John Irving

Born in 1766 to John Irving, a laird in Middlebie, Scotland, John Irving would eventually grow to become a Conservative MP, and prominent West Indies merchant and plantation owner across Trinidad, St Kitts, and the Virgin Islands. From 1806 to 1832, Irving served as the MP for Bramber. In 1825, Irving would travel abroad for business, a practice he was not unfamiliar with, negotiating a loan which saw Austria re-pay war debts to Britain. That same year, Irving would aid Nathan Mayer Rothschild in the founding of Alliance Assurance and Life Marine Assurance, insurance companies benefitting merchants; Irving himself would serve as the initial President of both companies.Following the dissolution of Bramber as a parliamentary borough after the 1832 Great Reform Act, Irving served as the MP for Antrim from 1837 to 1841. As a Member of Parliament, Irving was a member of the West India Interest lobby, opposing abolition. He worked with Whig MP David Barclay in 1835, to help ex-planters in Mauritius gain compensation following the abolition of slavery in Mauritius that year. J.B. Irving, a historian of the Irving family, claimed John Irving himself was not responsible for the subjugation of any enslaved individuals; however, Irving was a mortgage-holder for the Conarees estate in St Kitts, whereby 160 were enslaved. Irving was also the name partner of Reid, Irving, a West Indies mercantile firm started between himself, his nephew John Irving the Younger, and John Rae Reid (who was believed to have been the uncle of Irving, as the maiden name of Irving’s mother was thought to be Rae).
Following the Slave Compensation Act in 1837, Irving would claim compensation for plantations across the West Indies. These were the Conarees, Wingfield Manor, and an unnamed estate (listed as claim 190) in St Kitts, whereby 445 individuals were enslaved; the Enterprise and Milton estates in Trinidad, whereby 81 individuals had been enslaved; the unnamed estates listed as claims 95, 254, 257, 261, 263, and 266, in the Virgin Islands, where 1,229 individuals had been enslaved. In total, Irving would have gained over £29,711 from these estates, where 1,755 individuals had been enslaved. A year prior to this, Irving would establish and chair the Colonial Bank. His nephew, John Irving the Younger, was a claimant/beneficiary awarded £21,981, compensation for 1,310 enslaved individuals across Trinidad and the Virgin Islands. Together, in Reid, Irving, the Irvings received compensation of over £51,000 for estates which saw 3,065 people enslaved. In Britain, Irving had started a limeworks, which eventually developed into Blue Circle Industries, a company operating until 2001.