Irish planters & merchants: McCamons

The Presbyterian McCamons of Newry in Northern Ireland, who were related to James and Lambert Blair, invested in the slave trade from the 1750s. In 1799 John McCamon & Co owned six plantations on the east sea coast of Berbice; and J Prowell and J McCamon owned one plantation on the west sea coast.

John McCamon appears in a list of Berbice planters in 1805 [van Batenburg, Kort Historische] and in 1806 he was one of two prominent planters who presented an address to the Lt Governor of Berbice [E&DG 14 Feb 1807]. In 1804 and 1806 John McCamon - presumably the same person - also imported slaves, which were sold through William Mackenzie & Co in Cumingsburg (Demerara). [E&DG 17 Nov 1804; GD46/17/24 p327]

In 1810 [E&DG 1 May 1810] he was one of those who subscribed towards the establishment of St George’s Church in Georgetown (Demerara) and in 1814 was a member of the Court of Policy of Berbice.

In 1817 John McCamon owned two plantations in Berbice in his own name (with 356 slaves) and owned five plantations jointly with James Blair (with c1200 slaves).

There is a memorial to John McCamon (1769-1818) in the parish church of Marylebone, London, showing that by the time of his death he was 'of Gloucester Place', London. The will of John McCamon 'late of the colony of Berbice but now of Gloucester Place Middlesex' was proved 23/05/1818.