Co. Sligo (or possibly Westport, Co. Mayo?)

These tokens are now known to be from Jamaica,
but are included here because they were once
attributed to Ireland by Batty as follows.

TIN ONE SHILLING (Now known to be Jamaican)

 1. O: + MARQUIS OF SLIGO + TOKEN FOR ONE SHILLING STERLING*
    R: PAYABLE AT KELLY'S ESTATE + + + EACH FRIDAY
       EVENg 6 O'CLOCK* (M.11). R.r.r.

TIN SIXPENCE (Now known to be Jamaican)

 2. O: Similar, but STERLING omitted, value SIX PENCE
    R: Similar, but EVENING instead of EVENg
       (M.9). R.r.

TIN THREEPENCE (Now known to be Jamaican)

 3. O: Similar, but without the star and crosses in the legend, value THREEPENCE
    R: Similar, but a period instead of a star
       after O'CLOCK (M.8«). R.

These three pieces have holes in the centre, Mionnet 1, down in proportion. The legends on the tokens very much resemble in character those of Charleville Forest, Kings County.
"I much regret that I am unable to give you any satisfactory information about the family 'Tokens.' There is only a vague tradition that, during the last 25 years of the eighteenth century and the first 25 years of the nineteenth century, these were issued in place of money. Those in the eighteenth century would be in the name of Lord Monteagle, Viscount Westport, or the Earl of Altamont, as the Marquisate was not created till 1800. We did not know that any of the tokens existed, and I am much interested to hear that you have some" - Earl of Altamont, heir to the Marquis of Sligo, to the author, Jan. 22 1904.

 

Might this have been issued by the Marquis of Sligo, in Westport, Co. Mayo?
This was recorded by Frazer as having been issued in the late 18th C. to relieve the poor.

The following information, photos and the illustrations of three of the tokens, are taken from Bob Lyall's book

He kindly sent me a photocopy of the relevent section for inclusion.

Howe Peter Browne, second Marquis of Sligo, born 1788, was appointed the governor of Jamaica in 1834 with the special objective of carrying out emancipation. Slavery was abolished on 1 August 1834 and temporary apprenticeship established which was to last four years, when the slaves were to be given their total freedom.

Kelly's Estate was in the Parish of St. Dorothy, now merged with St. Catherine. It was described as a pen (cattle estate) of 620 acres in 1816, but from 1817 it was described as a sugar estate. By 1831 the estate employed 123 slaves and the following year it sold 81 hogsheads of sugar and 40 puncheons of rum. The Marquis owned the estate before 1834 when he arrived in the island as Governor, but looked to sell it in 1836 when he expected to leave the island. Sligo wished to rent Kelly's for 10 years but the potential client, Alexandre Bravo, wished to rent for the duration of apprenticeship, i.e., until 1838. Mr. Bravo did rent it and then, in 1842, he purchased both Kelly's and Cocoa Walk (another estate owned by Lord Sligo) for £6000. The lease documents describe the estate buildings as comprising a mansion house, the overseer's house, the mill house with a 6 hp steam engine, boiling house, curing house, trash house, still house, etc., some of which buildings can be seen in the plate which is from a painting of about 1834.

The values expressed on the tokens are in Sterling rather than in the local Currency rating. It would seem the tokens were used to pay the emancipated slaves on a weekly basis as was common practice on estates. The deeds of the lease make no mention of an estate shop as one might have expected, so either they were received by a local shop or Lord Sligo cashed them into coin on Fridays in which case they were perhaps given to the workers on completion of each task.

Whilst rates as high as 2/6 and even 3/4d Currency were paid on some estates at the time, planters offered 7 1/2d Sterling in 1839 but this rate was refused by the workers. So, it would seem that the 1/- token might have represented a day's work for an adult male.