Thomas Moody (1779–1849)

Family

Thomas was the third son of Thomas Moody (1732 - 1796) and Barbara Blamire (1740 - 1806), a member of the Blamire family of Cumberland and cousin of William Blamire MP and the poet Susanna Blamire. His eldest brother, Charles (1781 - 1850), was a Colonial merchant in the West Indies and his other brother, George, was a surgeon.

West Indies

Thomas owned extensive plantations and estates in the Caribbean, including in Barbados, Guiana, Demerara, Berbice, and Tortola, all of which employed slave-labour. Moody was one of the many British landowners to redesignate his slaves as ‘apprentices’ to circumvent the Slave Trade Act 1807, which made the trade of slaves illegal, and, later, the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which made the ownership of slaves illegal, and to continue to trade and employ slaves under the former conditions. Moody witnessed the 1816 Barbados Slave Rebellion. Moody was a claimant on insolvent estates in Berbice in 1827 (The Times 04/04/1827 p. 4). and was awarded the compensation for one enslaved person in British Guiana.

Moody served as private secretary to several members the Colonial administration of the islands, including the President of Tortola, and as aide-de-camp to both Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere and Sir James Leith.

The City of London

In the City of London, Moody was an associate of the East India Company, a Director of the Crown Life Assurance Company (based at 33 Bridge Street, Blackfriars) and a Director of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company (5 Coptball Court, London).

French knighthood

In 1820, Moody was knighted by Louis XVIII in the Order of Military Merit for defending the French colony of Guadeloupe. He was permitted by George IV to wear the Cross of the Order whilst in Britain, but not to use the title 'Sir'. Moody, already a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers, received the rank of Major in the British Army for his services in conflicts in the West Indies.

The Commission on Slavery

In 1821, William Wilberforce proposed to the House of Commons the creation a Commission to investigate the condition of slaves in the West Indies due to omnipresent reports that the Slave Trade Act 1807, which had made the trade of slaves illegal, was being universally violated by wealthy plantation owners, who were redesignating their slaves as ‘apprentices’ and continuing to trade. Moody and John Dougan (1765-1826), an Admiralty agent of Tortola, volunteered for the commissionerships and were selected. The appointment of Moody was ironic, for he was one of the wealthiest landowners in the West Indies, a pioneer of the ‘apprentice’ trade, a friend of the President of Tortola and a member of the Colonial administration which, due to the core of such landowners within it, was committed to the perpetuation of the conditions of the employment and trade of slaves that had existed before the passing of the Act. Dougan was influenced by the zealous idealism of Whig agitators in England, such as John Barton.

Dougan and Moody disagreed spitefully over the issue: Dougan was supportive of the rights of the ‘apprentices’ and Moody supportive of their repression. When ‘apprentices’ employed by H. C. Maclean, a prosperous merchant who served as Comptroller of the Customs on Tortola, complained to the Commission, Macclean had them beaten. Moody refused to criticize him and placed such pressure on Dougan that Dougan, who found no support amongst the Colonial administration of the islands, was forced to resign from the Commission in June 1822, return to England, and submit his report to the House of Commons in private. In this report, dated 20 December 1823, Dougan contends that "free labour in the West Indies is preferable to compulsory labour”.

Moody's 'defence of West Indian slavery’ and feud with the Whigs

Moody presented to the House of Commons an exposition of the reasons for his refusal to sign the report prepared by Dougan in Tortola, in addition to own report, dated 2 March 1825, in which he contends that “without some species of coercion African labour would be worthless” and provides, in the words of Lord Macaulay, what ‘is, in substance, a defence of West Indian slavery’. Moody described his theories as a 'Philosophy of Labour'. Moody’s extensive exposition of his contentions, which makes frequent use of rhetorical figures, won the support of Tories, but provoked the Whigs to ire, and, in addition to being targeted in the Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter, Moody’s contentions and his style of expression were severely mocked by Whig Lord Macaulay, who supported Dougan against Moody in the feud:

For their efforts, Dougan and Moody were each made a Justice of the Peace. Dougan died destitute in 1826: his efforts for reform were continued by his daughter, Mary.

