In the 1730s, Zachary Bayly was a young boy when his family relocated with him to the Colony of Jamaica.
In 1759, his brother Nathaniel Bayly moved to England, and the two brothers conducted a trans-Atlantic family business, using their slaves on their Jamaican estates to create large profits, and using their political contacts to protect their investments.
He also served as a planting attorney for several absentee owners, managing several thousand more slaves for other estates.
[4] In 1760, when Tacky's War broke out, slaves rose up in revolt on Bayly's estates at Trinity.
[2][6][7] He was the brother of Nathaniel Bayly, both being uncles of the politician Bryan Edwards.