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This page is part of a website based
on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort. Please email site controller Eric
Alexander with any comments or queries. |
Guiana
and the Cort-Gladstone connection
Historical background
The country that is now Guyana was British Guiana for most of
the nineteenth century. It originated
as three Dutch colonies: Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. The history of Berbice is most relevant to
the early part of this story.
For the period up to 1795, Dutch settlers are happy for British
settlers to join them, except for a brief period when the countries are at war
in the early 1780s.
In 1795 the Netherlands are overrun by the French, who set up a
new Government, known as the Batavian Republic, which joins its war against
Britain. The Dutch in Berbice and their
governor, Abraham Jacob van Imbyze van Batenburg, are uncomfortable with the
new arrangement, and welcome the British force which captures the three
colonies in 1796. The British allow van
Batenburg to continue in office as the King’s representative.
In the Peace of Amiens, concluded in
March 1802, the colonies are handed back to Holland. Governor van Batenburg remains in Berbice (whether or not in
office I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter to this story) until February 1803. War is resumed in May, and in September
Britain recaptures the colonies.
In January 1804 the British Government reappoints van Batenburg,
who returns to the colony in June and remains as governor until his death in
October 1806.
Earliest evidence: William Cort in Guiana
Four of Henry Cort’s children travel
to Guiana before 1810: Henry, William, Charlotte and Frederick.
The earliest record is for William, who is one of the
signatories to an address to Governor van Batenburg, dated 7 February 1803,
from grateful inhabitants of Berbice.
Signatories are listed in order of rank: William’s title of Capitein
der Burgery ranks twelfth.
We can conclude that he has been in the country for several
years, and may have found favour with the governor. It may be during this period that one William van Batenburgh
Cort, reckoned to be his son, is born.
A possible sponsor
It is a fair guess that William was encouraged, possibly helped,
to go to Berbice. A likely candidate is
Joseph Hamer.
Odd facts about Hamer emerge from the Web, but not all are
reliable.
Two of his children are baptised on the same day, 31 July 1787,
at Holy Trinity Gosport. Previously (21 January 1777), one of Henry Cort’s children is
christened John Hamer in the same church.
Another of Joseph’s children is christened William Attwick
Hamer, showing a close link with the Attwick family.
Joseph’s will (made July 1800) and material from legal disputes
that arise from it, show him owning plantations in Demerara and undeveloped
land in Berbice. One of the will’s
executors is John Wilson, who is given the task of overseeing the Demerara
plantations.
Without doubt this John Wilson is the man whom Charlotte Cort
marries. The dates of
Charlotte’s arrival in Guiana and her marriage are still matters for
speculation. When Hamer’s will is made
in 1800 she is only 20, and would presumably need permission to marry.
We may note that Charlotte’s sister Harriet went out to join relations in India,
where she married a man considerably older.
Has Charlotte taken a leaf out of Harriet’s book?
William and Henry in Berbice.
Occasional snatches emerge about William’s activities in Berbice
between 1803 and 1807.
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The Commissary
of the Vendue advertises that on Monday the 5th of March will be
Exposed for Sale to the highest Bidders, by order of Mr. J. G. Cloot de
Nieuwerkirk q. q. Wm. Cort & Roderick Cozier as Executors to the Estate
of Johd [sic] Lewis deceased. A Dwelling House situated on the front of
Plantation Vlissingen. The half of a Schooner Boat, also a Boat Negro, some
clothes, and a parcel of books.
Demerary, 25th
February 1804. E. N. Wichers.
From Demerara and Essequibo Gazette. |
In a document listing exports from Berbice over a period ending
August 1804, William is registered as proprietor of Plantation Hampshire: later
documents suggest he retains that position for the rest of his life.
But early in 1805 there is a strange interlude.
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We got to Fareham yesterday around 8 o’clock, set off for Portsmouth tho’ Wm is not arrived. From letter of William’s brother Henry, February
1805. |
It seems that William has made a trip to England: though his
role as signatory of petitions in Berbice dated 6th December 1804
and 23 April 1805 shows he doesn’t stay long!
Henry’s letter is later accepted as his will, since it states
unambiguously how he wishes his estate to be distributed on his death. Among legatees he names his sisters Elizabeth (Betsy), Caroline, Louisa and
Catherine (Kitty), who are all unmarried and (presumably) living in
England. Harriet and Charlotte are
missing. Harriet is known to be married
and living in India. It is therefore a
fair deduction that Charlotte, by this time, is also married (to John Wilson)
and living in Guiana.
