JAMES
PHIPPS SHIELL (1790-1834)
By Richard Shiell and Dorothy Anderson, Melbourne, Australia.(Revised February 2005)
We have no direct evidence
of the birth date or parentage of James Phipps Shiell. It is presumed, on
fairly good circumstantial evidence, that he was the 3rd son and one
of the 7 children of Queely and Ann Shiell(nee Gordon).[1]
Although we have no birth
records it is likely that he was born in 1790. This would be two years after
his older brother John and, assuming that the minimum age for this important
post was 21 years it would fit in with his later appointment as a Customs
Search Officer in 1811.[2] The
use of the middle name Phipps for their 3rd son is of interest. The
surname Phipps was very prominent in the West Indies but no direct connection
between Phipps, Shiell or Gordon has been found to date.[3]
The circumstances that lead
to the Irish colonization of St Kitts and Montserrat is fairly well known and had much to do with the transportation
of Irish convicts to the West Indies as cheap labour on the plantations after
the English Civil War. It was soon realized that blacks survived
much better than white skinned labourers in tropical climates and the slave
trade from Africa began in earnest.[4]
Nothing is known of the
early life of JPS but it may be presumed that, as the son of a moderately
wealthy white planter, he would have been sent to boarding school in England
and perhaps given further opportunities in the Navy, Military or the Law. We
know that he was proclaimed a Customs Search Officer on Montserrat in 1811.[5]
In 1826, James Phipps Shiell
was a witness at the wedding of William Shiell to Mary Cabey Semper [6] and around 1826 he married Elizabeth Carey.[7] The couple were the parents of Henry, born
1826, and Mary Ann Shiell born 1829.[8]
James Phipps Shiell was
Acting Comptroller of Customs from 1828 [9],
and later became
Comptroller, a position previously held by his father Queely since 1805.[10]
He served on the Montserrat Assembly (Lower House) from 1823 until his death.[11]
James Phipps Shiell died in
1834 [12]
but his descendants do not appear in their grand-father’s Will of 1847.[13]
JPS’s son Henry died childless in 1886 [14]
but his line lives on in Australia through the descendants of his daughter Mary
Ann. There is also a possible
illegitimate male line descended from Matthew Dowdy Shiell, born 1824.[15]
Some additional references to JPS in historical
documents
1824. JPS is listed as
Attorney for James Neave (deceased).[16]
1825, Sept 18. Birth date of Matthew Dowdy Shiell.[17]
1828. JPS was recorded as “absent the
whole year by leave HM Customs”. James Clark appears to have been
his deputy over this period.[18]
1929, March 30. JPS has returned and signs
document on Montserrat.[19]
1831, Dec. 22. JPS signs a
document as “Tide Surveyor”.[20]
1833, June 22. Last recorded
attendance of JPS at the Legislative Assembly.[21]
1834. James Clark was
appointed Acting Collector of Customs [22]
so presumably James Phipps Shiell has died (precise date of death is at present unknown). A new Comptroller of Customs is noted in
June, he is William Alexander Allan.[23]
(He was
possibly married to Eleanor Shiell and thus the son-in-law of Queely Shiell,
who had been Comptroller prior to JPS.
1841. William Shiell noted as managing Broderick’s
Estate.[24]
(This had
previously been the responsibility of JPS).
1852, August 1. The Customs
House on Montserrat was abolished.[25]
APPENDICIES
Appendix I.
Certificate dated 30th January 1824.
To the Collector of Customs, Montserrat, in regard to
the runaway child slave Priscilla - signed by Michael Joseph Semper, Deputy
Provost-Marshall.
Montserrat, 30th January 1824.
I do hereby Certify that Priscilla a Negroe Child
Slave, the Property of Mrs Sarah Dowdy, was sold by me at Marshals Sale and
Purchased by Dudley Semper Esquire on the 4th day of September 1822.
