User:Ruby2010/Frances Dalzell: Difference between revisions

 

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”’Frances Duff”’ ({{nee}} ”’Dalzell”’; 16 June 1729 – July 1778) was a Jamaican-born British heiress and plantation owner of mixed race descent. Originally from [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], her father was a white businessman and her [[mulatto]] mother was born enslaved but became an heiress in her own right. When Frances was nine years old, her now-freed mother successfully petitioned the [[House of Assembly of Jamaica]] to give them increased civil liberties.

”’Frances Duff”’ ({{nee}} ”’Dalzell”’; 16 June 1729 – July 1778) was a Jamaican-born British heiress and plantation owner of mixed race descent. Originally from [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], her father was a white businessman and her [[mulatto]] mother was born enslaved but became an heiress in her own right. When Frances was nine years old, her now-freed mother successfully petitioned the [[House of Assembly of Jamaica]] to them increased civil liberties.

Soon after, Frances was sent to live in a British boarding school and resided in that country for the rest of her life. In the mid-1750s, she inherited estates and hundreds of slaves from her father; five years later, this would be specifically cited by the Jamaican Assembly in its new law limiting bequests for mixed race people. Through her marriage into the [[Earl Fife|Duff family]], she was the only 18th-century heiress of mixed race ancestry to marry into the British aristocracy.

Soon after, Frances was sent to live in a British boarding school and resided in that country for the rest of her life. In the mid-1750s, she inherited estates and hundreds of slaves from her father; five years later, this would be specifically cited by the Jamaican Assembly in its new law limiting bequests for mixed race people. Through her marriage into the [[Earl Fife|Duff family]], she was the only 18th-century heiress of mixed race ancestry to marry into the British aristocracy.

Frances Duff (née Dalzell; 16 June 1729 – July 1778) was a Jamaican-born British heiress and plantation owner of mixed race descent. Originally from Kingston, her father was a white businessman and her mulatto mother was born enslaved but became an heiress in her own right. When Frances was nine years old, her now-freed mother successfully petitioned the House of Assembly of Jamaica to grant them increased civil liberties.

Soon after, Frances was sent to live in a British boarding school and resided in that country for the rest of her life. In the mid-1750s, she inherited estates and hundreds of slaves from her father; five years later, this would be specifically cited by the Jamaican Assembly in its new law limiting bequests for mixed race people. Through her marriage into the Duff family, she was the only 18th-century heiress of mixed race ancestry to marry into the British aristocracy.

Frances Dalzell was born on 16 June 1729 in Kingston, Jamaica, to Gibson Dalzell, a businessman originally from Portsmouth, England. He was a son of the highly decorated Scottish army officer Robert Dalzell. Her mother was a mulatto woman named Susanna Augier, the illegitimate, mixed race daughter of a white man and an enslaved black woman. Such interracial, imbalanced relationships were common in Jamaica, where white men outnumbered white women two to one. Remarkably for the era, upon John Augier’s death in 1772, his will freed his five children – including Susanna – and bequeathed parcels of his estate to each of them. Still, prospects were limited on the island for freed people of black descent, especially women. Soon after, Susanna entered into a relationship with a wealthy merchant named Peter Caillard, with whom she had three children. Caillard died in 1728 and left Susanna a very wealthy woman by bequeathing her with the majority of his wealth, including his Jamaican properties valued at £26,150.8.10. It was an exceptional outcome considering she had been born enslaved; the historian Miranda Kaufman notes it as being “one of the most substantial legacies ever bequeathed to a mixed-heritage person in colonial Jamaica”.

