John White of St Kitts and Chichester

Slave-owner of St Kitts, originally of Montserrat, later coming to Britain where he died in 1776 aged 75. Father of George White Thomas (q.v.). John White's estate on St Kitts is unnamed in his will but is inferred to be or to include Whites, which is known to have descended to his grand-daughter Frances' husband General Sir John Gustavus Crosbie.

1. Will of John White of Chichester proved 23/02/1776. Under the will he made monetary bequests totalling at least £4800 to family members, as well as an annuity of £80 p.a. to his widowed sister Mrs Jane Bennett. He left annuities of £10 p.a. to 'two mulatto women named Sarah and Frances whom I made free before I left St Christopher's', and instructed that two 'negro girls each of them about sixteen years of age' be purchased and one made over for the sole use of each of Sarah and Frances. 'Whereas I am possessed of or interested in a very considerable real and personal estate consisting of plantations, land, houses, negroes, stock, cattle...', he confirmed the annuity of £200 p.a. to his wife Lydia, but did not increase it on the grounds that she had recently benefited under the will of her father Sir George Thomas [1st] baronet. Subject to his marriage settlement he entailed his estates on his son George [later George White Thomas] and his male heirs, failing whom George's daughters, failing whom John White's nephew Michael White of Montserrat and his son, also Michael. White declared his enslaved people 'heirlooms', so that they could not be sold (as he said St Christopher's laws permitted) away from the estate, and instructed that as each enslaved person or cattle died, they should be replaced by the purchase of another one.

1. PROB 11/1017/59.