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ESTWICK, Samuel I (?1736-95), of Lower Berkeley Street, Portman Square, Mdx.
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Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. ?1736, 3rd but o. surv. s. of Richard Estwick of Barbados by Elizabeth, da. of John Rous, member of council, Barbados. educ. ?Eton; I. Temple 1752; Queen’s, Oxf. 10 Oct. 1753, aged 17; DCL 1773. m. (1) bef. 24 Mar. 1763, Elizabeth (d.1766), da. of Lt.-Col. John Frere, gov. Barbados, 2da.; (2) 11 May 1769, Grace, da. and coh. of Jonas Langford of Theobald’s Park, Herts., formerly of Antigua, 4s. 3da. suc. fa. 1753.
Offices Held
Asst. agent, Barbados 1763-78, agent 1778-92 (with brief intermissions); dep. paymaster-gen. Aug. 1782-Apr. 1783 and 1784-d. ; sec. and registrar Chelsea Hosp. and searcher of the customs at Antigua Mar.-?Apr. 1783 and Jan. 1784-d.
Biography
Estwick, a West India planter, made his name as a political pamphleteer: hence his friendship with the 4th Earl of Abingdon, who brought him into Parliament for his borough of Westbury and procured places for him to stave off financial insecurity. He gave a consistent support to Pitt’s administration. In 1791 he was listed hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in Scotland. He preferred a gradual abolition of the slave trade and all except two of his known speeches after 1790 were on this subject. On 25 Apr. 1792 he attacked Mornington’s amendment to Dundas’s resolution for gradual abolition as an ‘attempt, by a side wind, to get rid of the decision that had already been made’—i.e. against immediate abolition; but he would vote for the original motion. On 6 June he complained that the introduction of a slave trade bill would be unfair, taking its opponents—many of whom had left London—by surprise: this provoked sharp comment from Wilberforce. In May and June 1793 he successfully opposed Wilberforce’s bill for the immediate abolition of the supply of slaves to foreign powers and proposed that, if the bill passed, compensation should be paid to those who suffered loss. After 1793 there is no record of parliamentary activity, although he continued to sit until his death on 19 Nov. 1795.
Caribbeana, iii. 67.