(signed Michl Jos. Semper Dep. Pro. Marshall
Appendix II. Letter from the Governor of St Eustatius,
regarding the return of several runaway slaves.
27th
January 1824
Government
House St Eustatius.
Sir,
I have delivered over to Captn Allers of the British
Sloop “Dasher” four Slaves by name Simon, Ino Matthews, Ned and William which
it appears are the same of whom Your honor gave me Notice under date the 24th
July last and which were at the time searched for in vain.
The three first were concerned with nine other Slaves
of this Colony in cutting out of the Road
of the Dutch Sloop “John and Anna” in the Night of the 30th
November last. They were pursued and fortunately taken by an Expedition, fitted
out by this Government, off Porto Rico, and brought back to this place where
they have been tried and punished according to our Laws.
William did not go with them and returns without
having been in anywise punished. Three Slaves complain much of ill treatment
and some of them bear evident marks of the truth of their assertions.
There is likewise aboard the “Dasher” a female Child,
Slave to Mr. D. Semper of your Island, whom it appears, had been clandestinely
brought here by Her Mother, a Slave formerly of Mrs Dowdy. She is sent up to
her Master by his Attorney here.
Capt Allers has my direction to report to Your Honor
immediately on his arrival and you will direct him farther how to proceed.
I have the Honor to be
Sir, Your Honor’s Most Obedient Servt
(signed) J. M Saba
Post Captain in His
Netherland Majesty’s Navy
Governor
of St Eustatius
Appendix III. Certificate acknowledging the receipt of
runaway slaves from St Eustatius and signed by Edmund and Dudley Semper and
James Phipps Shiell.
Montserrat 30th
January 1824
Mr Dudley Semper, Edmond Semper Junior and James
Phipps Shiell of the Island of Montserrat. Do swear. That the Negroe Slaves
just arrived in the Sloop Dasher Ino D.Allers Master are truly and Bonafide the
same Slaves as are described in the several Certificates of Registration
herewith produced. And that the said Slaves did in the Month of July last 1823.
Elope without leave, from this Island taking with them the Boat the Property of
a Mr John Brambles of this Island. And upon receiving advice from a
Mr Martine of the Island of St Eustatius informing us
of the Arrest and Detention of the said Slaves did Hire and dispatch the
Aforesaid Sloop for the Purpose of
bringing them to this Island. So help
me God.
(signed and
sworn)
Ed. Semper
James Phipps Shiell. (Attorney to the Representatives
of James Neave, Deceased)
Dudley Semper
Appendix
IV. Letter from Dr Norman Griffin to
Dr Richard Shiell (August 1974)
Dr Griffin’s sources are still unknown and his two letters contain a number of important errors and omissions indicating that he may have been writing quickly from memory. The letters have, nevertheless, proved a valuable starting point for our later researches.
25th August 1974
Richmond Hill,
Montserrat, West Indies.
Dear Dr Shiell,
I was interested in reading your letter asking for
information about your Montserrat family published in the “Montserrat Mirror”
of 16th instant. It happens that William G. Shiell, who seems to
have been the first on the scene came out from Ireland at much the same time as
my great-grandfather, John Griffin who was born in Hutchin, Hertfordshire,
England, in 1784 and married in Montserrat in 1815.
William G. Shiell, was born in 1784 and married in
Montserrat in 1826 to Mary Caby Semper, daughter of Michael Joseph Semper. This was in June 1826 and in August (2
months after) a son was born and named William. We have no further record of this son and it could be that he was
your great-grandfather who arrived in Australia as Mate on the brig Gazelle in
1853; maybe he ran away to sea from school either in Montserrat or in England.
Of the other children of Wm G. Shiell we have few
records. Several seem to have died as children; the family lived at The Grove
or at Richmond ( these two estates probably even then run as one). Another son
Henry was born in 1827; John Ross was born in 1834, James Phipps in 1836,
Queely in 1837, and the last, born in 1850, was also given the name of William
but died at 5 months.
