James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun was born in 1784 at The Retreat, St. Kitts, British West Indies and died on September 5, 1818 on St. Kitts, British West Indies, he succeeded uncle James 8th Lord Cranstoun, in 1796, as the 9th Lord Cranstoun at the age of twelve years old.

James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun married Anne Linnington MacNamara on August 25, 1807 at The Retreat, on St. Kitts and had the following children:

James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun died on September 5, 1869 on St. Kitts at the age of 34 and was succeeded by his son James Edward (Edmund) 10th Lord Cranstoun who was nine years old.

Anne Linnington MacNamara

Anne Linnington MacNamara was the daughter of John MacNamara and Rebecca Elizabeth Walwyn and they had the following children:

John MacNamara was an Irish gentleman of what is called the "good old stock". Although born in the county of Clare he spent the greater part of his life on an estate which he possessed in the island of St Christopher in the West Indies.

As "Grandsire John" was of the "good old stock", it is not to be wondered at that both in the West Indies and in England (where he occasionally sojourned), he lived in a very luxurious and prodigal manner keeping almost open house and boasting of the Irish hospitality in the days of auld lang syne.

He is said to have expended three large fortunes although he died at the comparatively early age of fifty. This improvident gentleman's hospitality was nobly nay sometimes royally bestowed. The Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV King of England) was his frequent guest.

At his death he left a son and two daughter's, the eldest daughter was a celebrated beauty who married Lord Cranstoun. The son, Frederick Hayes Macnamara held a commission in the 52nd regiment during the regiment during peninsular war was in the disastrous retreat to Corunna under Sir John Moore and was near that sacrificed hero when he fell.

After a somewhat narrow escape from Corunna young MacNamara sighed for the domestic comforts of an English hearth and therefore took unto himself a wife the handsome but slightly dowered Jane Elizabeth Williams and their eldest daughter is Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett the accomplished English actress who began acting under the name of Mordaunt in 1826, briefly retiring after her marriage to John Alexander Nisbett in 1831, she married Sir William Boothby in 1844.

The second daughter, Eliza Walwyn MacNamara married the much respected baronet Sir Henry Tyrwhitt.

The celebrated or we should rather say notorious Admiral James MacNamara notorious for having shot a Colonel Montgomery in consequence of a silly dispute arising out of a fight between two dogs was also a cousin of John MacNamara.

This is interesting as Lord Nelson came to the aid of Admiral James MacNamara in the court martial and he served under Nelson who was under Cornwallis who is tied to James 8th Lord Cranstoun.

What I Found In Documents

While I was in St. Kitts I was able to view original documents relating to the Cranstoun Family dating back to Wiliam 5th Lord Cranstoun and his wife Sophia Browne. What I did not know was that Jerimiah Browne, Sophia’s father was the original owner of the Cranstoun Estate property. I also did not realize that Manning & Anderdon also owned quite a few properties on St. Kitts.

The Margetson's, related to us through the Palmer family, came to St. Kitts in 1835 to manage some of the Manning & Anderdon Estates, the same time David Cranstoun was managing the Duer Estate in Antigua. Funny how both families dwindle down and eventually hook up.

The first document I was able to see was dated June 7, 1782. It was like reading a synopsis of all the research I had done on the family over the past three years. This document was when James 8th Lord Cranstoun filed his power of attorney of the Cranstoun Estate on St. Kitts to be transferred to his attornies while he was back in England. He had been ordered back to England to relay the news of the victories over the French in January, The Battle of Saint Kitts and in April, The Battle of the Saints, in which in both battles he distinguished himself.

The document mentions that his father James 6th Lord Cranstoun has died, his mother Lady Sophia Browne is now with her current husband Michael Lade in England, his brother William 7th Lord Cranstoun has died as well as his brother Browne Cranstoun and he was named in their wills as the successor to all they were entitled to. James had obtained the court orders of William Mathew Burt, Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands, after his death in 1791 for the administration of his father’s estate.

In 1776 Burt was appointed captain-general, governor, and commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands. With a liking for military matters, he devoted much of his energy to warlike preparations and, when the long-expected war with France started, he found good opportunity for indulging his taste. Dominica was captured by the French in September 1778, and St Kitts was thought to be their next objective. Burt took energetic steps to prepare the defence of the island but he was frequently at odds with the house of assembly. With the aid of slaves from government supporters and his own money he built storehouses, roofed Charles Fort, built carriages for the serviceable cannon, and bought ammunition and provisions that he stored at Brimstone Hill. When the expected attack did not take place and the time came for paying for the stores, the house of assembly refused to foot the bill.

