Sir James La Roche, 1st Baronet (24 June 1734 – September 1804), or Laroche, was an English slave trader and politician. He was a younger son of John LaRoche, Member of Parliament.[3]
| Laroche baronets | |
|---|---|
.svg) Escutcheon of the Laroche baronets of Over | |
| Creation date | 1776[1] |
| Status | extinct |
| Extinction date | 1804[2] |
Life
editLa Roche became a Bristol slave trader, a partner with James Laroche the elder (died 1770), his uncle and a major figure there in the slave trade of the 1730s and 1740s, in James Laroche & Co.[4][2][5] He was Sheriff of Bristol for 1764–5 and a master of the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1782–3.[2]
La Roche represented Bodmin in Parliament between 1768 and 1780. He had financial troubles from the time of his first election, and he suffered bankruptcy in 1778.[3]
In 1776 La Roche was created a baronet, of Over in the Parish of Aldmondbury in the County of Gloucester.[6]
La Roche died in September 1804, aged 70, when the baronetcy became extinct.[3]
Property
editJames La Roche inherited estates in Cornwall, from John Robartes, 4th Earl of Radnor, an associate of his father, in 1757.[3] He purchased the Elizabethan mansion Over Court near Almondsbury, Gloucestershire.[7][8] He had there two enslaved Africans as servants.[9]
In 1774 La Roche mortgaged an estate in Antigua that had passed to him from his wife. The mortgage was held by the merchant Justinian Casamajor (1746–1820).[3][2][10]
Family
editReferences
edit- ↑ Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1844). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland. J. R. Smith. p. 299.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Sir James Laroche 1734-1804, Legacies of British Slavery". www.ucl.ac.uk.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Drummond, Mary M. "Laroche, James (1734-1804), of Over, nr. Bristol, Glos., History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ↑ Evans, Chris (15 September 2010). Slave Wales: The Welsh and Atlantic Slavery, 1660-1850. University of Wales Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-7083-2304-5.
- ↑ Oliver, Vere Langford (1896). The History of the Island of Antigua. Vol. II. Mitchell and Hughes. p. 161.
- ↑ "No. 11694". The London Gazette. 20 August 1776. p. 2.
- ↑ discoveringbristol.org Estates within 10 miles of Bristol
- ↑ "PortCities Bristol". discoveringbristol.org.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ↑ Sweet, James H. (2025). Mutiny on the Black Prince: Slavery, Piracy, and the Limits of Liberty in the Revolutionary Atlantic World. Oxford University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-19-769272-1.
- ↑ "Justinian Casamajor 9th Sep 1746-1820, Legacies of British Slavery". www.ucl.ac.uk.
