Emanuel Lousada

Emanuel Lousada (26 December 1783—14 December 1854) was a British merchant, planter and politician with interests in Jamaica and Barbados. He was the High Sheriff of Devon from 1842 until 1843, making him the first Jew to hold the title in a county outside of the Sheriff of London, which had been held first by David Salomons in 1835. Lousada was associated with Peak House, Sidmouth. Lousada owned more than 400 African slaves on his sugarcane plantations in the British West Indies at the time of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. He died a wealthy man, leaving £100,000 in his will (worth £10.3 million in 2025).

Biography

Emanuel Lousada was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in London in 1783 to Isaac Baruh Lousada and Judith Lopes Pereira d'Aguilar, the daughter of philanthropist Diego Lopes Pereira. His parents were married at the Bevis Marks Synagogue on 6 March 1771. Emanuel Lousada's ancestors had been involved in the Atlantic slave trade for several generations, owning sugar cane plantations in Jamaica and Barbados worked by enslaved Africans. He ultimately descends from "Antonio" Moses Baruch (1629—1699) who was born in Portugal, the name "Baruch" is sometimes Anglicised in their case as "Barrow". His grandmother Abigail Lamego (1723—1790) was the great-niece of Manuel Rodrigues Lamego who held the official contract (known as the asiento) for the monopoly on providing the Spanish Empire (in particular the Spanish Americas) with African slaves from Portuguese West Africa from 1 April 1623 to 25 September 1631.