Despite the opposition of the Whigs, Moody and his fellow plantation owners, who governed the islands that they owned both de jure and de facto, continued their practices to exponential profit. During his subsequent tenure in the West Indies, Moody rose from the rank of Major to that of Colonel in the Royal Engineers and he was grant command of the Royal Engineers in across the entire West Indies

Moody's report also obtained for him the fervent support of Colonial sympathizers in London: Parliament declared his ‘great experience in the control of labour, both slave and free, both African and European, in garrison, and in the field’ and he became increasingly close to James Mangles (MP) (1768 –1838), Director of the East India Company, to whom he proffered advice regarding the settlement of the Swan River Colony at minimal cost to the British Government.

Moody's offer to colonize Australia

When the British government abandoned plans to implement the plans of James Stirling (Royal Navy officer) to settle the Swan River Colony, Stirling and Moody, in August 1828, offered form an association of private capitalists that would settle Australia, using their own capital, observing the ‘principles’ that had been observed by William Penn in the settlement of Pennsylvania, but this proposal was rejected by the government.

Later life

Moody’s London residences were 7 Alfred Place Bedford Square and 23 Bolton Street, Mayfair. He died on 5 September 1849 at Berrywood House, near Southampton. In 1852, an advertisement ran in the Times (02/06/1852 p. 1.) for around £120 unclaimed stock standing in name of Lieutenant-Colonel [sic] Thomas Moody of Waltham Abbey, with dividends unclaimed since 1839.

Marriage and issue

Thomas married Martha Clement (1764 - 1868), daughter of Richard Clement (1754-1829) of Barbados, on 1 January 1809. Thomas’s father in law was also a Caribbean plantation owner, owner of the Black Bess (196 slaves) and Clement Castle (220 slaves) estates on St Peter’s Island, which passed to sole remaining son, Hampden Clement, on his death. Thomas and Martha had 10 children, 8 of whom were living at the time of their father’s death.

1. Thomas (b. 10 December 1809, Barbados, d. 21 March 1839, St Vincent). Captain of the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot and Major in Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment). Died unmarried.
2. Susannah (b. 29 August 1811, Barbados, d. `1884, St Leonards). Died unmarried.
3. Richard Clement (b. 18 February 1813, Barbados, d. 1887, Bournemouth). Major-General Royal Engineers, Governor of the Falkland Islands, founder and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Married Mary Susannah Hawks, daughter of Joseph Hawks JP DL, on 6 July 1852 St Andrew's, Newcastle. Had 13 children including Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody.
4. Sophia (b. 1 July 1814, Georgetown, Guyana, d. 1888, Royal Albert Hall Mansions, London).
5. James Leith (b. 25 June 1816, Barbados, d. unknown). Educated at Tonbridge School and St Mary Hall, Oxford. Served as Chaplain to Royal Navy in China and to the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea. Married Mary Willan, daughter of Rev. Willan, on 15 Oct. 1863 at Winchester. Had 5 children.
6. Shute Barrington MICE (b. 21 February 1818, Teignmouth, d. unknown). Sugar plantation owner in West Indies. Married Sarah Blackburne, 19 January 1847, at St Michaels, Chester Square. Had one son, Thomas Barrington (b. 29 March 1848), Captain Royal Navy, who married Mary Ellen Dewrance and had one daughter, Joan Barrington Moody, who married Major Alan Holford Walker.
7. Stapleton Cotton (b. March 1819, d. April 1820, Barbados).
8. Hampden Clement Blamire CB (b. 10 January 1821, Bedford Square, d. 1869, Belfast). Colonel in Royal Engineers and Commander of Royal Engineers in China. Member of Hudson's Bay Company. Married Louise Harriet Thompson, daughter of Samuel Thompson, at Belfast. Had two daughters and one son, Hampden Lewis Clement (b. 28 February 1855, Hong Kong), who was a Captain of the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot.
9. Clementina Barbara (b. 1822 - d. 1864).
10. William Hoston (b. 6 June 1824, Bolton Street, Mayfair, d. December 1853). Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. Died unmarried.