Nathaniel Bayly (c. 1726 – 1798) was an English planter and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1770 to 1779.
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Early life
In 1726, Nathaniel Bayly was born in Westbury, Wiltshire.
In the 1730s, Nathaniel Bayly was a young boy when his family relocated with him to the Colony of Jamaica. In 1759, Nathaniel Bayly moved to England, and he conducted a trans-Atlantic family business with his brother Zachary Bayly, using their slaves on their Jamaican estates to create large profits, and using their political contacts to protect their investments.
Slave owner
The Bayly family owned several plantations and thousands of slaves in the Colony of Jamaica.
After being with his family in Jamaica, he returned to England in 1759, and lived in London. The Gentleman’s and Citizen’s Almanack for 1772 lists Bayly’s town residence as Dover Street in Mayfair and his country residence as Hanwell, Middlesex. He was described by his nephew Bryan Edwards as living “in a high and elegant style of life”. In 1768 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Charity of William Hobbayne. In the 1770s, he commissioned a survey and garden design from Capability Brown (See Page 96 of Brown’s account book) but the house for which the work was to be done is not recorded.