When Queely was born William G Shiell was President
of the Council of Montserrat; in 1848
he owned one estate called Morris’ in the South of Montserrat (small and
unimportant in comparison with many others), but was Attorney for about 10
others including a number shown on a list of Montserrat estates as owned by
Queely Shiell; he was also Executor, Lessee or Receiver in Chancery of another
14 estates. Presumably as President of the Council he had to divest himself of
some of his properties, giving his son the titles. Wm G. Shiell died in 1853 as
did his wife Mary.
In 1849, Henry Shiell, Bachelor, married Mary Ann
Wilcox, and we have reasons to believe that he emigrated to Australia but have
no idea as to whether he was in touch with any of your family. In 1851, Thomas
Masters Howes (of Yorkshire England) who had come out from England in 1835
married a Mary Ann Shiell (relationship not defined) and in 1879, 2 years after
her husband died, she went out to Australia with her 2 daughters, one of whom
married a McMaster whose son Shiell McMaster became a landowner and sheep
farmer in New South Wales. It is thought that Mary Ann was some relation of
Henry’s and went out to him in Australia.
Sorry that this Aerogramme does not lead room for
more. There is a long story about another family named Shiel (with one l)
starting with one Matthew Dowdye Shiel who came out from Ireland and claimed
descent from ancient kings of that country. If you are interested I will write
again.
Norman Griffin M.D. (Mc Gill 1922)
Appendix V.
Letter from Dr Norman Griffin to
Dr Richard ( Oct. 1974)
29th October
1974.
Richmond Hill,
Montserrat,
West Indies.
Dear Dr Shiell,
Thanks for your letter of 17th September
received on 25th. I agree generally with some of your deductions
from information available and in particular about the likelihood that your
William Shiell may have been the son of the original William before his
marriage to Mary Cabey Semper. Sorry I cannot check on the 1823 dates as all
records of the births before 1829 have been lost.
As regards the economic conditions of Montserrat in
the 1840-1860 period, the effects of emancipation of slavery which took place
in 1834 was becoming felt and the labour situation was difficult. Many estates
were sold for indebtedness or changed hands to newcomers at a fraction of the
value at which they were rated a few years earlier.
It seems that Queely Shiell was the only one of the
original William who like his father was interested in agriculture; he followed
his father as a Member of Council and in charge of the Richmond and Grove
Estates. It is suggested that the other
brothers followed some other calling, either in business or in Government,
though we have no records to confirm this assumption. Certainly none of them
produced a family in Montserrat.
The family history would not be complete without the story of the Shiels
(spelt with one “ l “) written up by Charleworth Ross six years ago in
the Caribbean Quarterly, a publication of the Extra Mural Department of the
University of the West Indies. It
begins with Matthew Dowdye Shiel who claimed descent from the ancient Kings of
Ireland and was living in Montserrat in 1865 and trading between Montserrat and
the neighboring islands. He had had 8 daughters before producing a son named
Matthew Phipps Shiel born shortly before that date. This son went to live in England where he became a novelist and
got to know many celebrities such as Robert Louis Stephenson and Wilde; he was
quite a linguist and once had a job as interpreter to the International
Congress of Hygiene and Demography.
Charlesworth Ross, himself a West Indian, whom I know
very well went to visit him in his later years when he was living in an Alms
House near Horsham on a Civil List Pension, and had a very interesting
conversation with him. He afterwards wrote up his story describing him as the
first West Indian Novelist. He discovered that his Grandmother was one of the
Shiel sisters. Of his other sisters we know little, except that the last
surviving one was still alive in 1935 and living in St Kitts with a niece. She
was in looks much as you describe other Shiell descendants in Australia. It may
well be that Matthew Dowdye Shiel was an illegitimate son of the original
William Shiell in Montserrat.
I hope this
is of interest to you
Sincerely,
Norman Griffin.
Copyright © 2004 By Richard Shiell and Dorothy Anderson.
