19th C. British Colonial Windsor Chair from Jamaica

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A Very Rare Early 19th Century Antique British Colonial Mahogany Windsor Chair from the Island of Jamaica. This is undoubtedly the finest Early 19th Century Windsor Arm Chair from Jamaica that I have seen in the last 40 years. It is a splendid piece of work and was obviously made by a Master Craftsman. From the sophistication of the Design I would say that it was almost certainly made in Kingston or Montego Bay or one of the other Colonial towns in Jamaica by an actual Cabinet Maker, rather than by a skilled Carpenter on one of the plantations. Note in particular the elegant telescope design of the main spindles, based on the design of 18th Century English Georgian silver candlesticks, as well as the beautiful turning on the main baluster. This particular Early 19th Century Jamaican Windsor Arm Chair has an incredible provenance. It originally came from Albion Great House, an 18th Century plantation house on a 2,000 acre coffee plantation in the St. Ann Highlands of Jamaica, and was owned for over 150 years by the Moulton-Barrett family, one of the oldest and wealthiest British Colonial planter families in Jamaica, who were ancestors of the famous Victorian poetess, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Elizabeth was the subject of both the well-known play and film, "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" in London and she later married the Victorian poet Robert Browning, author of "The Pied Piper of Hamlyn". The Moulton-Barrett family were descended from Capt. Hearcey Barrett, a Cromwellian officer who came to Jamaica with Admiral Penn and General Venables during the English Conquest of Jamaica in 1655. Following the Conquest, he received huge Land Grants in Jamaica from Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, and also later from King Charles II and founded the family fortune. His descendants accquired even more land on the North Coast of Jamaica through subsequent Royal Grants and became one of the greatest landowning Planter families in Colonial Jamaica. The Barretts owned all of the North Coast of Jamaica from Little River, 10 miles East of Montego Bay, to the banks of the Martha Brae River which was another 15 miles away to the East. Eventually they owned 18 sugar and coffee plantations and cattle estates, over 3,000 slaves and more than 84,000 acres. In 1837 the Hon. Richard Barrett (1789-1839), of Greenwood and Barrett Hall Estates in St. James, purchased Albion Estate, a 2,000 acre coffee plantation situated over 2,500 feet up in the cool and misty St. Ann Highlands, to serve as his Summer Residence. One of the most prominent Sugar Planters and Politicians in Jamaica, the Hon. Richard Barrett was Custos and Member of Assembly for St, James, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Jamaica and a Judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica. This splendid Early 19th Century Jamaican Colonial Windsor Chair is known to have belonged to him and is said to have been his favourite chair. It stood behind his Writing Desk in the Library at Albion Great House. The Windsor Arm Chair then descended through several generations of the Moulton-Barrett family in Jamaica. This line of descent was from the Hon. Richard Barrett (1789-1839) to his brother, Capt. George Goodin Barrett (1792-1854), Member of Assembly for St. Ann, from Capt. Barrett to his son, the Hon. Edward George Barrett (1822-1907), Member of the Legislative Council for St. James and Trelawny, from the Hon. Edward to his nephew Brigadier-General the Hon. Edward Alfred Moulton-Barrett, C.B., C.M.G., (1859-1932), Custos of St. Ann and a Member of the Privy and Legislative Councils, from Brig-Gen. Moulton-Barrett to to his son, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Edward Francis Moulton-Barrett, O.B.E., M.C., (1886-1966), Custos of St. Ann, and from Lt- Col. Moulton-Barrett, the last owner of Albion Estate, to his only son, Edward Richard Moulton Barett ((1916-1992), who was a Solicitor in England. After having descended in the Moulton-Barrett family for over 150 years, the Windsor Chair was finally sold in 1976 by Edward Richard Moulton-Barrett, th... read more

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