Wills of British subjects recorded at the British Consulate, Buenos Aires, 1843-54

contained in document FO446/28, The National Archives (also FHS microfilm 1494333)

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Introduction
This is a list of the 26 British subjects living in Argentina between 1843 and 1854 who registered their will at the British Consulate in Buenos Aires. A very short summary of the details is here added.

In the case of seven of the wills, there was further information of particular interest to family historians. This have been added at the foot of the page.

The text of these wills survive in The National Archives, Kew, where the Embassy and Consulate records were later deposited. The actual source is the entry book of notarial acts for the years 1832 to 1854 (FO 446/28). This particular entry book stands out because the pages on which the details of the wills were written still survive in the volume.

Lamentably, in the other three entry books of notarial acts, the pages containing the text of the wills have been been removed at some stage in their history. Only the names appearing in the indexes give us an idea of what has been lost.

The FO 446 series are stored at The National Archives, Kew, and can be consulted by readers. Alternatively, photocopies can be ordered by post, giving the specific details of the location of the will given in the list below.

In The National Archives, of particular interest to family historians are the following volumes.
Entry books of protests
FO 446/3, 4 and 5 covering the years 1826-1845;
Entry books of notarial acts
FO 446/28 (1832-54), 446/6 (1855-67), 446/29 (1867-86) and 446/30 (1886-1900).

This website has extracted much useful data from these volumes and no doubt there is more to find by future researchers. The following webpages have been populated in this way:

Declarations of the intention to marry, 1849-75;
Appointment of Curators for those who died intestate, 1842-86;
Transcripts of disasters occurring to British merchant shipping, 1827-40;
Wills of British subjects registered at the Consulate, 1843-54.

In the table below, the abbreviation 'rev.' indicates that the text of that will either begins or ends on the reverse side of the folio.


Folio Name Description Date of will
37 Sherry, Patrick native of the Parish of Tyldavarriat, County of Monaghan, Ireland 14/7/1849
38 Halkett, John of the Parish of Collace, County of Perth, North Britain 20/9/1845
111 Love, Thomas George gentleman, formerly of the City of London 27/11/1845
123, 124 Brown, James native of Lamington, Lanarkshire, Scotland, for many years a resident in the Province of Buenos Ayres 5/9/1850
126 Leys, Robert of the Parish of Strathdon, Aberdeen 13/9/1850
128 Stack, Edward   10/10/1850
129 Burke, John of Ireland 15/6/1845
134 rev. to 138 Lepper, Dr James   13/1/1851
150 Naunery, John disposition of property of the late...who died 19/2/1851 at Rincon del Sauce  
152 to 3 Thompson, John native of Suffolkshire, now of Magdalena, Province of Buenos Ayres (more details below) 19/6/1851
156 Goodwin, George native of Yorkshire 3/9/1851
157 rev. to 158 Barton, James formerly of Liverpool, farmer and grazier 8/5/1849
162 Downes, John merchant of Buenos Ayres (more details below) 8/5/1843 and re-entered 15/10/1851
168 rev. to 169 O'Rourke, Constantine   13/2/1852
172 George, Mary   14/5/1850
176 to 177 Cleaver, Esmy Edward native of Clipstone, Co. Northampton 15/4/1852
180 Costello, Edmund of Dublin 13/3/1849
194 Holmes, James   10/9/1852
198 rev. Mackinlay, Alexander (more details below) 27/5/1849
201 Kidd, Thomas formerly of Kingston upon Hull (more details below) 20/5/1849
214, 242 Major, Eleanora formerly of Sunderland, Co. Durham 20/1/1853
228-230 Haymes, George Rawdon (more details below) 22/6/1853
232 Malcolm, John (or MacCallum) native of Buchanan, Stirlingshire (more details below) [n.d.]
239-240 O'Rourke, Constantine Co. Dublin 15/11/1853
245 Dowlan, James   10/9/1854
269 rev. Keating, Thomas of Kildonan(?),Co. Wexford (more details below) 13/8/1854

Details extracted from some of the wills

John Thompson
married 1: [unknown], their child: George;
married 2: Martha Brocksopp, their children: John, Susan, Henry, Martha, Lot;
married 3: Phoebe Rowe, their children: Phoebe, Helen, Anastasia Augusta Francesca.

John Downes
he had a natural daughter by Feliciana Garcia (the will does not make clear whether he married her or not), who on her father's death remained, together with her mother, under the guardianship of her aunt and uncle, Robert and Ann Macalister.

Alexander Mackinlay
his mother was Anna;
his sister was Mary Margaret Mackinlay;
his brothers were Edmund, William and Daniel Mackinlay;
his aunt Isabella Mackinlay;
his cousin Mrs John Laing.

Thomas Kidd
wife: Hannah and their daughter Ann;
Hannah had been previously married to William Purdom Devitt, and by him had 2 sons, William and Richard.

George Haymes
wife: Benjamina Necochea de Haymes; they had children;
lived in a quinta at Hueco de los Sauces.

John Malcolm
married Ann Simons, native of Buckinghamshire (who had predeceased him);
their children are John, Donald, Eliza amd Caroline;
their property: Plaza 25 de Mayo 9, Buenos Aires, and a chacra on the right bank of the Arroyo Maldonado in the Partido de San José de Flores.

Thomas Keating
Thomas Keating died 11/10/1854.


© The form of presentation of this information is the copyright of Jeremy Howat, December 2006

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