Soon after Caillard’s death, Susanna became the mistress of Gibson Dalzell, and gave birth to his daughter Frances; a brother, Robert, was born four years later. Gibson held many prominent positions on the island and was well-known among its inhabitants. They lived in a Kingston townhouse inherited from Caillard. When Frances was nine years old, Susanna successfully persuaded the House of Assembly of Jamaica to pass a private act granting she and her daughters increased civil liberties with “the same Rights and Privileges [as] English Subjects born of White Parents”; the act, which passed on 19 July 1738, also included any of their children born in Jamaica to white men, and would allow them all to live as “free and natural born subjects of the crown of Great Britain”. Such a request was necessary, as the Assembly had five years earlier passed a law limiting rights for anyone descended too closely from a black ancestor. Susanna was the first woman and only the second person to submit such a request to the Assembly. In her successful petition, she emphasised her fortune and the Church of England education being given to her daughters; her ownership of several slaves and connection to Gibson Dalzell also likely helped.

Shortly after her change in status, Frances was sent to live at a boarding school in Great Britain; this was common for colonial families wishing to give their children a superior – and more “polite” – education than was available at home. There, Frances met her paternal grandfather, Colonel Robert Dalzell – though it was his sister, rather than he, who paid her school fees. Her family stayed behind in Jamaica; the colonel eventually persuaded his son to return to Britain by hinting that Frances would receive an inheritance from him. Father and daughter were subsequently reunited in 1746 after a six-year separation. Upon Gibson’s return, his father arranged for him to become director of the Sun Fire Office, an insurance company based in London. Her younger brother eventually joined them and they lived in Mayfair, a stylish part of the city; they also leased a country residence in Hertfordshire. The historian Daniel Livesay characterises the Dalzells’ move to Britain as an example of mixed-race families seeking to form “new, legitimate, metropolitan households that hoped to sidestep African ancestry altogether”.

Susanna stayed behind in Jamaica and they never married, though Gibson left her with ample financial support and instructed his attorneys to take money out of his estate in the event she needed more funds. Despite the distance, mother and daughter maintained communication; Frances wrote that she promised to visit her in Jamaica one day, however, the ongoing Seven Years’ War prevented her from doing so. At one point Susanna sent her a gold necklace. Meanwhile in Britain, Frances’s clothing bills indicate that Gibson lavishly dressed his daughter in the latest styles. He also confided in her; Frances observed the many decisions that went into management of his Jamaican properties, and his trust in her was such that he gave her a copy of his will when she was seventeen.

As an absentee owner, Gibson depended on attorneys to manage his Jamaican interests. He invested funds to improve productivity through the acquisition of slaves, mills, and machinery. Their properties – which produced a combination of sugar, coffee, ginger, and rum – were relatively profitable as the demand for sugar grew in Britain and North America. Gibson held his directorship of the Sun Fire Office until his death in 1755 or 1756. His will divided his estates between his two children, which included 133 enslaved people and hundreds of acres (hectares) in Portland and Saint Mary. Gibson also left his daughter with fifty shares from the Sun Fire Office and other sources of money. Susanna died suddenly in 1757 and left her children with seven slaves, livestock, and various possessions. However, Susanna had neglected to alter the will further in their favour, so instead much of her wealth went to her Augier relatives.

Under Jamaican law, Frances was considered a mulatto. Like most contemporaries of mixed heritage who inherited wealth, she did not oppose being a slaveholder and worked to keep it. Perhaps due to her gender, she encountered significant difficulties managing her properties. After her father’s death, she took over the running of his Lucky Hill estate in Saint Mary. Gibson had told her that his friend Charles Price, the owner of a large nearby plantation, would be his executor. However, his will did not name any trustees to carry out his wishes. Frances consequently applied for probate and was granted administrative control of her properties on 2 July 1756. This was in opposition to her uncle, Alexander Hamilton, whom she blamed for drafting the poorly written terms of the will and for appointing himself as trustee against her wishes.

Now in control, she instructed her attorney Thomas Bontein to compile a careful accounting of every item she owned, as well as detailed accounts of every transaction made; she also asked him to keep her apprised of all events pertaining to the estate. She went through all of her father’s papers and continued his correspondence with the men he had been doing business with. She named Price and Bontein as her agents, but was also an active participant in the running of her properties; for instance, she dictated what crops would be grown and ordered the purchase of new slaves. Income was not always consistent; in 1758, a ship carrying thirty hogshead of sugar sunk at sea.

