Darby Lux I

Capt. Darby Lux I (1695–1750) was a mariner, merchant, and Justice of Baltimore County, Maryland.

Capt. Lux was the son of an English clergyman. Capt. Lux was born in Kenton Parish, Devonshire, England on June 15, 1695. He was christened on June 30, 1696 in Kenton. Darby immigrated in the early 1720s, and settled in Anne Arundel County. He was a mariner by occupation from 1720-1742.

Darby married Ann Saunders (1700-1785) on May 16, 1722. Ann was born May 16, 1700 and died October 30, 1784. Ann was the daughter of Robert Saunders (d. 1755) and Rebeckath Groom (d. 1752).

Darby became a member of the South River Club, and was termed a gentleman by 1743.

After the Transportation Act of 1718, Lux became involved in penal transportation. He commanded several ships contracted by Jonathan Forward to transport convicted felons (women, men, and children) from London to Maryland, where they were sold as convict bond servants for 7 or 14 years of labor. These ships included: Gilbert, 1721 & 1722; Jonathan, 1723; Patapsco Merchant, 1729, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1733, 1734, & 1735; and Genoa, 1738. (An earlier voyage of the ship Genoa, 1736, was captained by Lux's brother Capt. Francis Lux.) Typical of Lux's convict transport voyages was the "Patapsco Merchant" which arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on March 17, 1730 with 106 prisoners from the Newgate Prison, London, Middlesex Co., England. Of the estimated 50,000 convicts transported to the British colonies, Lux carried at least 1,000 convicts from London to Maryland on eleven voyages within seventeen years.

Lux carried return cargos of tobacco on board his ships bound for Great Britain and on general consignment to Jonathan Forward, merchant of London.

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