Lot 103
Danish West Indies - slavery - sugar trade
Archive of the Mudie family of Pitmuies, Angus, Scotland
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
Approximately 500 letters and documents in total, c.1760-1850. Including some 18 letters addressed to James Mudie (1768-1850), second laird of Pitmuies, 1818-43, relating to Mudie's ownership of or share in two sugar plantations, Rattan and Belvedere, on St Croix, Danish West Indies (now the United States Virgin Islands), Mudie having apparently inheriting his share c.1828 (perhaps via his wife), before selling it in the 1840s, 8 of the letters being from Mudie's agent on St Croix, Andrew Lang, with Leeward Islands or St Thomas postmarks, providing detailed accounts of sugar and rum production, estate revenue, and events including the prospect of emancipation ('General von Scholten, our governor, returned here from Denmark in the end of January - moderation and caution will be used before anything like forced general emancipation will be attempted. The experiment in the English colonies will be carefully noticed'), the destruction of a ‘negro village' in a fire, payment to another estate owner ‘for the freedom of the little girl named Elizabeth’, and the decline of the Rattan estate, attributed in part to emancipation ('It is impossible for me describe the miserable state of the island … the most destructive weather, a miserably small crop, low prices for produce ... Many estates are so far from yielding revenue, bringing debt and difficulties on their proprietors, who must support their negroes ... You may indeed consider yourself fortunate in having nothing more to do with the property now'), the remaining letters from solicitors, relatives and other parties with an interest in the St Croix estate, several on Mudie's initial acquisition of the estate (apparently disputed by rival claimants), one from an Mr Blake attempting to buy Mudie's share and criticising Andrew Lang's management and the use of obsolete methods in sugar manufacture, and similar, with 2 related documents including a solicitor's copy letter relating to the acquisition of the estate, and an inventory mentioning 'papers and annual accounts respecting the property of St Croix'. Together with approx. 25 letters written to James and Mudie by his son James the younger (1802-1823) from his school (Wallace Hall) between 1813 and 1815, in a juvenile but progressively maturing hand ('I take this opportunity of informing you that I am the most unhappy mortal alive. I cry every day to get home, send for me or I believe I will perish'). And a substantial quantity of further correspondence (on family, business and legal matters), various pre-printed documents including annuity certificates, local tax receipts, etc. (approx. 500)
Footnote
James Mudie (d.1804), from a family of merchants in Arbroath, acquired the Pitmuies estate in Angus in 1769. He was succeeded as laird of Pitmuies by his nephew, James (1768-1850), who had worked as a merchant in London and married Jane Aitkin, the daughter of a Scottish-born merchant of ‘Belvedere’ on the island of St. Croix in the West Indies. The Pitmuies estate passed on his death to his second son, John (1812-76), his eldest, also James (1802-1823), whose schoolboy letters are included in the present lot. John, an advocate, died without an heir, so the estate passed to his friend and distant relative, Lord Lyell.