If so, when did she arrive there? It seems unlikely she would have ventured out with William when
he first went out; equally unlikely she would travel there later on her
own. A strong possibility is that her
brother Frederick went out some time after William, and she accompanied him. When William returned briefly in 1804-5,
Frederick would presumably have stayed to oversee the plantation, as he did
during William’s later sojourn in England.
It is evident that Henry and his wife accompany William on the
return voyage in 1805. She gives birth
to a daughter while in Berbice, but alas her husband soon dies there. A list of trusts approved by the Berbice
Court of Civil Justice (near the end of CO318/74 in National Archives) shows
one set up in her daughter’s name (Frances) in January 1806, so it’s pretty
obvious that her husband’s death was earlier, but probably after young
Frances’s birth in September. Widow and
child return to England later in 1806.
By January 1809 William too is back in England, where three
children (mother Mary Ann) are baptised in Yattendon (Berkshire) over the next
three years. Brother Frederick is
evidently overseeing the plantation back in Berbice: his signature appears on
two documents addressed by its citizens to the governor in 1809. Paradoxically, it also appears among many in
a letter published in the Essequibo and Demerara Gazette in December 1810,
expressing appreciation for the services of Major General Samuel Dalrymple to
the colonies.
Last evidence of William’s stay in England is in correspondence
relating to the Parliamentary Inquiry of 1812. By April 1814 he has returned to Berbice,
where he is appointed to the Court of Civil Justice, one of two bodies charged
with administration of the colony: the other is the Court of Policy and
Criminal Justice, whose name is later changed to Council of Government at the
instigation of the Colonial Office.
His appointment comes about the same time that a new governor,
William Bentinck, takes office. The
governor is ex officio president of the court, and Bentinck has his own
ideas on how it should conduct his business.
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Daily experience convinces me of the
impropriety of our Courts late practise of appointing its own Members to be
Guardians, Executors, Sequestrators and other Capacities. From Governor
Bentinck’s address to Court of Civil Justice, 18 October 1814. |
The court goes along with him at first, but they fall out when
he unilaterally reverses one of its decisions.
Matters come to a head at a meeting on 19 November.
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In Consequence of the arbitrary
interference of the executive power We do jointly and Severally as Members of
the Court of Civil Justice most Solemnly protest against any further
Judgments or decisions of this Court, till the Said grievances be redrest. Motion by
Stephen Mourant at Court meeting, 19 November 1814. |
The governor refuses to accept Mourant’s motion. He insists they move on to deal with other
business. They insist on discussing
their grievance first. Impasse!
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His Excellency then ordered the
doors to be thrown open and ordered the Marshal to proclaim that the Court
has dissolved. From minutes
of Court of Civil Justice meeting, 19 November 1814. |
In the entry for 15 December (the next in the files in
chronological order) Cort and his fellows are described as “late members” of
the court, a temporary replacement having been organised by the Court of Policy. They are unwilling to let the matter rest
there, and complain to Earl Bathurst, Secretary for War and the Colonies, in
London. They get no sympathy from him.
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I have no
hesitation in expressing my Entire Approbation of your Conduct. From letter of
Earl Bathust to Governor Bentinck, 17 July 1815. |
Developments in Demerara
We must backtrack to 1806, by
which time John Wilson is making a name for himself in Demerara (and Essequibo,
which is run jointly with Demerara for the early part of the century). His name appears amongst those attending
annual meetings of the colonies’ Court of Policy from 1806 to 1810, though it
is absent for other meetings of the court.
Around the beginning of 1807 he signs, as “attorney for several
estates”, a petition objecting to restrictions imposed by the British
government on trade with America, but the petition’s requests are turned down.
He also signs a Memorial of Merchants and Planters in 1809, requesting
an extra convoy to carry goods to Europe, since the current one leaves too
early to include many perishable items.
On this occasion he lists the eight estates for which he has become
attorney.
Three of these (Endragt, Mon Repos and Good Hope) are among the bequests of Joseph Hamer, although
elsewhere it is recorded that Good Hope has been sold to Edmund Thornton and
Simon Fraser in 1801. Presumably
Thornton and Fraser are using him as their local attorney.
