Lord Seaforth: Highland Proprietor,Caribbean Governor and Slave Owner

Francis Humberston Mackenzie (1754-1815) was a highland proprietor, governor of Barbados in the period immediately before the abolition of the British slave trade and a plantation owner in Berbice (Guiana). This articles compares his attitudes and actions in these three capacities and concludes that his concern for his highland small tenants was matched by his ambition in Barbados to make the murder of a slave by a white a capital offence, by his attempts to give free coloureds the right to testify against whites and by his aim to provide good conditions for his enslaved labourers in Berbice. The balance between humanitarian and more pragmatic considerations in his decision-making is considered, as is his relative authority as a highland proprietor and Caribbean governor.