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ABSTRACT
Much has been written about how the American War of Independence, a key imperial event, affected the British Isles. However, within this body of work there is limited reference to Liverpool, which was arguably becoming ‘the second city of empire’. This article attempts to fill this gap in the historiography, and addresses the economic impact of the war upon this key port town. It shows that there were four overall stages to Liverpool’s foreign commerce during this period—initially trade remained broadly steady, then there was a noticeable decline, the penultimate stage marked a sluggish improvement, and finally it was not until the post-war years that a sustained recovery took hold. That said, despite these overall trends, individual markets such as the trans-Atlantic slave trade often had their own dynamics. Although privateers (private ships of war) contributed towards the town’s eventual commercial recovery, this activity was by no means the only factor in explaining this rebound. Furthermore, the American war had an impact upon other sectors of the Liverpudlian economy, including shipbuilding and infrastructure projects. Combined, this evidence suggests that eighteenth-century warfare had positive and negative repercussions for the UK economy. As a result, we learn more about being ‘at home with the empire’.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank Professor Nicholas White, Doctor John Appleby, and the anonymous peer reviewers for their thoughtful comments during the drafting stages of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Cogliano, Revolutionary America, 86–93.
2 Conway, British Isles and the War of American Independence, 354.
3 Conway, War of American Independence, 188–94.
4 Bass, Green Dragon; Bradley, Religion, Revolution and English Radicalism.
5 Marriner, Economic and Social Development of Merseyside, 37–38; Conway, War of American Independence, 191.
6 Defoe, Tour through the Whole Island, 540.
7 Borsay, ‘Introduction’, 6.
8 Stobart, First Industrial Region, 130–33, 220.
9 Bagwell, Transport Revolution, 3.
10 Hyde, Liverpool and the Mersey, 14.
11 Davis, Rise of the English Shipping Industry, 35.
12 Morgan, ‘Liverpool’s Dominance in the British Slave Trade’, 14–34.
13 Haggerty, ‘Liverpool, the Slave Trade’, 17–34.
14 Clemens, ‘Rise of Liverpool’, 216–17.
15 Bennett, Voice of Liverpool Business, 1–6.
16 Conway, War of American Independence, 194.
17 Europe was one of the empire’s ‘lateral trades’. Price, ‘The Imperial Economy’, 90.
18 John, ‘War and the English Economy’, 343–44.
19 Ashton, Economic Fluctuations in England, 83.
20 Pope, ‘Shipping and Trade’, 77–78.
21 Ibid., 131–35.
22 General Register of Shipping, 1772–1786, CUST 17/1–9, The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA).
23 McCusker, ‘British Ship Tonnage during the Eighteenth Century’, 91.
24 Liverpool Customs House Letter Book, 24 Sept. 1783, Rideout Papers, Rideout V.1, Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool.
25 Gildarts and Busigny, Liverpool, 20 Feb. 1775, to Robert Carter, Rappahannock River, Robert Carter Manuscripts, MSS1 C2468a923, Virginia Historical Society.
26 Virginia delegate, Philadelphia, 30 June 1775, in Galwatt, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 561.
27 Philadelphia Gazette, 26 July 1775.
28 North Papers, MSS North b.69, Bodleian Library (hereafter BodL).
29 Scott, British Foreign Policy, 207–311.
30 Black, A System of Ambition? 218–19; Madariaga, Britain, Russia and the Armed Neutrality, 382.
31 Liverpool General Advertiser, 6 Oct. 1775.
32 ‘Order by the King in Council, prohibiting the transporting to any parts out of the Kingdom, or carrying coastwise, any Gunpowder, Saltpetre, or any sort of Arms or Ammunition, for the space of three months from the 23d instant.’ American Archives Documents of the American Revolution, 1774–1776. Northern Illinois University Libraries, http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/amarch/documentidx.pl?doc_id=S4-V3-P01-sp34-D0003andshowfullrecord=on, accessed 2 Nov. 2014.
33 ‘An Act to empower His Majesty to prohibit the Exportation of Saltpetre; and to enforce the Law for empowering His Majesty to prohibit the Exportation of Gunpowder, or any Sort of Arms and Ammunition; and also to empower His Majesty to restrain the carrying Coastwise of Saltpetre, Gunpowder, or any Sort of Arms or Ammunition, Anno 29 Geo.II, A.D. 1756’, in Raithby, ed., The Statutes relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Shipping, and Navigation, 255.
34 David Tuohy, Liverpool, to Mssrs Ryan and Begone, Oct. 1775, Tuohy Papers, 380 TUO/2/4, Liverpool Record Office (hereafter LivRo).
35 Captain Brighouse, Barbadoes, to William Davenport, 23 March 1777, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/11/2/5, Merseyside Maritime Museum (hereafter MMM).
36 William Davenport, Liverpool, to Mssrs Baillie and Hamilton, St Vincent, 28 July 1783, William Davenport’s Letter Book, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/1/1, MMM.
37 Vance Caldwell Vance, Dominica, to William Davenport, 1 May 1777, William Davenport’s Letter Book, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/11/3/3, MMM.
