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Adolphus Caines Saint Kitts and Nevis

Biography of Adolphus Caines

Adolphus Caines came from St.Kitts to study Medicine at Glasgow University. In the session 1835-36 he enrolled in the classes of Anatomy and Chemistry.

Though details of his lineage have not been established, university records identify his father as James Caines. The Caines family was prominent on St Kitts and owned extensive sugar plantations in the French quarter of Capisterre, dating back to purchase by Charles Caines in 1726 and later associated with his son Clement’s campaign for the amelioration and abolition of slavery.

Adolphus’s father was possibly the James Thomas Caines MD, whose 1835 award of £354 3s 9d in compensation for the emancipation of 19 enslaved arose from a Capisterre plantation, Belle Vue. By then the plantation was in financial difficulty. Land and 115 enslaved had previously been transferred in 1827 to the Glasgow firm of MacQueen McDonnell & Co as mortgagees.

Adolphus did not proceed to graduate and there is no record of his having acquired a licentiate in Scotland, though he may have qualified elsewhere.

‘James Thomas Caines MD’ , Legacies of British Slave-ownership database http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/persons/view/25514 [accessed 22 June 2019]

‘James MacQueen’, Legacies of British Slave-ownership database http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/persons/view/25906 [accessed 22June 2019]

Sources

Other Online Resources

Archival Materials

  • University of Glasgow Archives, ‘Jeffray’s Registrations’

Summary

Adolphus Caines
GU Degree:
University Link: Student
English snippet: Medical student at the University of Glasgow, 1835/6.
Record last updated: 10th Jun 2022

Country Associations

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis

University Connections

University Roles

  • Student