30/08/2026
"Judith Philip (c. 1760 – 1848) was a free, Afro-Grenadian business woman who amassed one of the largest estates in Grenada. By the time Britain emancipated slaves in the West Indies she owned 275 [enlaved people] and was compensated 6,603 pounds sterling, one of the largest settlements in the colony.
Judith Philip was born around 1760 on one of her parents' estates on either Carriacou or Petite Martinique, which at the time was part of La Gr***de, a French colony. Her father, Honoré Philip, a French baker, had immigrated from France in the 1750s with two brothers and his mother. Settling on the island of Petite Martinique, Honoré married the African slave Jeanette, probably manumitting her under the provisions of the Code Noir. By 1760, the couple owned estates which were producing cotton and indigo on both Petite Martinique and Carriacou. Judith was the oldest daughter in a family of eight siblings, which included Honoré Jr., Nicholas Regis, Jean Baptiste-Louis, Joachim, Judith, Susanna, Michel and Magdalen. Within three years, the territory of La Gr***de was ceded to Britain, at the end of the Seven Years' War.
In the early 1770s, Philip began a relationship with the British merchant Edmund Thornton. The couple never married, though they had five children together: Ann Rachel, Magdalen, Judith, Louis Edmund and Philip. Thornton managed estates on Carriacou for the Clan Urquhart of Aberdeen. The couple's alliance was beneficial to both. Thornton, an Englishman living in the predominantly French colony was able to use Philip's business contacts to negotiate business with other French planters across the Grenadines. In turn, Thornton taught Philip how to read and conduct business in English, broadening her business networks as well. In 1779, the French retook the island of Carriacou." Wikipedia
