Henry Davenport: East India Merchant and Deputy Governor of Fort St David
The Lacock Papers: Archival records reveal Henry Davenport’s East India Company career and transactions in enslaved children and women.
Henry Davenport’s portrait hangs in Lacock Abbey. The National Trust caption describes him as the son of Elizabeth Talbot, married first to Mary Chardin and second to Barbara Ivory, with a note that his son Rev. William Davenport later inherited Lacock through marriage. It does not mention Henry’s role in the East India Company, nor the archival records that connect him to the trade in enslaved children and women.
Setting the context
Henry Davenport (1677–1731) rose to a senior position in the East India Company. In 1713 he was appointed Deputy Governor of Fort St David, a fortified trading settlement on the Coromandel Coast of south-east India, near the town of Cuddalore.
Fort St David was one of the Company’s principal bases. From here the Company managed the export of Indian textiles, diamonds, and spices. Archival records also show that the Company was involved in systems of forced labour and enslavement. Fort St David was second only to Fort St George at Madras (now Chennai) in importance, and disputes over its governorship affected the Company’s operations in the early eighteenth century. Davenport’s appointment indicates his status within this structure.
What was the East India Company?
The East India Company was a powerful English trading company founded in 1600. It began as a group of merchants given a royal charter to trade in spices, textiles, and other goods from Asia.
By the early eighteenth century it controlled ports, armies, and territories across India and beyond. The Company profited from goods such as tea, cotton, and diamonds, and also from systems of forced labour and slavery that supported its operations.
By the mid-eighteenth century, it had become one of the most influential organisations in the world, shaping British wealth, politics, and empire.
Archival evidence
The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC) holds Davenport’s surviving papers in the Lacock archive. These include:
2664/3/2D/2/96: Account book, 1711–1714. Records the sale of four enslaved boys and one woman in July 1711.
2664/3/2D/1/13: Bonds and receipts. Includes payment for a “slave boy” named Dick (1713) and a “slave wench” named Diana (1714).
2664/3/2D/2/73: Bills of lading, including a bill of sale for a “slave wench.” Bills of lading were legal shipping receipts that detailed cargo, ownership, and destination.
2664/3/2B/135: Letters to Henry Davenport and his associates, recording his role in diamond markets and shipping.
2664/3/2B/158: Appointment as Deputy Governor of Fort St David in 1713. Also includes Davenport’s own account of his “adventures abroad,” listing voyages to India, Batavia, and China, with one voyage described as being “for a slave wench.”
These records indicate that Davenport was directly engaged in East India Company trade, including transactions in enslaved people.
Networks and partners
Davenport’s papers link him to a number of prominent merchants and officials: Thomas Pitt, Governor of Madras; Bernard Benyon, a senior East India Company figure; and Francis Salvador, part of an Anglo-Jewish merchant family later associated with colonial slavery in the Americas.
The documents also record connections to Charles Newman of Corsham, Wiltshire, identified as a slave owner. Newman’s appearance in Davenport’s bills of lading illustrates how regional elites in Wiltshire were connected to colonial and slavery-linked ventures.
Why this matters for Lacock
The National Trust’s online caption for Henry Davenport (NT 996341) presents him through his marriages and descendants, noting his links to the Ivory and Talbot families. It does not include his East India Company role, his appointment at Fort St David, or the archival records documenting his involvement in the trade in enslaved people.
As a result, visitors viewing the portrait encounter only part of Davenport’s story. The current interpretation emphasises genealogical connections while leaving out the wider context of his mercantile activities.
TREE’s interpretation
The records at WSHC establish Henry Davenport’s activities clearly. He was a senior East India Company officer and a merchant involved in diamonds, spices, textiles, and in the trade of enslaved children and women. His partnerships connected him both to Company officials in India and to figures such as Charles Newman in Wiltshire.
The portrait of Davenport at Lacock Abbey is therefore a significant object. It represents not only a family ancestor but also a link to wider histories of colonial trade and slavery. For interpretation at Lacock to be comprehensive, this context should be presented to the public. TREE’s role is to surface archival evidence of this kind so that it informs public understanding of how slavery wealth became part of country house history, inheritance, and local communities.
This article is part of TREE’s Lacock Papers series. The full series explores how slavery wealth entered the Talbot family line at Lacock Abbey.
This research note was prepared by Matt Johnston, Founder & Trustee of the Trust for Records of Enslavement and Emancipation (TREE).
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