38 William Davenport, Liverpool, to Matthew Alexander, Glasgow, 4 Nov. 1780, William Davenport's Letter Book, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/1/1, MMM.
39 Richard Watt to Ortand and Thomas Rawson, 17 June 1778, Watt Family Papers, 920 WAT 1/2/1, LivRo.
40 William Davenport, Liverpool, to Charles Ford, 23 March 1779, William Davenport's Letter Book, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/1/1, MMM.
41 See note 35 above.
42 Richardson, ‘Profits in Liverpool Slave Trade Accounts’, 81.
43 Ibid., 82–87.
44 Gentleman's Magazine, 52 (1782), 417–19.
45 Starkey, British Privateering, 200.
46 Ibid., 269–72.
47 Ibid., 232.
48 Bellona, 1779, BT 98/39, TNA.
49 Account Book of the Enterprise, 1779–1780, 387 MD 45, LivRo.
50 Knight, 1779, BT 98/39, TNA.
51 Minerva, in Registers of Declarations for Letters of Marque against the United Provinces, 1780, HCA 26/54, TNA.
52 Muir, History of Liverpool, 221–32.
53 Williams, History of the Liverpool Privateers, 299.
54 Nostra Signora, in Captured ships with names beginning with N, 1775–1783, HCA 32/411, TNA.
55 Wickins, ‘Economics of Privateering’, 379–87.
56 La Fortuna, in Sentences in Dutch Prizes, 1782, HCA 34/57, TNA.
57 Letter of instruction to Captain James Haslam, Liverpool, 15 June 1780, Account Book of the Enterprise, 387 MD 45, LivRo.
58 Ibid., 16 Sept. 1779.
59 Starkey, British Privateering, 194–97.
60 William Davenport to Captain John Smale, 12 Jan. 1781, William Davenport's Letter Book, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/1/1, MMM.
61 Starkey, British Privateering, 207.
62 Ibid., 196, 218, 232.
63 Haggerty, Merely for Money?, 214.
64 Liverpool Corporation Records, 15 Dec. 1777, 352 MIN/COU 1, LivRo.
65 See Syrett, Shipping and the American War.
66 Navy Office In-Letters, 31 Jan. 1776, ADM/B/191, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (hereafter NMM).
67 Liverpool General Advertiser, 6 April 1780.
68 Ibid., 22 July 1774.
69 Haggerty, Merely for Money?, 214.
70 William Davenport, Liverpool, to Captain Peter Potter, 15 May 1781, Davenport Papers, D/DAV/1/1, MMM.
71 Abstract of the Proceedings and Resolutions of the Several Committees of the Chamber of Commerce for the Port of Liverpool, 1774–1777, Miscellaneous Pamphlets 65, 828 PAM, Liverpool Athenaeum.
72 Crowhurst, Defence of British Trade, 67–68, 80.
73 William Simmons, Charleston, South Carolina, to David Tuohy, 27 Dec. 1781, Tuohy Papers, 380 TUO/1/59, LivRo.
74 Hibbert, Redcoats and Rebels, 333.
75 Richard Watt, Kingston, to Thomas Rawson, 16 May 1782, Letter and Account Book of Richard Watt, Watt Family Papers, 920 WAT 1/2/1, LivRo.
76 Conway, War of American Independence, 140–41.
77 Hoppit, Risk and Failure in English Business, 123–29.
78 Baugh, ‘Why did Britain Lose Command of the Sea?’, 154.
79 Stewart-Brown, Liverpool Ships of the Eighteenth Century, 89.
80 North Papers, MSS. North b.54-b.57, BodL.
81 Thomas Mitchell, Liverpool, to the Navy Board, 15 Nov. 1780, ADM 106/1258, TNA.
82 Macdougall, Royal Dockyards, 15.
83 Board of Admiralty In-Letters, 27 Jan. 1779, Admiralty records, ADM/B/198, NMM.
84 Morriss, Foundations of British Maritime Ascendancy, 133–37.
85 Marriner, Economic and Social Development of Merseyside, 21.
86 Clarke, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 77–78.
87 William Blundell, Tonnage figures for coal and other materials carried on the Leeds-Liverpool and the Douglas Navigations 1781–1790, Miscellaneous Documents, MD 58.3, LivRo.
88 Clarke, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 84.
89 Minutes of Liverpool Committee and General Assembly, Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company, 1775–1780, RAIL 846/42, TNA. Specifically 15 and 23 Nov. 1775, 11 Jan. 1776 and 1 May 1777.
90 Clarke, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 75–6.
91 Minutes of Liverpool Committee and General Assembly, Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company, 1775–1780, RAIL 846/42, TNA. Specifically 21 July 1784.
92 Clarke, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 84–85.
93 Hall and Rose, ‘Introduction’, 1–31.
94 Conway, War of American Independence, 194.
95 Pope, ‘Shipping and Trade in the Port of Liverpool’, 476.
96 Ibid., 476–82
97 Maw, ‘Yorkshire and Lancashire Ascendant’, 734–68.
98 Milne, Trade and Traders, 12–17; 219–21.