Richard Shawe
1755 - 11th Aug 1816
Claimant or beneficiary
London solicitor, but also a sleeping partner with John Henry Deffell (q.v.) and mortgagee on 'slave-property' in Jamaica.
Will of Richard Shawe of Dulwich Hill Surrey [made in 1811] proved 27/11/1816. He left £10,000 to his daughter Mary Ann to augment the £20,000 she was to receive under his marriage settlement with his first wife Esther Croughton. In the will he refers to his second marriage to Emily Todd formerly Emily Deffell; his son from this marriage Richard Fleetwood Shawe on his [the testator's] death would be entitled to £10,000, 'which has been laid out in the name of William Le Blanc Esq. upon mortgage on an estate in the island of Jamaica' and a further £20,000 in consolidated bank annuities. His present wife was Ann, daughter of Nathaniel Bogle French, on his marriage to whom he had settled a further £20,000: he had also advanced £10,000 to the house of Bogle French & Barton.
In a codicil of 1812, Shawe said that he had entered into partnership as a West India merchant with his good friend [and brother-in-law] John Henry Deffell 'in particular concerns', and expressed his desire that his eldest son Richard Fleetwood Deffell should stand in his place in due course. In a further codicil of 1815, he characterised his role with John Henry Deffell as 'sleeping partner' in a co-partnership limited to 1/4 in certain matters and 1/2 in others, and explained that he had liquidated much of the £20,000 in consols he had previously left to his son Richard Fleetwood Shawe at a loss to put into John Deffell & Co. to make an 'establishment' for his son [then aged 11 or so] as a West India merchant. He also left £600 p.a. to Mrs Bogle French, following the failure of Bogle French & Co., so long as the Deffell firm continued as consignee for the estates of the late William Jackson, Chief Justice of Jamaica, to half of the emoluments from which he was entitled.
The monument to Richard Shawe in Dulwich Old Burial Ground is a Grade II Listed Building. It gives his death as 11/08/1816, age 61. Shawe was the successful defence lawyer in the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings 1788-1795. He commissioned John Nash to design for him Casina House in Dulwich and the gardens were landscaped by Humphrey Repton.
PROB 11/1586/212.
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101385502-monument-to-richard-shawe-dulwich-old-burial-ground-village-ward#.XlfZH-unyFp; https://www.dulwichsociety.com/pdf/burial-ground.pdf.
We are grateful to Graham Butler-Shawe for his assistance with compiling this entry.
Absentee?
British/Irish
(1) Esther Croughton (2) Emily Tod formerly Deffell (3) Ann French
Associated Claims (2)
Jamaica St Dorothy 5 (Whim Estate)
£5,184 3s 8d
Beneficiary unsuccessful (Mortgagee)
Jamaica St Dorothy 78 (Master's Estate)
£3,421 13s 4d
1807 [SY] - → Not known
Camacarabou [ St Vincent | Charlotte ]
Shown in the context of indentures of 1807 as transferees of mortgages in trust.
Name partner
Shawe, Le Blanc and Shawe
Sleeping partner
John Deffell & Son
West India merchant
The will of Richard Shawe shows him entering into a limited co-partnership with John Henry Deffell in which he had a 1/4 or 1/2 share in 'particular concerns', it appears relating to both the firm of...
J. H. Deffell & Co.
Casino House [Built]
description →
John Nash villa built 1797-1800 by Richard Shawe with garden by Humphrey Repton on the Dulwich College estate, on what is now Herne Hill. Demolished c....
Son-in-law → Father-in-law
John Deffell
John Henry Deffell
Nathaniel Bogle French senior
Uncle → Nephew
George Augustus Shawe
Robert Shawe, father of George Augustus Shawe (to whom George Augustus Shawe was apprenticed c.1800) was identified in the will (proved 1816) of Richard Shawe of Dulwich Hill as his brother....
Robert Shawe
The two men were also business...
Father → Son
Richard Fleetwood Shawe
Brother-in-laws
Nathaniel Bogle French junior
Casina House, Dulwich, Surrey, London, England
Commercial [3]
Physical [1]
Relationships [7]
Addresses [1]
Ann Harris
Free woman of colour; left Demerara in 1812 as a young woman and settled in Starthforth, Yorkshire, where she died in 1862.
'Richard Shawe', Legacies of British Slavery database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146645365/ [accessed 28th January 2022].