John Stanley

MP for Hastings 1784-1796. 1st son of Michael Stanley of St Kitts. His estates were sold after his death to pay off his creditors.

1. Will of John Stanley of the island of St Christopher [but now at Portsmouth and about to depart for that island] [made 11/03/1776] proved 16/05/1799. He left his wife his household effects and £2000 to furnish a house, and gave small legacies to his daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. He paid tribute to his benefactor, Ralph Willett, 'parent of my necessitous youth', and identified one brother-in-law as William Feuilleteau (q.v.) and another as Joseph Stanley, the preservation of whose business as merchant abroad he encouraged his wife to support. He left the rest of his estate to his wife and to his son John Willett Stanley. In a codicil dated 30/03/1792 he identified himself as of Plumstead Kent, and of the island of Nevis: he had at that stage left his wife in Britain. In the codicil he said that he had since making his will bought several estates, viz .the plantations and estates [unnamed] formerly belonging to James Brodbelt in the parish of St John; a parcel of land lately belonging to Mrs Grace Patterson and Mr Bate[s] Peterson and his wife in the same parish and island; and lands belonging to George Bryan in the parish of St John Capisterre on St Christopher. He left these also to his wife and his son John Willett Stanley. In the codicil he identified Joseph Webbe Stanley (q.v.) as his brother. In a second codicil ('Memorandum') dated 01/10/1795 in Tortola, he stated that his son John Willett Stanley had died, and that he therefore left everything to his wife Susanna. In 1833 administration was granted to James Hackman Pearson and Richard Davis both of St Helens Place, City of London, arising out of a Chancery suit of Boddington et al v Seton. This suggests a connection with the Lavington estate, the compensation for which was paid into the Chancery suit of Boddington v Seton.

J.M. Collinge, 'Stanley, John (1740-1799) of Plumstead, Kent', http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/stanley-john-1740-99 [accessed 27/11/2015]; https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~emceee/mountravers~part3chapter3.pdf pp. 1213-1215.

1. PROB 11/1325/48