Used with permission of the authors.
[1] (a) “ My late father raised a large family of 7
children…” from a letter
written by William Shiell to the Rt Hon Earl Grey, Principal Secretary of State
for the Colonies in 1850 (CO 7 97)
(b) As far as we have been able to detect to date there were no other
white Shiell families around the West Indies except the descendants of Queely
(c) JPS was a witness at the wedding of William Shiell in 1824, so surely
a relation or close friend.
(d) As
they became available, JPS gradually took over several of the positions
previously occupied by Queely Shiell. These positions were lucrative and “kept
in the family” if possible.
[2] In 1823 PJS and Queely are
both listed as Customs Search Officers at an income of L200 p.a. (Presumably
Queely continued to draw his salary as Comptroller as well). This makes it very
likely that they were closely related as these were very good jobs indeed.
[3](a)
The Phipps families were prominent in the West Indies, and were to be found in
abundance on St Kitts. In 1746, six Phipps brothers,( including a James Phipps
) and their nephew, comprised half of the Assembly of St Kitts. Good
genealogical material has been published on people of that name in Carobbeana”
and elsewhere,
(b) Queely’s first and second sons William and John, born in the late 18th century do not appear to use middle names on documents but a Montserrat historian, Dr
Norman Griffin, claimed that William’s middle initial was “G” (letter to the
author in 1974, authority unknown) This
possibly was the initial letter of
“Gordon”, his mother’s maiden name.)
[4] (a) Lt. Lucan Shiell of Ballinderry, County of Westmeath mentioned in
“King James Irish Army Lists (1689) pub. Dublin 1855 (ed) J. D’Alton.
(b) A man of Irish descent, Luc
(or Lucan) Shiell is mentioned in the book “The Slave Trade” by Hugh
Thomas (Picador Press 1997. He was a
prominent slave-trader based in Nantes, France in the early part of the 18th
century and two of his daughters married well known traders. Marie married Antoine Walsh an Irish
Catholic immigrant who was one of the most powerful figures in the French slave
trade, sending altogether 57 slaving expeditions to Africa. Walsh was a
romantic Jacobite, his father had carried James II from England to France on
one of his ships when he fled in 1688 and Antoine had accompanied “ Bonny
Prince Charlie” to the highlands on another of his ships in 1745.
[5] 1811, May 8th. JPS is first listed as Searcher and Landing
Waiter of Montserrat. (CO 10 6). He may
have served a time in the British navy as a midshipman whilst in his teens. His
father Queely was certainly wealthy and well connected enough to have arranged
this and the nearby island of Antigua contained a major English naval base at
the time. Further research is needed on these points.
[6] The June 1826 wedding of William Shiell to Mary Cabey Semper, daughter of
Dudley Semper, was mentioned in two letters from Montserrat historian Dr Norman
Griffin to the author in 1974. (see Appendicies IV & V). He provided
additional information regarding children of the couple but his sources are
unknown. Where it has been possible to
check his data over the subsequent years he is generally quite reliable.
[7]
1827, JPS married Elizabeth Carey (from McMaster family documents in
Australia). In 1836 George Stanley Carey
received a large payment as slave compensation on St. Christopher (BPP H of L 1838, Vol 15). He may possibly have been the father of Elizabeth as a match
between these two wealthy families would have been considered appropriate.
[8]
( a ) The birth dates are derived from later marriage and death certificates
and Henry’s newspaper obituary which
are in the possession of the authors.
We have also received material from the descendents of the Howes family
of Montserrat. Nothing is known of the early life and education of either child
but a Henry Shiell is recorded as marrying on Montserrat in 1850 and he and his
wife Mary Ann (nee Wilcox)later migrated to Australia in the year 1853
(Australian death certificates). He was immediately appointed Clerk of Petty
Sessions in Deniliquin, then Police Magistrate in Hay, New South Wales, and
later the Sydney Coroner, so it is probable that he had some legal training. He
married twice but there were no children.
