1/1/2024 0 Comments Wound transee oruna tradableWhatever the reason, his leaving the navy must have been with the approval of his commanding officer, because Lord Cochrane acquired much land in Trinidad, which is still known and administered as The Dundonald Estates, and Lord Cochrane appointed Kenneth Mathison to be his Trinidad Agent -which post was handed down from father to son until 1957, when Uncle Sandy (my father’s older brother and Mercy Green’s father) died, leaving no male Mathison to carry on after him. In all probability there is some truth in both these suppositions. It seems to me more probable that it was because Kenneth had fallen in love with and married a local girl and the fact that he did not join the Trinidad Militia until more than a year after he left the navy seems to bear this out. Family tradition said that it was because the then Governor of Trinidad took a great liking to him and persuaded him to do so, arranging his transfer to the Trinidad Militia with his naval commander, Lord Cochrane. Why Major Kenneth gave up his naval career to remain in Trinidad is not known for certain. (See Appendix 1 for the history of Antonio de Barrio). The Berries family had been living in Trinidad or on the South American mainland since the 16th century, and claimed to be descended from a Spanish conquistador, Don Antonio de Berrio, who had become the first Spanish civil governor of Trinidad in 1592. The exact date of this arrival is not known, but it must definitely have been before 1809, because in 1809 Kenneth married a Spanish girl, Senorita Isabel Berries. ![]() Sometime during this period the Earl of Dundonald’s Squadron, with young Kenneth Mathison on board, arrived at Trinidad. In the following year a new Governor, Brigadier-General Sir Thomas Hislop was appointed, and he remained in office until 1811. In 1803 Trinidad was put into the control of a three-man Commission the Commissioners being Colonel William Fullerton, Brigadier-General Thomas Picton and Commodore Samuel Hood, R.N. Sir Ralph Abercrombie was succeeded in the same year by Brigadier-General Thomas Picton, who was Governor until 1803, and in 1802 started the local Trinidad Militia. The Spanish governor at that time was Don Jose Maria Chacon, and he handed over the island to Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who thus became the first English governor of Trinidad. In 1797, by a treaty which ended a series of such engagements, Trinidad, which until then had been a Spanish possession, was ceded to Britain. ĭuring the period when great-great-grandfather Kenneth was on active service with the British Navy in the West Indies many naval battles were fought in those waters between the British fleet and the combined French and Spanish fleets. Was appointed Vice-Consul at Bolivar, in Venezuela, Februto Mawhen he died”. Was appointed Unpaid Vice-Consul at Angostura in Venezuela, February 13, 1841, which post he held until January 29, 1845. He was Superintendent of the disbanded African Soldiers settled in Trinidad in 18. “Major Kenneth Mathison joined the Fleet on the West Indian Station under Sir Alexander Cochrane, the Earl of Dundonald, June 2, 1806, and continued on the station in active service until February 1810 was appointed a Lieutenant in the Loyal Trinidad Battalion of Militia, AugCaptain in the North Naparima Cavalry and Infantry of Trinidad, April 151815 Major Commandant of Sea Fencibles, March 12, 1816, which regiment he commanded until June 1831 when it was disbanded and he retired with his rank.ĭuring the years 18 he was employed by the Governor of Trinidad on the Spanish coast with the Brig of War, Fly, the Sloops of War, Brazin and Esk, and with the frigate Tribune. The following extract from a Foreign Office List, published in London in 1867, gives details of his career from then until his death in 1866. Great-great-grandfather Kenneth joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman and in 1806 was sent out to the West Indian Station. ![]() My eldest aunt was christened Margarita, but because two old cousins in Skye always wrote of her as “Baby Maggie” she came to be called that by her family. Our family in Trinidad corresponded with cousins in Skye until Grandpa Mathison’s death in 1914. He was the 3rd son of Kenneth Mathison, born 1750, and his wife, Catherine, nee Mackenzie. “Major Kenneth” was born in Aird, Isle of Skye, in April 1790. My father’s father and mother were first cousins, and the first Mathison to go out to the West Indies was their grandfather, Kenneth known to the family as “Major Kenneth”, although he went out to the West Indies as an officer in the Royal Navy. ![]() My family is West Indian of mixed Spanish, French, Irish, Scottish and English blood. FAMILY HISTORY Told by Dorothy Isabel Carter, nee Mathison, of Trinidad, West Indies
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