Hon. David Finlayson

There were at least two and possibly three David Finlaysons active c. 1830: this man, known as David Finlayson the elder or the Hon. David Finlayson, erstwhile speaker of the House of Assembly; David Finlayson the son of Mary Vidal (q.v.), presumably a natural son of Hon. David Finlayson the elder; and David Finlayson jun., either the same man as the son of Mary Vidal or conceivably a grandson. The Hon. David Finlayson died in 1831: the compensation claims are therefore those of his son or grandson, while the ownership of Belle Air, Clayton Hall (and possibly a group of enslaved people in Savanna La Mar) refers probably to the Hon. David Finlayson.

1. To the memory of the Honorable DAVID FINLAYSON who was born on the 8th of January 1770, elected a Member of the House of Assembly for the Parish of Westmoreland in 1797 and chosen Speaker in 1821. The infirmities of age obliged him to resign the office of Speaker in 1830 and his seat for Westmoreland in the following year. He departed this life on the 7th of March 1831 aged 64 [sic] years.

1. Annotations to 'Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies', Cathedral Spanish Town, no. 277.