Peter Beckford (junior)

Peter Beckford was born in the English colony of Jamaica c. 1672/3.[1] His father, also named Peter Beckford, was born in Clerkenwell, England before emigrating to Jamaica during the mid-seventeenth century, where he amassed a substantial fortune through the ownership of twenty sugar plantations operated with roughly 1,200 enslaved people.[2][3][4] Beckford's mother was Anne Ballard, who gave birth to two other children, Charles and Thomas.[5]

While in England, Beckford was called to the bar in 1695.[6] A year later, Beckford, having returned to Jamaica, was appointed to serve as the colony's receiver general.[1][7][lower-alpha 1] Much like his father, Beckford "possessed a violent temper"; on 13 December 1697, he killed fellow politician Samuel Lewis by stabbing him to death with his own sword.[1][8][6] Beckford quickly fled to France rather than remain in Jamaica and face prosecution by the judiciary.[9]

In France, Beckford wrote a petition to William III of England, claiming that he killed Lewis in a duel and was at most guilty of manslaughter instead of murder; the petition also argued Beckford's family had "been very faithful and serviceable to your Majesty".[8][9] Though no pardon was granted, due in part to fierce opposition from Lewis' relatives, after Beckford's father went to London to defend him in 1698 the case was declared nolle prosequi.[8][10]

A portrait of Beckford's daughter Elizabeth by Benjamin West wearing the robes of the British peerage.

After he escaped the murder charge, Beckford returned to Jamaica, where he began a career in politics.[1][11] In 1701, Beckford was elected to serve in the House of Assembly of Jamaica, where he would sit consistently for almost three decades. Six years later in 1707, he was appointed as speaker of the house of assembly, serving in that position until 1713. During this period, Beckford was also appointed to serve as the comptroller of customs in Jamaica.[1]

On 3 April 1710, a session of the house of assembly at Spanish Town led to the death of Beckford's father.[5] Discussions in the session grew heated to the point where Beckford attempted to adjourn the house, to which a group of politicians responded to by barring the chamber's doors and drawing their swords on Beckford, forcing him to reoccupy the chair. Beckford's father heard his cry for help and attempted to rescue him, suffering a fatal stroke in the process.[5]

In 1716, he again served as speaker of the house of assembly, holding the office for a year. Five years later, he began serving as a deputy to Whig politician William Congreve, assuming the offices of secretary of Jamaica, commissary of the forces and clerk of enrolments.[1] Beckford charged fees paid to him as a result of holding these offices at twice the statutory rate, partly to pay Congreve as compensation for holding the offices and partly for personal gains.[1][12]

As part of his political career, Beckford frequently came into conflict with successive governors of Jamaica, among them Thomas Handasyd, Lord Archibald Hamilton and Sir Nicholas Lawes.[1][11] Beckford held a particularly bitter relationship with Hamilton; both men leveraged their influence in London as part of attempts to resolve several political disputes, which "[promoted] metropolitan interest in colonial affairs, especially in the wake of the Peace of Utrecht".[13]

From 1714 to 1716, a pamphlet war broke out after Hamilton accused Beckford of profiteering from his position as comptroller of customs and claimed that his relatives were also engaged in acts of corruption.[11][13] Beckford counter-claimed that the governor had overstepped his authority.[13] Though Beckford won after Hamilton stepped down as governor, the affair confirmed to metropolitan observers that Jamaica was a "factious and unpredictable colony".[14][15]

After his father's death in 1710, Beckford was bequeathed the majority of his estate (which consisted of 1,200 slaves and £1,500,000 in bank shares) in the elder Beckford's will and testament.[1][5] Through financial activities and his ownership of plantations and other pieces of real estate, Beckford acquired by the end of his life an estate worth approximately £300,000.[1] This included land, slaves, luxury goods, mortgage-backed securities, bonds and open accounts. Possessing "the largest property real and personal of any subject in Europe", he died the richest planter in Jamaica.[1]

