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=  Daniel family of Bristol  =

The Daniel family of Bristol, Gloucestershire and Devon were a wealthy and prominent family in high society who dominated Bristolian politics and affairs in the beginning of the 19th Century up until the 1850s upon the death of Thomas Daniel (1762-1854) one of two brothers who grew the family’s vast fortune.

Families involvement in the Slave Economy 1623-1854
The family is first seen in the mid-17th century where John Daniel emigrated to Barbados and purchased several sugar plantations, what would later become a large network of plantations across the West Indies, Barbados and The Americas and until the Emancipation Act employing slave labour to fuel the family’s rapid economic growth.

After the death of his father in 1689 Thomas Daniel became the heir to the families estates aged 10, his later son Thomas born in 1730 took the family back to Bristol and in 1764 and established himself as the fifth largest sugar importer in the city before 1800. It was this Thomas who was father to the notorious ‘King of Bristol’ Thomas Daniel who in 1809 traded under the firm ‘Thomas Daniel & Sons’ in Bristol and ‘Thomas Daniel & Co’ in London at 4 Mincing Lane and grew the families fortune to a greater extent than ever before. In 1834 at the time of emancipation the government awarded him one of the largest financial awards in the UK for the ownership of 5,000 enslaved people receiving in total what would be today £9.8 million.

It is not disputed that at this time Thomas and the family company owned a significant number of enslaved individuals, but some sources suggest that due to the firm also providing mortgages for failing plantations and becoming indirect primary shareholders which, no doubt increased their number on paper of enslaved people owned.

He died with a wealth of £200,000 in 1854, equivalent to  £23.5 million as of 2021

1854- Present, A new generation
After the death of his father in 1854, Thomas Daniel’s son also Thomas remained listed as a ‘West Indies Merchant’ but in comparison to his father lived a quieter life outside of politics and Bristolian corporate affairs.

In 1836 he purchased Stoodleigh Court and the Stuckeridge Estates in Devonshire, which was the main residence of his son (Thomas Daniel Daniel) and grandson (Thomas Carew Daniel, Squire Daniel). The estate was sold in 1885.

In 1839 he also purchased the 707-acre estate of Stockland Bristol for £36,368 from Bristol Corporation along with the Manorial Lordship of Stockland in Bristol. He rebuilt the village church and it became the primary residence of his son Henry Arthur Daniel (1829–1912) the estate remained in the family until it was sold in the early 1950s after being in the family for just over 110 years.

Upon his father’s death in 1862 Thomas Carew Daniel ‘Squire Daniel’ inherited what was left of his great grandfather’s omnipotence, donating vast amounts of it to various horticultural and agricultural charitable causes in a time of agricultural difficulty. He had no children with his wife Alice Gifford granddaughter of Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford of St Leonard’s.

Upon Thomas Carew Daniel’s death, the estates passed to his uncle Rev.Henry Arthur Daniel , Lord of the manor of Stockland in Bristol and his wife Laura Clarke daughter of John Were Clarke Esq of Bridwell house and a maternal granddaughter of Sir Thomas Carew 6th Baronet of Haccombe and his wife Jane Smallwood the 6th Lady Carew.

Rev. Henry Daniel (1828-1912) was, after inheriting the family fortune a highly philanthropic individual who was much liked and respected in the parish of Stockland in Bristol with his primary residence being at Stockland Manor. With his inheritance he built 29 churches and donated sums to repair crumbling and broken ancient churches, Village Schools and much of the parish of Stockland. He later gave the family mansion at Berkeley Square (the primary residence of his grandfather Merchant Thomas Daniel) away to charity as a home for the Bishop of Exeter and a sum of £1000 for any repairs. Throughout his life he donated much like his nephew and father, great sums to charities, a majority of the ancestral wealth.

He had 3 children

Henry Thomas Daniel (1859-1952) - after his father's death was the next manorial lord of Stockland. married Johanna New from the prominent New family of Craddock House,  Uffculme in Devon. Maternally Johanna was the great great granddaughter of King George the III of Great Britain through another rumoured illegitimate line through one of his sons. Relating any descendants of this line closely to a large amount of the British aristocracy and present day Royal Family today should the claim be proven true. Had issue.

Arthur William Daniel (1861-1926) – A Captain in the 5th (Royal) Lancers married Theresa Harvey from the landed gentry Harvey family who were wealthy bankers and the Baronets of Crown Point descended from the Mayors of Norwich. Maternally she was a descendant of the Dukes of Somerset, Earls of Temple, Wyndham Baronets of Orchard Hill , Earls of Fortescue and Marquesses of Buckingham , through a rumoured illegitimacy claim. Had issue.

Augusta Laura Daniel (1866-1962) who married Charles John Clerke, second son of Sir William Henry Clerke Baronet of Hitcham and his wife Georgiana Gosling , Lady Clerke. Had issue.

After the death of Thomas Daniel ‘King of Bristol’ a great objector to the abolition of slavery in 1854 his son Thomas and mainly grandsons and great grandsons pioneered the family into a new modern generation later dissolving the family company which had been established decades before their birth donating the majority of the vast fortune they came to inherit building churches, giving and volunteering to humanitarian causes and ultimately giving the plantation lands back.

several members of the family descended from Henry Arthur Daniel (the last name branch of the family) also devoted their lives to military service with his son Captain Arthur W Daniel Esq, Captain Daniel serving in India with the 5th (Royal) Lancers and other son Henry T Daniel joining the West Somerset Yeomanry. His grandsons Arthur H Daniel Esq, Captain Daniel and Henry C Daniel Esq both served in WW1 , surviving and gaining the ranks of Captain. He lost his daughter's only son and child Nicholas during WW2 in Dunkirk in 1940 and his eldest great grandson Squadron Leader Edward G Daniel D.FC Esq a highly respected fighter pilot and squadron leader who was awarded the DFC he later died in that same war in 1944 after being unable to evacuate his crashing aircraft.

Danielstown in Guiyana is named after Mr.Daniel who donated heavily towards building the town specifically for freed slaves to rebuild their lives after the emancipation act. It is yet to be confirmed which member of the family this was.