The owners for whom Wilson is acting for the other five estates
have yet to be identified. But other
evidence reveals that the Success and Lusignan estates, like the Hamer
bequests, are all in Demerara. The
whereabouts of the remaining three (Nog Eens, New Orange Nassau, Bellefield)
have yet to be established: probably in Demerara, and certainly absent from a
list of Berbice estates issued in 1803.
He still holds a residual position (“postholder”) in Berbice,
where a salary of £145 is registered in a list of government expenditure in
1811. Also on the list is a clerk, J S
Wilson, whose salary of £675 is exceeded by only four others in the
colony. If he is John’s son, it must be
from a marriage (or liaison) before that with Charlotte Cort.
In May 1812, Wilson Starts to attend meetings of the Court of
Civil & Criminal Justice for Demerara and Essequibo. Later in the year he acts as executor for
deceased planter Thomas Harris; while the Demerara and Essequibo Gazette
records his appointment to two committees, describing him as “The Hon. John
Wilson”: it is very unlikely that there is another man in the colony with the
same name and sufficient status to qualify as “honourable”.
Involvement of
John Gladstone
Returning to 1806, the year
Lambert Blair, another of Joseph Hamer’s executors, comes to England. Blair owns several plantations in Berbice:
one of the objects of his trip is to find a British importer to take his
produce.
Information about his success
in this task has yet to emerge, but it has been established that a contract is
agreed for Liverpool merchant John Gladstone to take consignments from two
Demerara plantations, Endragt and Mon Repos, bequests of Joseph Hamer overseen
by John Wilson. Thus a link is
established between Wilson and Gladstone (whose son William will become one of
the most prominent British politicians of the nineteenth century).
Gladstone subsequently buys
up several plantations in Demerara, including the one overseen by Wilson at
Success. Since Gladstone never visits
the colony, it is a fair bet that he has advice and help with other purchases
from Wilson, who soon becomes his attorney in Demerara.
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By 1815.. the full
potential of the plantations became apparent. The price of a slave in Demerara was, because of his
productivity, very much greater than elsewhere. From S.G. Checkland, The Gladstones: A
Family Biography 1764-1851 (Cambridge 1971). |
At the height of his
career in the West Indies he owned in Demerara the estates Success, Wales,
Waller's Delight, Covenden, Hampton Court, Vredenhoop and Vreedestein. From S.G. Checkland, 'John Gladstone as
Trader and Planter', Economic History Review, Vol 7 Part 2 (1954)
p226. |
Much of the evidence for this
part of the story is Checkland’s material, which mostly comes from the
Gwynne-Gladstone (GG) collection at St Deiniol Library, Hawarden (available to
library non-members via Flintshire Record Office if requested in advance). There is also John Gladstone's letterbook
1823-1826 (920 MD 140) at Liverpool Record Office, and his son Robertson's Journal
of a Voyage & Residence in the Colony of Demerara (commencing 12th
October 1828) in the library of Liverpool Athenaeum (requires advance booking).
None of these sources,
however, mentions the continuing role of Gladstone as importer for produce from
the Hamer plantations, though Wilson’s twin roles as Gladstone’s attorney and
Hamer’s executor gives him oversight of both groups of plantations.
Wilson’s role at the Demerara
court impinges on his relations with Gladstone. Official despatches from the colony at this time are loaded with
material related to the court’s proceedings.
One of these relates to a long and complicated dispute, going back to
1804, involving the then court president Thomas Frankland and chief criminal
officer van Berckel. Deeming this “a
subject of utmost importance”, Wilson devotes a whole letter on it to Gladstone
in September 1812. Gladstone passes the
letter on to Earl
Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Dispatches do not give a
comprehensive picture of court proceedings, quoting only those minutes relevant
to the case. The earliest record for
Wilson’s attendance is 31 January 1812, the latest 17 August 1813. From 21 June 1814, court membership has
substantially changed – possibly due to another dispute, or to the arrival of a
new governor: Wilson is absent from all subsequent meetings recorded, but there
is evidence showing his continued presence in Demerara.
Activities of
Frederick Cort
During Wilson’s period in
Demerara, only one instance has so far emerged on Frederick Cort’s continuing
activities in Berbice. In the Berbice
Gazette of 9 August 1817, he is shown as attorney acting in the conveyance of
Plantation Washington to a new owner.
