Peter Beckford (colonial administrator)

This article is about the acting governor of Jamaica. For his son, see Peter Beckford (junior).

A c. 1780 mezzotint of Beckford

Colonel Peter Beckford (c. 1643 – 3 April 1710) was an English-born planter, merchant, military officer and colonial administrator who served as the acting governor of Jamaica in 1702. A prominent member of the planter class in the English colony of Jamaica, by the time of his death Beckford had acquired ownership over 20 plantations, 1,200 slaves and earnt what historian Noel Deer described as "perhaps the greatest fortune ever made in planting."[1][2]

  1. ^ Deeer, Noel (1949). History of Sugar. pp. 175–6. OCLC 1048638264.
  2. ^ Zahedieh, Nuala (1986). "Trade, Plunder, and Economic Development in Early English Jamaica, 1655-89". The Economic History Review. 39 (2): 205–222. doi:10.2307/2596150. ISSN 0013-0117. JSTOR 2596150.