These large folio sheets contain a letter and a long draft wording for a power of attorney, relating to the ownership of a plantation estate in Grenada, the draft includes highly detailed instructions concerning the use and disposition of all property – including slaves. The draft is followed by a letter from Chalmer, who comments on the wording of the draft:

 

“…You will observe it contains a power to purchase what Negroes may be necessary, which I am not very fond of, because it implies that we shall pay whatever the attornies in their discretion think it right to lay out on that score, but such a power it seems indispensable to invest them with …”

 

The draft letter of attorney shows that the estate concerned was the Upper Estate of Montroses in the parish of St. John, Grenada; it had been a property of General David Graeme1 of Braco, Perthshire, who died in 1797, and in his will of 1795 he had devised it to trustees, including Chalmer and Currie. The trustees being in Britain, it was needful to give persons in Grenada the power to act, including James Hay, the estate manager. The plantation clearly had negro slaves, but the chief elements of the agricultural activities undertaken are not specified, but it was in all probability a sugar plantation.

 

1. David Graeme (February 2, 1716 – January 19, 1797) was a British soldier, diplomat and courtier. He was agent for George III’s marriage proposal to his future queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1772 he campaigned to become Governor of Grenada, where he owned a plantation.

 

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