Evidently he is doing more than helping his brother William.
In 1819 John Wilson returns
to England. Gladstone takes him on as partner
(John Gladstone, Grant & Wilson) and accepts his recommendation of his
brother-in-law, Frederick Cort, as the new attorney. This changeover is presumably the occasion of Frederick’s move
from Berbice to Demerara. A full list
of plantations he oversees is not available, but they include Wilson’s former
charge at Lusignan as well as the Hamer and Gladstone properties. Frederick remains as attorney for these
properties for ten years, during which Gladstone continues to import the Hamer
produce. The most momentous event of
this period is the slave revolt of 1823.
The slave revolt
Although the
slave trade has been abolished in Britain, colonists are still allowed to
own slaves, a big factor in the sugar and coffee plantations in Demerara.
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You will have
heard from Mr Wilson of the violent clamour that has of late been raised in
England against the present state of slavery in the West Indies. From letter of Sir John Gladstone to
Frederick Cort, 25 May 1823. |
Perhaps it would be best to hold out favours to the Females in
the shape of exemption from Labour Commensurate with the correctness of their
Conduct. From letter of Sir John Gladstone to
Frederick Cort, 25 May 1823. |
In 1823 Gladstone is worried about
the possibility of a slave revolt.
Though a committed Christian, he has convinced himself that the inferior
status of negroes is ordained in the Scriptures, and tells Frederick that they
too may be convinced by being obliged to attend Sunday church services at which
"the Manager was to add.. some exhortations or explanations" on their
"duties of subordination as set forth therein". He is, however, concerned about their
welfare, with a view to which slaves should be encouraged to marry!
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Cort wrote in reassuring
vein. Punishment, he said of the
estates under his management, was seldom necessary. The slaves could make considerable money by the sale of surplus
produce of their provision grounds..
Cort described the happy contented countenances and the general good
behaviour.. Some had taught
themselves to read and a few were instructing others. From S.G. Checkland, The Gladstones: A
Family Biography 1764-1851. |
However, rebellion soon
breaks out among the slaves at Plantation Success.
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You will most likely have heard 'ere this can reach you of the
insurrection of the Negroes in the East Coast of the Colony, which broke out
on the evening of Monday the 18th instant. From letter of Frederick Cort to Sir John
Gladstone, 29 August 1823 (GG2757). |
The rebellion is put down, to
Gladstone's relief. "I am glad to
see," he writes to Cort, "the contracts for Building the Military
Barracks at Annerdale have been entered into." This should "produce a beneficial effect in the minds of the
Negroes" and show the "determination of the Governt to
keep them in due subjection".
Gladstone's son
visits Demerara
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Gladstone had complete
confidence in Cort, speaking highly of him to the Colonial Secretary, the
Governor, the Fiscals and everyone else.
Even when representations were made to the Governor that Cort was
incompetent as attorney and planter, Gladstone stuck by him. From S.G. Checkland, 'John Gladstone as
Trader and Planter', Economic History Review, Vol 7 Part 2 (1954)
p226. |
There are examples elsewhere
of planters bad-mouthing those who treated the slaves humanely, so we may
wonder whether that is Frederick's main sin.
Or maybe Frederick has been conditioned to be impervious
to criticism - his father has been unjustly persecuted, so he must expect
the same.
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When stationed at Pt Felicity during the first week of the
revolt, I received deputations of Negroes from Lusignan and Hamers' Estates
entreating me to go there, that peace might be restored and their work
resumed. From letter of Frederick Cort to Sir John
Gladstone, 29 August 1823 (GG2757). |
When Robertson Gladstone
visits Demerara on his father's behalf at the end of 1828, he soon forms his
own opinion of Frederick.
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Harry Watson and Mr McLean both came off the the ship, and I
found Mr Cort waiting for me as soon as I landed. From letter of Robertson Gladstone to his
mother, 25 November 1828, three days after his arrival in Demerara (GG390). |
My father will doubtless mention to you as I have written him
fully upon the subject, the disappointment I had in finding Mr Cort to be not
at all altogether what he would wish. From letter of Robertson Gladstone to his
brother Thomas, 16 January 1829 (GG428). |
He cites a few examples of
Frederick’s erratic management of his father’s estates.
