Person Mallows; Mercury (d1801); Servant to Joshua Jebb DS/UK/3982 Mallows Mercury d1801 Servant to Joshua Jebb Male Black African heritage Walton Hall, Chesterfield Nothing is known about the life of Mercury Mallows, but the name Mercury suggests he may have been born into enslavement, probably in Jamaica. Mercury was a servant in the household of Joshua Jebb (1769-1845) of Walton Hall, Chesterfield. Joshua was the son of Samuel Jebb (1720-1786) who in 1752 married Anne Harriott, the daughter of William Harriott of St Elizabeth, Jamaica. The Harriott family were enslavers and as Samuel owned estates in Jamaica when he died, he may have met Anne in Jamaica because he was himself an enslaver with estates there, or have acquired the estates through his marriage. At a meeting in Chesterfield to petition parliament about slavery (reported in The Derby and Chesterfield Reporter, 2 Mar 1826) Joshua Jebb stated that he 'had lived in the Colonies for some years' and was 'acquainted... with the character of Slavery'. He expressed anti-slavery sentiments at the meeting, and as no-one with the surname Jebb is listed in the Legacies of British Slavery database, it would appear that Joshua Jebb had divested himself of any Jamaican property by 1833 and probably much earlier. It is possible that Mercury was enslaved by Joshua Jebb or his parents and subsequently freed. Complete Yes Burke's Landed Gentry, 1886; Derby and Chesterfield Reporter, 2 Mar 1826; will of Samuel Jebb 1786. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Derbyshire Record Office Collections Manual Section 7 v5.1 (May 2020) DERBYSHIRE\71010800 10/11/2021 DERBYSHIRE\71010800 08/09/2023 83e55a05-f8c6-44a7-85d0-26af947f8be3