purchased). The master was a kindly man called Thomas Tait but the first mate was a brute that Lindsay (in his journal) called McCastle or M'Castle (I've found no confirmation of this – his name may have been McCullock or M'Cullock). Tait married Mary M'Anson, second daughter of John Carlyle in Liverpool in 1834 but died at sea of the Guiana coast on 30 May 1835. McCastle took command for a while. That was a very bad time for Lindsay but not much later McCastle left the ship and a Captain Dunning took command with a Mr Jenkins as first mate and Lindsay himself as second officer. On Dunning's watch, Lindsay was very badly injured on board. When he signed off the ship in London, George Anderson took him to the London Hospital to reset the damage leg and gave him £5 to tide him over, and act of kindness which Lindsay later reciprocated. Many years later, to quote from the on-line document "Righting the wrongs of a radical shipowener". "An important function of a ship broker was to ensure that a cargo was released to the holder of the Bill of Lading [the title to the goods], only after freight had been paid to the shipowners. During times of economic and financial hardship, large merchant houses pressed agents to deliver goods against their promise to pay two months hence. This encourage market speculation and therefore most banks and discount brokers rejected bills marked 'on account of freights'. Lindsay risked losing the support of major merchants like Anthony Gibbs and Overend Gurney by refusing to waive the rules and release cargoes under his agency without a proof of ownership or a financial guarantee. Even when the former owner of Isabella, George Anderson visited Lindsay – who he did not recognise – and offered payment in two months on a consignment of sugar, Lindsay explained that he could not deviate from the established rules. Instead he wrote a cheque for £1500 for Anderson to pay to his bankers, took Anderson's cheque for the freight and released the cargo saying "one good turn deserves another, repay me when convenient". He then reminded the puzzled Anderson about the second mate known as "Glasgow" on Isabella two decades earlier who Anderson had taken to hospital and given £5. It was, as Lindsay noted in his journal, 'a curious but not unpleasant incident in my chequered but prosperous life'".
IF YOU'VE FOUND OUT MORE ABOUT GEORGE ANDERSON SUCH AS THE NAME OF HIS PLANTATION(S) DURING THE 1830s PLEASE CONTACT ME. You could leave a message here or google "Robert Cutts" Bristol (with quotes) to find my Flickr profile where you'll see my email address.
Regards, Robert Cutts.
Nivard Ovington
I will also seek out your email address later
I would love to claim this benevolent George ANDERSON as being mine but
given the description, wonder when this later event occurred ?
My George died in September 1854 and your description suggests the later
event was 20 years after the first
I am also unaware of mine owning a vessel named the Isabella
As there are quite a few George ANDERSONs with Demerara/Guiana/Jamaica
connections I am unsure if this could be another of the same name
So the year of the later event may rule him out
Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK)