William Hall

Sugar refiner of Kingston Jamaica, father of William Dennis Hall and Harry Irvine Hall (both of whom q.v.).

1. Estate at time of his death in 1794 was a Sugar House plus equipment & 'negroes' for refining in Kingston Jamaica , a store in Port Royal Street; some land in Kingston Jamaica plus large amount of refined goods; & sugars. Total value of the estate was £7000 . Executors of his Will were William Dennis Hall (son by William's first marriage) & John Bridgman, a merchant who later married Sophia Catherine Hall b. 1775 (daughter of William Hall & his 2nd wife Margaret Parker). The executors decided that the business would be carried on to fund the legacies & benefits to be paid from the Will of William Hall. The business was to be run by a Mr Cummings under the management of Hall & Norton (the partners in Hall & Norton were Harry Irvine Hall (another of William Hall's sons) & Nicholas Francis Norton). Initially it was a profitable concern but another deal undertaken with John Bridgman proved disastrous and although the interest was paid to the beneficiaries when Louisa McMillan Hall (a daughter of William Hall) died in 1833, Hall & Norton were unable to pay the capital sum owing to her estate . The Executor for Louisa McMillan Hall was Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin, Judge of Calcutta, who was married to Elizabeth Whitehorne daughter of Fanny Constantia Hall, herself a daughter of William Hall (1731-1794). Louisa McMillan Hall was born 6 June 1786 and baptised 5 April 1787 at Childwall Lancashire: she died 1833 at Bury St Edmunds Suffolk.

1. Ref Mss Eur D1203/43 held by British Library Asian & African Studies. The above precis of this document, a letter dated 1837 to Lady Malkin from H.I Hall (Harry Irvine Hall) explaining what had happened and how the firm of Hall & Norton was unable to pay the claim against it owing not to mismanagement but to mischance, has been provided to LBS by Dawn Good.

We are grateful to the help of Dawn Good with this entry.