Letters to Barbara Newton and Mr Cryer

The earliest mention of the activities of the Newton family in Barbados dates from 1654, when Samuel Newton acquired his first piece of property in the Christ Church parish on the island. By the time of his death in 1684 Samuel was a substantial landowner. His property was left half to his wife Barbara and half to his son John, although provision was made that the property should be managed jointly. John Newton was also the owner of an estate of Kings Bromley in Staffordshire, England. After John Newton's death in c. 1706 the estates were inherited by his son Samuel, and subsequently by Samuel's son John (died 1783). On John Newton's death the plantations came into the possession of his sisters, Sarah Holte and Elizabeth Newton. After the deaths of the two sisters the land passed, in 1794, to Elizabeth's cousins, John Lane a barrister of King's Bromley in Staffordshire and Thomas Lane who was a solicitor in private practice of Leyton Grange in Essex. On his death Samuel left two plantations, referred to as the Newton's plantations, which were inherited by John Newton and Barbara Newton. By the mid-eighteenth century one of these plantations had been sold or otherwise disposed of, but the Lanes eventually inherited the other. This land is referred to variously as 'Newton's', 'Newton's Lower plantation' or just the 'Lower plantation'. Mount Alleyne plantation which came into the possession of John Newton (died 1783) on his marriage to Elizabeth Alleyne in October 1740. The family also owned the Seawells plantation from at least 1784, but it may have come to the Newton family from the same source, as Elizabeth Alleyne's great-grandmother's maiden name was Seawell. Thomas Lane took on the management of the brothers' inheritance because he was based in London. In 1803 the estates were divided, John Lane taking Seawells and Thomas taking Newton - however Thomas continued to manage the estates for them both. The Lanes were absentee landlords. The brothers both died in 1824, and from that time it is difficult to trace the ownership of the estates. Richard Stuart Lane and his wife appear to have owned the estates between 1870 and 1894.

Samuel Clay's will links him with St. Lawrence Poultry parish in the City of London (TNA Ref.- PROB11/410/14).