On Daniel's death childless in 1784 and their only other sibling Henry's death two years later, Edwin was left in sole charge of the fortune, to which he added 22 working plantations, more than 27000 acres of West Indian property and 2,947 slaves surrendered to planters' creditors as the planters defaulted on debts because of the American War Of Independence, worth £293,000 (about £28.3 million today).