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Note: Francis Maitland (1) was a grand-son of Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland (6th son of the 6th Earl of Lauderdale) and was a planter owning a pen (cattle farm) called Giddy Hall in St Elizabeth parish in the South-West of the island: he acquired this sometime before 1811. This and other properties owned by him show him to have been a man of some substance: he inherited property from his mother, Rebecca. There is no evidence that Frederick Maitland had anything further to do with his Jamaican family, but it is certainly not impossible that he supported them. FLM returned to Jamaica for a short period September 1780 in command of a battleship, Elizabeth. FLM's daughter Mary married into a Jamaica property owning family. He was born 25/2/1784 in St Elizabeth, the son of a free Quadroon named Rebecca Wright and John Maitland (confirmed by Rebecca's will). His mother was the daughter of a Mulatto, Polly, a freed slave "from the Estate of Roderick Rose". Her father was very likely to have been Dunston Wright, born 1713. He had a brother, Richard. A grave belonging to Rebecca Wright is still visible in Black River Churchyard: this grave is that of Francis' mother. He next appears being married to Ann Wright in London in 1806; their first child, Frances, was born in London. At 5/2000, there is no information on his London life. The dates shown on the Maitland tree agree with the marriage and first child's birth in the parish records. He and Ann probably met in Jamaica, where her father, Andrew, was the owner of Mitcham & Silver Grove Pens in St Elizabeth; the Wrights moved to London at some time and a condition of Ann inheriting from her father was that she did not go to Jamaica unmarried: was this to prevent Francis marrying her, which he did soon after her father's death? This clause explains why they were married in London. For Ann's family, see Wright Family. His next entry is as an owner of slaves at Giddy Hall when his next 4 children were baptised in 1814. 12 slaves were baptised at the same time, as were 6 belonging to the estate of Andrew Wright. In 1821, 3 more of his children and 48 slaves were baptised. This entry calls him a free person of colour, but names his wife as Ann, reputed white. Some of the slaves were from Mitcham and Sliver Grove: these pens had presumably come into the family by then. The children's baptism and his slave registration after his death being held by his executor John Salmon acting as attorney to Ann Maitland and Giddy Hall Pen confirm that his plantation was Giddy Hall. Note Francis(2) as joint attorney in 1832. He appears in the Jamaica Almanacs as the proprietor of Giddy Hall, Mitcham and sometime co-owner of Silver Grove (with his brother-in-law, George Roberts, wife of Rebecca Wright). At his death (7/8/1924, aged 40) in London, he was described as a gentleman. An entry in the Royal Gazette for Jamaica, 22/1/1825 (PRO: CO141 22): "In England, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health, in August last, Francis Maitland esq, proprietor of Giddy Hall, Mitcham and Silver Grove in the Parish of St Elizabeth." Whilst he had 9 children, some of whom had offspring, it is not thought that any of the male line remained in Jamaica. His daughter, Emma, married Samuel Sherman; she was left Mitcham by her mother. Sherman's still live in the region around Mitcham, and "old Mr Sherman" of Mitcham greathouse was still remembered in 1998. The remaining known family come from his 7 sons, of whom Andrew Wright, John and Francis (2), George and Septimus survived to adulthood. All of those produced children (except George, about whom little is known), most of whom moved to England in the mid 19th Century. The seventh son, Septimus, was a London tea merchant and probably encouraged his elder brother Francis 2nd's sons and grandsons to seek their fortunes in the Far East in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries as described below.
At March 2001, descendants of Andrew and Francis 2 are known.
Giddy Hall was a cattle pen of about 1165 acres (in 1840, the total holding was 2000 acres). Although primarily a cattle pen, Pimento was also grown, and appears in the accounts (see under Jamaica General for more details of his pens). When it came into Francis's possession is unknown, but the assumption is that he realised his mother's property and acquired Giddy Hall. It became the family home until it passed via his wife, his son John, John's widow, and her second husband, John Myers Cooper. The Cooper family sold it after the 2nd World War, after which it was demolished. It can be seen to have been a substantial property, probably all stonebuilt. In addition to the 75-80 slaves he had in his own name to work the place, he had a further 40-50 which were jointly owned with his wife's brother-in-law, George Roberts. See later in this section for full details of slaves held.
Mitcham pen came into his family via his wife; Silver Grove Pen adjoined Mitcham and was a shared property with George Roberts, who had married Francis' sister-in-law, Rebecca. Silver Grove passed into the Roberts family sometime after Francis' death. Silver Grove was owned by the Earl of Balcarres in 1763 (he was a sometime Governor of Jamaica).
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