The Earles of Liverpool : a Georgian merchant dynasty / Peter Earle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Earle, Peter, 1937- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Earle family.

Merchants--England--Liverpool--Biography.

Merchants.

Liverpool (England)--Commerce--History.

Liverpool (England).

Liverpool (England)--Economic conditions--18th century.

Liverpool (England)--History.

England--Liverpool.

Commerce.

Economic history.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 301 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This book uses the experience of three generations of the Earle family to throw light on the social and economic history of Liverpool during its rise to prominence as a great port, from 1688 to 1840. The focus is on six members of this successful family: John, who came to Liverpool as apprentice to a merchant in 1688; his three sons, Ralph, Thomas and William, who all became merchants specialising in different branches of the port's trade; and William's two sons, another Thomas and another William, who consolidated the fortunes of the family and began the process of converting their wealth into gentility. The approach is descriptive rather than theoretical, and the aim throughout has been to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Where sources permit, the book describes the businesses run by these men, often in considerable detail. Trading in slaves was an important part of the business of three of them, but they and other members of the family also engaged in a variety of other trades, such as the import-export business with Leghorn (Livorno) in Italy fishing in Newfoundland and the Shetland Islands, the wine and fruit trades of Spain, Portugal and the Azores, the import of raw cotton for the industries of the Industrial Revolution and the Russia trade. Other family interests included privateering, art collecting and the trade in art, a sugar plantation in Guyana and the emigrant trade. While the book is mainly a work of economic history, there is also much on the merchants' wives and families and on the social history of both Liverpool and Livorno. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Origins of a Merchant Dynasty 1

Chapter 2 This Very Opulent Town 19

Chapter 3 Slave Ship Captain 45

Chapter 4 Slave Merchant 67

Chapter 5 Jack of All Trades 97

Chapter 6 Thomas Earle of Leghorn 115

Chapter 7 Thomas Earle of Hanover Street 145

Chapter 8 Privateering in the American War 161

Chapter 9 Ralph Earle and Russia 181

Chapter 10 Brothers in the Slave Trade 193

Chapter 11 The Last Years of Livorno 217

Chapter 12 New Horizons 239.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-273) and index.

ISBN:

9781781381731

1781381739

OCLC:

913790019