Burt was thanked by the king for his services and promised a peerage but died suddenly at Antigua on January 27, 1781 between four and five o’clock in the morning, apparently in a state of delirium. He was buried on the island. There were rumours that he had been poisoned. He had by then become very unpopular and was said to have been something of a martinet, with an irascible temper. In January 1782, a year after his death, the long-expected attack on St Kitts came. Brimstone Hill was inadequately prepared and, after a gallant but fruitless defence, surrendered.

The British flag was lowered, and the fleur-de-lis waved for a while over St Kitts.

Fifty years after Burt’s death his grandson, William Mathew Hansard, petitioned the king, on the grounds that the bills for fortifying Brimstone Hill and supplying it with provisions and ammunition, estimated at £7,381 19s. 10d., had fallen entirely on Burt and had never been repaid, and that this had ruined Burt’s descendants. But the British government, in the form of Viscount Goderich, turned a deaf ear.

The next document I was able to view was from 1784 where James 8th Lord Cranstoun changed his attorney to Alexander Johnston and he is asking to obtain monies owed to him “specifically from Messieurs Burke and Browne”. He also is the guardian of his brother’s Charles (1758-1790) and George (1761-1806) and is directing his attorney to look after their interests as Lord James 8th Lord Cranstoun would if he was there. This is of particular interest as there is no mention of his own son, I have proven he had a son, no mention to look after his own son because he was a bastard! This really shows the arrogance of the upper crust of the British society.

Register showing location for document discussed above.

James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun

The next document is really confusing, it has to do with James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun selling property and the controversy which arose as a result. The number of properties he owned were a little shocking after doing all the research I assumed the Cranstoun’s just owned Cranstoun Estate. This proved not to be the case and I think I only have a sampling of what they really owned.

In 1839 there was an Indenture between the Right Honourable Anna Linington Lady Cranstoun, the Right Honourable James Edward 10th Lord Cranstoun, (her son), The Honourable Charles Frederick Cranstoun, The Honourable Eliza Linington Cranstoun, The Honourable Anna Caroline Cranstoun and Benjamin Greene, Benjamin Buck Greene, (his son) and John Greene for the estates of James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun on the island of St. Christopher in the British West Indies, according to his Will of November 6, 1815.

There is no doubt that James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun was not a "boy wonder" when it came to financial matters. He gave to John Walwyn Beatty and Thomas Metcalfe, his attornies, direction to lease 300 acres of the Cranstoun Estate and also the adjoining plantation known as Leighs, consisting of 120 acres, Mansion, Bachelors End and Crookes (formerly estates of Jeremiah Browne) consisting of 316 acres in the Parish of Saint Paul and Saint Ann, all buidings, equipment, animals, crops and Negros to Benjamin Buck Greene for one whole year for the price of one pepper corn. After the lease was up control went back to John Walwyn Beatty and Thomas Metcalfe and their heirs for the next two thousand years, providing annuities were paid to the heirs of the Cranstoun’s..uh huh!

The trusts were set up so that any child could not obtain the money until the day after their 25th birthday and any monies they were entitltled to prior to that were to be invested at compound interest. He then publishes a codicle to his Will without a date and assigns Reverend John Hutchison Walwyn and Reverend Lewis Botherson Verchild to be his executors. James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun died September 5, 1818 and Reverend Lewis Botherson Verchild died before the Will is presented, Reverend John Hutchinson Walwyn proves and executes the Will in St. Christopher, the Will is never proven in England...Opps!

You can also see some of Leighs Estate mentioned below as well.

Now in 1830 the Cranstoun family has mortgages, as legacies of five thousand pounds each, that’s twenty five thousand pounds plus. The Cranstoun’s figure was around forty thousand pounds owed to them. The Greenes on the other hand are backing away from paying up and saying Benjamin owes or Benjamin Buck owes or John Greene owes the money.

They have had expenses and haven’t been reimbursed, in general, the Cranstoun’s are getting the run around. After all is said and done they each get seven thousand pounds less some of the expenses of Benjamin Buck.

