Nathaniel Bayly
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Nathaniel Bayly (c. 1726 – 1798) was an English planter and politician who sat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
from 1770 to 1779.


Early life

In 1726, Nathaniel Bayly was born in
Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Westbury w ...
.''Nathaniel Bayly'', Legacies of British Slave-Ownership https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146638579 Retrieved 23 March 2021. In the 1730s, Nathaniel Bayly was a young boy when his family relocated with him to the
Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...
. In 1759, Nathaniel Bayly moved to England, and he conducted a trans-Atlantic family business with his brother Zachary Bayly, using their slaves on their Jamaican estates to create large profits, and using their political contacts to protect their investments.


Slave owner

The Bayly family owned several plantations and thousands of slaves in the
Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...
. After being with his family in Jamaica, he returned to England in 1759, and lived in London. The Gentleman’s and Citizen’s Almanack for 1772 lists Bayly’s town residence as Dover Street in Mayfair and his country residence as
Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town. Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...
, Middlesex. He was described by his nephew Bryan Edwards as living ''“in a high and elegant style of life”.'' In 1768 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Charity of William Hobbayne. In the 1770s, he commissioned a survey and garden design from
Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...
(See Page 96 of Brown’s account book) but the house for which the work was to be done is not recorded. In 1770, Nathaniel Bayly inherited the
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
n property of his brother Zachary, which included plantations and thousands of slaves at Baylys Vale,
Brimmer Hall Brimmer Hall is a Jamaican Great House and plantation located near Port Maria, in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica. In the eighteenth century Brimmer Hall was owned by Zachary Bayly as part of a series of contiguous sugar plantations. These consisted ...
, Crawle, Nonsuch,
Trinity plantation Trinity was a plantation in colonial Jamaica, located south of Port Maria, in Saint Mary Parish, one of several plantations owned by Zachary Bayly that formed part of the area known as Bayly's Vale. By the early nineteenth century, over 1,000 p ...
, Tryall and Unity and stores and other buildings in
Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Saint Mary () is a Parish (administrative division), parish located in the northeast section of Jamaica. With a population of 114,227 it is one of Jamaica's smallest parishes, located in the county of Middlesex. Its chief town and Capital (poli ...
, including the town of
Port Maria Port Maria () is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, Saint Mary. Originally named "Puerto Santa Maria", it was the second town established by Spanish settlers in Jamaica. The ruins of Fort Haldane, built 1759, ...
, and at Greenwich Park in
Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica Saint Andrew () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish, situated in the Ordinal directions, southeast of Jamaica in the county of Surrey County, Jamaica, Surrey. It lies north, west and east of Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, and stretches into the Blu ...
.Genealogy Reports From Registers, Wills And Almanacs Descendants of Bayly
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Family

He married Elizabeth Ingram, daughter of Hon. Charles Ingram MP on 3 May 1767. Bayly married secondly Sophia Magdalena Lamack of Clapham on 18 March 1773.


Political career

Bayly was invited to stand for Abingdon in the 1768 general election, probably because he could afford the expense. He was defeated in the poll but was seated as Member of Parliament on petition on 8 February 1770. In the 1774 general election he stood for Abingdon, but fearing defeat was also named for Westbury on Lord Abingdon's interest. The election at Abingdon was declared void because the winning candidate, John Mayor, was High Sheriff at the time, and Bayly decided to sit for Westbury where he had been unopposed. Over the next few years, Bayly made frequent speeches in Parliament, almost entirely with regard to West Indies affairs. He feared mainly that the American policy would be disastrous for the Islands, but also criticized the rum contract, complained that the islands were inadequately defended and attacked an extra tax on sugar. In March 1779 he resigned his seat because he had important matters to deal with in the West Indies and could not do justice to his parliamentary duties. He had returned to England by 1783 and made several attempts to find a seat in Parliament but was unsuccessful.


Later life and legacy

From 1790 to 1796, Bayly was Commissioner of Forts and Fortifications, for the North side of Jamaica. He died in Jamaica in October 1798. In his will he refers to his sugar plantations at Bremer Hall, Roslin,
Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...
and Tryall and estates at Gibraltar and Wentworth on the island of Jamaica, and the "large quantities of negroes, stock and cattle" on them.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayly, Nathaniel 1700s births 1798 deaths British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Planters from the British West Indies English slave owners