Edward Morant

Edward Morant (1730–1791) was a British politician and plantation owner who sat in the House of Commons for 26 years from 1761 to 1787. Early life and education Morant was the son of John Morant of Jamaica and his wife Mary Pennant, daughter of Edward Pennant, chief justice of Jamaica, and was baptised on 10 December 1730. He was educated at John Roysse's Free School in Abingdon, (now Abingdon School). He matriculated at St Mary Hall, Oxford on 7 March 1747. gaining a Doctor of Civil Law. Morant's father died when he was three and when he came of age, he inherited family estates on the island of Jamaica; they were put at , and the plantation accounts show an average income from Jamaica of about £20,000 per annum. Several places on the island take the family name including Morant River, Morant Point and Morant Bay. Marriages Morant married firstly Eleanor Angelina Dawkins, widow of William Dawkins and daughter of Edward Yeamans of Liguanea, Jamaica, on 10 June 1754. She died two years later. Morant represented Vere in the Jamaica assembly between 1752 and 1756 and served in the council from 1757 to 1759. He left Jamaica for England in 1759. He made a second marriage to Mary Whitehorne Goddard, daughter of James Goddard of Conduit St London on 22 April 1762.