Further troubles arose in 1760 when the slave rebellion known as Tacky’s Revolt began in Jamaica. White authorities soon ended the rebellion, but its fallout had implications for people like Frances and her brother. The Jamaican Assembly, blaming those with mixed ancestry of inciting the revolt, passed a law capping this group’s inheritance at £1,200. When subsequently challenged by the London-based Board of Trade, the Assembly specifically cited the Caillard and Dalzell wills in their reasoning. Frances was fortunate that the law was passed five years after receiving her father’s inheritance. She had continued troubles with her Jamaican properties throughout her tenure, contending with bad tenants, debts, and disputes regarding her mother’s inheritance.

A large inheritance allowed Frances and her brother Robert to marry well – she into the Scottish nobility and he to the daughter of an MP. Indeed, she likely was aggressive in pursuing their inheritance out of a motivation to marry well. When Frances was twenty-seven years old, she met the Hon. George Duff, an officer in the 10th Regiment of Dragoons. Seven years her junior, he was the fourth son of William Duff, Lord Braco (soon to be 1st Earl Fife), and destined to inherit estates valued at £1,000 a year. George’s letters show his passion for Frances, and they married on 7 April 1757 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London.

The Duffs had been unhappy to learn of the engagement and threatened to disinherit their son; they never directly explained their reason, but it was perhaps due to Frances’s illegitimate birth or mixed race status. However, despite her racial heritage, a portrait of Frances shows her as having light skin. If this depiction is accurate, contemporaries might have assumed that she was white. It was perhaps this fact, along with her education and wealth, that increased his parents’ opinion of her by February 1757. Lord Braco approved the match and gave his son an annual allowance of £200; he also confirmed that Frances’s grandfather planned to leave her with an inheritance. As was typical for heiresses, the marriage papers protected Frances’s assets and ensured she would maintain control of her Jamaican properties and dictate who would inherit them. Upon her grandfather’s death in 1758, Frances received a further £1,500 that was placed in a trust.

After her marriage, Frances remained an absentee landlord. Her father had left debts, which the couple paid in 1759 by selling some of Gibson’s shares and portions of her grandfather’s legacy. Though the Duffs were a Scottish family, the couple refused to live there due to their enjoyment of London and its social amusements. Their first child, William Robert, was born in July 1758 but died the following year. By 1766, they had four more children – James (“Jem”), George, Jane Dorothea, and Frances (“Fanny”). Jem apparently had a mental illness and from the age of thirteen spent his life in an insane asylum in Fulham. The family lived in Putney and then in Ealing.

In July 1778, Frances Duff died in London at the age of forty-nine and was buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. She named George as the executor of her will, opting to leave small sums of money to their daughters and the bulk of her Jamaican properties to their younger son George. Another copy of her will was apparently found eight years later, as described in a letter by her brother-in-law James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife. Her daughters Fanny and Jane Dorothea never married, perhaps due to their comparative lack of inheritance from Frances’s will. George Duff lived forty more years than his wife, dying on 23 November 1818. He never remarried.

In her research, Miranda Kaufman found eighteen heiresses of mixed heritage who married in Britain during the 18th-century. However, she believes that Frances Dalzell was the only one to marry into the aristocracy, as the others are only documented to have married men in lower classes – such as merchants, surgeons, and lawyers. After Frances’s death, similar stories of her life would appear in popular British media. In the 1790s, the subject of mixed race people emigrating to Britain received much interest among the public and appeared in sentimental stories. A character in Jane Austen‘s novel Sanditon (1817) is able to overcome views of her mixed ancestry and class through possession of a large fortune, and is considered a suitable match for a baronet. There are also notable parallels between Frances and a character in the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray; both she and Miss Swartz are mixed race women born in the Caribbean and sent to British boarding schools – and who marry into the nobility. In the 21st-century, Daniel Livesay observed similarities between Frances Dalzell and Meghan Markle, another mixed race woman who married into the British upper class.

Works cited