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Mr Cort had carried away all the
buildings except the Managers house, a kitchen apart, and 5 o 6 Negroe Houses
to Success, which must have lessened very materially their value to the
proprietor. From Robertson Gladstone’s
assessment of Plantation Covenden in his Journal. |
He has been the cause of Mr Mackenzie’s property, Lusignan,
being such a terribly ruinous concern, when he came under our charge. From letter of Robertson Gladstone to his
brother Thomas, 16 January 1829. |
His father responds rapidly
to these allegations.
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I regret to see the report you make of Cort, which I fear is too
just. I have written to him on various
subjects in such a manner as will I think cause him to throw up his
attorneyships, which in that case will be transferred to Mr Mclean. From letter of John Gladstone to his son
Robertson, 5th March 1829 (GG543). |
Frederick's role as
Gladstone’s attorney ends before August 1829, being replaced by “Mr
McLean”. The following month John
Wilson leaves the partnership.
An interesting
postscript. In October 1831 Demerara’s
Governor D’Urban proclaims that “all the Slaves the Property of the Crown in British
Guiana shall be forthwith made free” by Royal Command. Apparently other slaves think this may apply
to them too, and planters are horrified.
Next month McLean writes to Gladstone about a conspiracy “discovered the
other day that Fire was intended to be set simultaneously to every district in
Town on the night of the 9th or 10th inst”, but there is
nothing about this in the Governor’s dispatches. By comparison with McLean’s outburst, Frederick Cort’s attitude
during the 1723 troubles seems positively phlegmatic.
Frederick’s final
years
Frederick leaves Demerara
aboard the Albina in 1831. He settles in Liverpool, and on 31 December
enters a partnership agreement with brother-in-law John Wilson; taking a quarter
share, on a contribution of £7,000 towards a capital of £28,000.
The term of the agreement is
five years from 1st January 1832, but it is cut short by an accident
involving “a runaway horse” (according to the Guiana Chronicle) on 5th
May 1834: Frederick dies a week later.
During the period 1832-4 he
sires a bastard, Eliza Ann, by one Ann Whittaker.
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Ann Whittaker
is the same person who lived with me as servant at Everton in 1832 and 1833,
is known to my sisters Caroline and Mrs Wilson. From will of Frederick
Cort. |
This extract from the will,
made after Eliza Ann’s baptism, indicates that his sister Charlotte is still
alive. The will features all his
surviving siblings, and includes small bequests to his cousins Anna Becher and Elizabeth Turner.
A dispute later arises about
the will: documents reveal that he has ignored Gladstone’s wish for female
slaves to marry male ones. Two
“coloured” illegitimate sons, William and Frederick, have been born in Demerara
to a woman identified as Louisa Cort: both take the Cort surname. William accompanied his father when
Frederick left Demerara, and by 1837 is “at School Parrys Salsbury Street
Liverpool”. The will expresses a wish
that his brother should join him, given their mother’s permission.
One may wonder how conscious
Gladstone's son William is of the connection with his father when the question
of recompense for the Corts comes before Parliament
in 1856.
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I consider him a very unfit
man for the situation he holds.
Robertson Gladstone’s view of Frederick Cort, as expressed in his
Journal. |
Died - On the 12 May, at Liverpool, Fredk. CORT Esq.,
an old & highly respected inhabitant of this colony.
From Guiana Chronicle Friday 26 June 1835 |
William
Cort’s later career
With William Cort’s departure from the Court of Civil Justice,
information about him becomes more sparse.
By 1819 he is proprietor of a second plantation, Williamsburg, with approximately
270 slaves overall. We assume he spends
the rest of his time in Berbice, which in 1831 joins the other two colonies to
form British Guiana.
James Carmichael Smyth arrives as
governor in 1833, and on 2nd October issues a proclamation
foreshadowing the end of slavery. From
1st August 1834, slaves will become apprentice labourers, serving
the same master but with greater privilieges.
On 1st August 1840 they will be free. A petition raised in 1837 by local inhabitants,
concerning the aftermath of these developments, contains William Cort’s
signature.
William dies in Berbice on 2nd September 1853. A notice in The Times of October 5th
appears to have been wrongly transcribed onto the web. It says he is “in the 32nd year
of his age”: it should be the 82nd.
The death recorded cannot be either of the two other William Corts who
might be in Berbice at the time, since one (Frederick’s illegitimate son) was
born in 1829 and the death of the other (William’s own son) is separately
recorded in 1855.
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