( b ) Mary Ann Shiell (Annie)
married a Dr. Thomas Masters Howes in 1853 and
had a son and two daughters. Lilian, the younger daughter, went to
Australia in 1877 to visit her Uncle Henry and in 1883 married the widowed
grazier John McMasters. Annie’s husband had died in 1857 and she and her oldest
daughter Florence went to Australia in 1883. Florence never married but Lilian
had 6 children and leaves many descendants. Her son Seymour also has many
descendents. (see separate
biographies on Henry and Annie Shiell
hhtp:www.alangullette.com/lit/shiel/#family.
[9] (CUST 34 502). JPS was Acting Comptroller of Customs from 17th June 1828, at L 300
p.a. ( Presumably because
Queely, aged 72, had been pensioned off
in 1827)
[10] CO 10 6 . First reference to Queely as Comptroller of Customs (4th
December 1805.)
[11] (CO 177 21 ) Nov 22nd
1823. JPS was first noted as a member
of the Montserrat Assembly (Lower House).
[12] - death of JPS
[13] Neither JPS or his wife or children were mentioned in the 1847 Will and
Testament of Queely Shiell (
see biography of Queely Shiell on the website
hhtp:www.alangullette.com/lit/shiel/#family ).
James died relatively young in 1834 and perhaps Queely had fallen out with his
wife and surviving children or alternatively he had paid for their maintenance
and education and felt that no further contribution was necessary. On the other
hand no provision was made for the children of John and William either, while
Queely’s grand-daughters by his daughters Eleanor received a large inheritance.
Son William was left with the almost worthless, debt-encumbered sugar estates on Montserrat.
[14] See separate biographies of Henry Shiell and Mary Ann Shiell by the
present authors( see website
hhtp:www.alangullette.com/lit/shiel/#family )
[15] James Phipps Shiell was possibly the natural father of Matthew Dowdy
Shiell, born 18th Sept 1825. This would make him a grandfather to
the celebrated West Indian novelist Matthew Phipps Shiell, born some 40 years
later in 1865. MPS does not hint at
these events in any of his biographical writings but seems to prefer the
fiction of a titled Harley Street doctor,
Sir James Phipps Shiell, as “great-grandfather”. This fiction was no
doubt preferable to the sordid truth of
a liason between a Customs Officer and a runaway child slave returned to
Montserrat on 30th January 1824.
It is clear that MPS had been kept in the dark about his origins and
writing to his sister Augusta many years after he left home he said “By the way,
I want to know the name of my father’s mother, and also the maiden name of our old Granny. Will you
write and let me know, and if you yourself don’t know, try and find out for
me”.More details of these speculative points are provided in the
biographies of both Matthew Dowdy Shiell and Matthew Phipps Shiell by the present authors (see
the website hhtp:www.alangullette.com/lit/shiel/#family) and letters in the
Appendicies I, II and III below.
M.P.Shiel had had
a daughter Ada Phipps from his
marriage to Carilina Gomez . He also had a son Caesar from an
out-of-wedlock liason with Elizabeth
Price. MPS never acknowledged paternity of Caesar. The son later married and
his son Dr Paul Shiel currently practices as a veterinarian in Queensland,
Australia. Perhaps understandably, he
refuses to have anything to do with this ongoing research.
[16] CUST 34 502
[17] Reynolds Morse,
“The Quest for Redonda”). His parentage is not known for certain but JPS and
Dudley Semper’s runaway slave Priscilla Dowdy are two very likely candidates ( See letters relating to this event
-Appendix I, II & III)
[18] CO 178 2.
[19] BT 107 497
[20] BT 34 503. Perhaps
this was another “great little earner”
for a member of the privileged white minority.
[21] CO 177 22 and CUST 34 502.
[22] CUST 34 501
[23] CUST 34 503
[24] CO 7 69
[25] CO 7 101