During his life, Beckford acquired total ownership over nine sugar plantations (and partial ownership over seven), nine cattle pens, a farm, one storehouse and 2,314 slaves.[11] These were mostly located in the parishes of Westmoreland and Clarendon.[5][11] He achieved this via "a combination of shrewd purchases and mortgage defaults" and working as a banker to many white Jamaicans. Additionally, his legal training (having been a member of the Inns of Court while in England) meant Beckford frequently served as a trusted confidante and legal attorney to fellow colonists.[5][6][11]

Beckford's political and financial success led to social pre-eminence among the Jamaican elite, with one rival referring to him as the "famous" Beckford and another commentator dubbing him "the God of the Creolians".[6][16] Among white Jamaicans, the "country natives" of the colony, it was widely perceived that "for the good of [Beckford's] children 'tis impossible for him to do anything but what is the true interest of the country."[6] From 1714 onwards, the successes of Beckford's fellow planters combined with the Peace of Utrecht led to a period of economic stability in Jamaica.[5][6]

In 1730, Beckford entered into a financial partnership with Scottish immigrant Alexander Grant, who worked as a physician after emigrating to Jamaica.[17] This partnership allowed Grant to acquire 300 acres of land in Saint Elizabeth Parish from Beckford, and Grant would go on to acquire more land in the parishes surrounding Saint Catherine Parish and the city of Kingston.[18][19] As part of their partnership, the two men leased a storehouse together, using it to sell supplies to local plantation owners.[17] Beckford also introduced Grant to his future wife Elizabeth Cootes in 1734.[18][19]

Near the end of his life, Beckford, aware "of the inherent difficulties of settling a transatlantic empire", appointed Thomas Beckford, a relative and merchant in London, and George Ellis, a Jamaican justice of the peace, as executors of his estate.[20] On 3 April 1735, Beckford died in Spanish Town at the age of sixty-two.[1] After his death, Beckford's vast estates were reported on by the London press, with The Gentleman's Magazine estimating his fortunes at a sum which, according to Welsh historian Perry Gauci, rivaled "estates of the greatest landowners among the British nobility."[6]

At some point in his life, Beckford married Bathshua Hering, having nine children: Peter, William, Richard, Nathaniel, Julines, Francis, Ellis, Bathshua and Elizabeth.[1] In his last will and testament, Beckford gave 1,000 pounds and a plantation to Hering and varying sums of money and property to his children and their offspring.[1] He also stipulated in his will that an annual sum of money be provided to a white bookkeeper that had been employed by Beckford, and instructed that Diego, a slave he owned, be emancipated and given 10 pounds per annum along with 10 acres of land.[1]

Aware of the lack of schools in Jamaica, which was "often identified as the root cause of the island's sociocultural failures", Beckford bequeathed 1,000 pounds to the establishment of a school for the poor in Spanish Town.[21] While living in England at a young age, Beckford had been educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and the University of Oxford's New College between 1681 and 1689, the advantages of which he recognised after returning to Jamaica.[21][22] Beckford later arranged for William to be educated at the City of London's Westminster School in 1723.[23]

After Beckford's death, William returned to Jamaica to help manage the family estate.[23] He eventually went back to England in 1744, pursuing a career in politics alongside Richard and Julines.[23] All three sat in the Parliament of Great Britain, while William repeatedly served as Lord Mayor of London. Catherine moved to Great Britain and married Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham on 14 February 1745.[1][23] According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Beckford's greatest legacy was accumulating "an estate great enough to support his [children] in their British ambitions."[1]

Historians have generally maintained a positive view of Beckford; according to academic Sidney Blackmore, he increased his family's wealth "on the firm foundations laid by the founding father."[11] Similarly, historian Richard B. Sheridan wrote that Beckford was a "financier of great magnitude".[1] Gauci held a more mixed view of Beckford, arguing his wealth was a "testament to... commercial acumen and sheer ruthlessness".[20] Historians have also given disparate assessments of his wealth; Trevor G. Burnard estimated that Beckford's estate was worth 500,000 pounds at his death.[24]