Matthew Gregory (died 1779)
Dr Matthew Gregory | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1693 |
| Died | 31 December 1779 (aged 86) |
| Occupation(s) | planter, physician, politician |
| Known for | being one of Jamaica’s most prominent slave-owners, |
Dr Matthew Gregory (1693–1779) was a plantation magnate and politician in Jamaica who sat in the House of Assembly of Jamaica for Saint James Parish in 1718 and 1722, and for Saint Ann in 1726.[1] A physician by profession, he also owned the Swansey Estate.[1] Even as a snapshot at the time of his death aged 86, according to University College London, he was in possession of 713 enslaved individuals. It is worth recognising that given his rare advanced age and the low life expectancy for slaves due to the stupendously high mortality rates as a result of overwork, disease, and poor living conditions, in addition to slavery's inter-generational and self-perpetuating nature (as evidenced by the fact that 164 of this number were merely boys, girls and children), this figure over his life, especially during his peak, is expected to be a far more extreme number when considering decades.
A brother of The Honourable John Gregory, Dr. Matthew Gregory, a physician, politician, prominent slaveowner, inherited the estate in St. Thomas, Jamaica named "Hordley" in homage to their ancestral home.[2] His brother's deep entrenchment in the institution of slavery, as one of the colony's most prominent planters, is evident in his being mentioned 35 times in the letters of the infamous Simon Taylor. Taylor's letters frequently display a sense of dominance, disdain, self-assuredness, and condescension with equals or superiors, which one might expect of the ruthless, morally void, machiavellian figures of history. And yet his references to Matthew he often reflected a tone of deference for his relentlessness and effectiveness. In his private letters, he remarked that Dr. Gregory ‘had made himself a perfect master’ in one particular dispute over a water mill in 1774, for example. Taylor also advised Chaloner Arcedeckne that Gregory's name must not be mentioned in legal documents, aligning with Mathews's reputation of being a Chief Promoter of various suits that would have a noticeable implications for surrounding plantations. His deep fondness for law and his ability to leverage his connections to dominate clearly made him a highly formidable figure. Hordley was inherited many years later by Matthew Gregory Lewis, his great-grandson, who vividly recounted his experiences as the estate owner in his book titled "Journal of a West India Proprietor.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "The Letters of Simon Taylor of Jamaica to Chaloner Arcedekne, 1765-1775" edited by Betty Wood et al in Betty Wood & Martin Lynn (Eds.) (2002). Travel, Trade and Power in the Atlantic 1765-1884. Camden Fifth Series Vol. 19. Miscellany XXXV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–164 (p. 17). ISBN 978-0-521-82312-8.
- ^ "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery".
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