Probably part of an official ruling in the case of Lyne versus Thompson, in which Philip Lyne of Antigua, had been appointed one of the attorneys commissioned to seek compensation for the various "owners" of a sugar mill on Antigua known as "The Villa", on the death of the proprietor, who had bequeathed all his property to John Thompson. The took some years to settle, but compensation for the Villa estate in Antigua, and the River estate on Dominica, does seem to have been paid by 1830.

Murray-Macgregor, Viscount Goderich, arrived in Dominica in July of 1832, and was made Governor of Antigua, Montserrat and Barbuda, St Christopher, Nevis, Anguilla and the Virgin Islands, administering all together as the British Leeward Islands. He assented to Early Grey's Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire over a six-year period, but brought this measures forward, abolishing "apprenticeships" in his jurisdiction as early as 1834, and granting freedom to all former slaves upon the Act becoming law.

The text reads:

"By His Excellency Sir Evan John Murray Mc.Gregor [sic], Baronet, - Companion of the most Honorable Military Order of the Bath, - Knight commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, - colonel in the Army and Aide de Camp to the King; Governor & Commander in chief in and over the said Island; - Chancellor, Vice Admiral and Ordinary of the same: - &c. &c. &c... ", the rest is cut away.