In 1651, Governor Christopher Keynell established a plantation on the island. The land was forfeited in 1666 when the French seized Antigua. After the British regained control in 1674, King Charles II gave the property to Colonel Christopher Codrington. He also received a 50 year lease for the neighboring island of Barbuda and was appointed captain-general of the English Leeward Islands. Codrington was a brilliant although not always scrupulous businessman. In addition to successfully operating Betty’s Hope Plantation – which he named after his daughter – he controlled another 700 acre sugarcane estate on Barbados. When he died in 1698, the plantation was inherited by his son Christopher. For generations, the Codrington dynasty weathered several setbacks that crippled other plantations. The events included the 1780s drought, the ban of sugar imports to Britain in 1813, and the slave emancipation in 1834. Betty’s Hope finally succumbed in 1944.