I have acquired a list of the ownership of the Cranstoun Estate in St. Kitts which begins in 1753 when it was owned by Jeremaih Browne where he had a mill and animals. In 1756 James 6th Lord Cranstoun, his wife Sophia Browne Cranstoun and their son William 7th Lord Cranstoun had ownership of the property which had 252 acres. In 1773 the property was passed on to William 7th Lord Cranstoun after the death of his father. In 1778 the property was passed to James 8th Lord Cranstoun after the death of his brother William. In 1796 the property was passed to his brother Charles’ son James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun. According to his Will of 1815, previously discussed the property was leased to and eventually sold to Benjamin Greene, who took possession of the entire estate in 1848 at which point there was a mill and a sugar factory and there was 438 acres. It had been at one point 456 acres but James Edmund 9th Lord Cranstoun had sold a portion of the estate earlier. Then in 1920 the estate was purchased by Frederick Archibald Burt. Later the estate was purchased by Marshall Plantations owned by Burchell Marshall.

I was lucky enough to make it to the Cranstoun Estate before it disappears. There is a long winding drive entrance through the old cane fields to get to the main house on the estate. There are a few hidden cisterns to hold estate water along the road and the stack from the sugar factory is visible for miles around. As you get closer you can see the stack from the sugar factory even better and the windmill becomes visible, considering the estate was established in the 1700’s it is in very good condition, though a little overgrown. The estate is now owned by the government and they had planned to turn it into a golf course with condo’s around the course but the company doing the project went out of business. You can see the layout of the course but it is now overgrown. I was lucky to be able to get these pictures before someone invests and the property is gone forever.

Fleetwood William Cranstoun

I had found in earlier research a Fleetwood Cranstoun who owned a slave in 1825 and then again in 1831 under the guardianship of Elizabeth Buchanan. I searched and could find nothing on him or her so I forgot about it. On my last day at the archive office I found records relating to Fleetwood William Cranstoun.

In one document he is leasing a property with someone who appears to be his wife Susannah Cranstoun and George Canning Mubrain and they are offering a one year lease to James Constant Woods in the Parish of Saint John Capesterre in the town of Dieppe Bay a property 100 feet east to west and 7 feet north to south. Bounded on the east by the lands of Grace Warner, to the west with Chapel Street, to the north with the lands of Ann and William Mubrain and to the south with the lands of Penelope Blake for eighteen pounds fifteen shillings, dated March 3, 1849.

The second document he is witness to is the Will of Maria Rawlins in 1866. She leaves property to her son Benjamin Rawlins, and her daughters, a place known as Tabernacle and Stone Castle. The judge who is witness to the document is John Rawlins Semper, Puisane Judge of St. Kitts. Who is related to Dudley Henry Semper.

So the question arises as to just who Fleetwood William Cranstoun is. As I can find no information on Mubrain or Woods in St. Kitts we must turn our attention to the Will of Maria Rawlins. Considering the position the Rawlins family had on St. Kitts one would think Fleetwood William Cranstoun had some standing in St. Kitts, so where did he come from?

He was an educated man as he was able to sign his own name. Could he possibly be related to James Cranstoun, David Cranstoun's father? Is his middle name, William, a key to his identity?

One Other Very Interesting Thing

Hazel Brookes' sister-in-law got in touch with me just as we were about to leave St. Kitts and came to see me. She had been reading my book and wanted to show me something. She told me her grandfather, Charles Robert Cranstoun, was born in 1906 on Antigua and he had a brother. My first thought was old "Artie" Cranstoun did it again but the date, although not impossible, would have made him only twelve years old at the time. She produced a picture of her father, Victor Wilfred Cranstoun, who resembled my new found Cranstoun cousin's very much and her younger sister looked like the daughter of of one of them. Her brother also ressembles my cousin's son as well. I have given them the opportunity to do a DNA test and am awaiting a reply. I will let you decide if there is a family resemblance or not.

Thou Shalt Want Ere I Want

The motto of the Cranstoun Clan is perhaps not the best, “Thou Shalt Want Ere I Want” basically means you’re gonna starve before me. I only put this in as I was researching the family I found an incident which shows that at least one Cranstoun lived by the motto.

James Edward 10th Lord Cranstoun, son of James 9th Lord Cranstoun left the island of St. Kitts and returned to Scotland and his lands were flourishing while all the lands around him were in drought. His barns were overflowing while those around him were starving. One day a minister approached James Edmond 10th Lord Cranstoun and demanded he open his barns to the starving masses, that minister’s name was...William McIntosh.

I found this funny and ironic as it was my father's cousin William McIntosh who was instrumental in providing me with information on the family.

James Edward 10th Lord Cranstoun