List of members of the African Company of Merchants

The African Company of Merchants was established by Act of Parliament as a successor organisation to the Royal African Company in 1752. Provision was made for interested citizens to join the corporation in three cities: at foundation there were 135 members in London,157 in Bristol and 101 in Liverpool, which nevertheless had the most extensive participation in slave trade.[1]

Liverpool members

Founding members

The following list of 101 names was published on 24 June 1752.[2] Several were MPs for Liverpool at some stage in their lives.

  • John Armitage
  • John Atherton
  • John Ashton
  • John Backhouse
  • Thomas Ball
  • William Benson
  • Joseph Bird
  • John Blackburn
  • Bryan Blundell
  • Jonathan Blundell
  • Richard Blundell
  • William Blundell
  • John Bostock
  • George Bradley
  • Edward Bridge
  • George Brooks
  • Joseph Brooks
  • Jonathan Brooks
  • William Bulkeley
  • George Campbell
  • Thomas Chalmer
  • Robert Clay
  • John Clayton
  • George Clews
  • Charles Craven
  • John Crompton
  • James Crosbie
  • Thomas Crowder
  • Ellis Cunliffe
  • Foster Cunliffe (1682–1758)
  • Robert Cunliffe
  • Joseph Davis
  • Edward Dean
  • William Dobb
  • Thomas Dunbar
  • Ralph Earl
  • David Eddie
  • Elliott Ellams
  • Joseph Farmer
  • Edward Forbes
  • Richard Ford
  • Potter Fletcher
  • James Gildart
  • Richard Gildart (MP for Liverpool,1734-1754)
  • John Goodwin
  • William Goodwin
  • Charles Goore
  • James Gordon
  • John Gorrell
  • Robert Hallhead
  • John Hardman (MP for Liverpool,1754-1756)
  • Henry Hardwar
  • Arthur Heywood
  • Benjamin Heywood
  • Robert Hesketh
  • William Higginson
  • Captain John Hughes
  • Richard Hughes
  • Thomas Kendall
  • John Knight
  • George Laidler
  • Thomas Leatherbarrow
  • Pierce Lee
  • Charles Lowndes
  • Edward Lowndes
  • Thomas Mears
  • Joseph Manesty
  • Richard Nicholas
  • John Nicholson
  • Edmund Ogden
  • Samuel Ogden
  • Isaac Oldham
  • John Okill
  • James Pardoe
  • John Parker
  • Edward Parr
  • John Parr
  • William Penket
  • William Pole
  • Owen Pritchard
  • Samuel Reed
  • William Rowe
  • Richard Savage
  • Robert Seel
  • Thomas Seel
  • Samuel Shaw
  • Robert Smith, (Broad Street, London)
  • Samuel Smith
  • John Strong
  • Matthew Strong
  • John Tarleton
  • Henry Townsend
  • Richard Townsend
  • Edward Trafford
  • Levinus Unsworth
  • Christo Whytell
  • William Whalley
  • Henry Lane White
  • John Williamson
  • William Williamson

References

  1. ^ Williams, Gomer (2004). History of the Liverpool privateers and letters of marque : with an account of the Liverpool slave trade, 1744-1812. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2745-1.
  2. ^ Elizabeth Donnan (1931). Documents illustrative of the history of the slave trade to America /. Washington, D.C. hdl:2027/pst.000009721524.