Matthew Gregory (died 1779)
Dr Matthew Gregory | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1693 |
| Died | 31 December 1779 (aged 86) |
| Occupation(s) | planter, physician, politician |
| Known for | being one of Jamaica’s most prominent slave-owners, |
Matthew Gregory (1693–1779) was a plantation magnate and politician in Jamaica who sat in the House of Assembly of Jamaica for Saint James Parish in 1718 and 1722, and for Saint Ann in 1726. He also worked as a physician.[1]
Gregory inherited the Swansey Estate in St. Thomas, Jamaica, named "Hordley" in homage to their ancestral home.[1][2] He was a brother of John Gregory. Gregory died at age 86. According to the University College London, he owned 713 slaves at the time of his death. Hordley was inherited many years later by Matthew Gregory Lewis, his great-grandson, who recounted his experiences as the estate owner in his book titled Journal of a West India Proprietor.
References
- ^ a b "The Letters of Simon Taylor of Jamaica to Chaloner Arcedekne, 1765-1775" edited by Betty Wood et al in Betty Wood & Martin Lynn (Eds.) (2002). Travel, Trade and Power in the Atlantic 1765-1884. Camden Fifth Series Vol. 19. Miscellany XXXV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–164 (p. 17). ISBN 978-0-521-82312-8.
- ^ "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery".