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Lot 71

SLAVE TRADE
Ledger comprising trading accounts of William Davenport & Co of Liverpool for voyages of the company's slave ships Ann, Bee, Hector, Liverpool Hero and Swift on voyages between Liverpool, Old Calabar, Sierra Leone and the West Indies undertaken between 1777 and 1784, Liverpool, 1777-1784

11 November 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £6,500 inc. premium

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SLAVE TRADE

Ledger comprising trading accounts of William Davenport & Co of Liverpool for voyages of the company's slave ships Ann, Bee, Hector, Liverpool Hero and Swift on voyages between Liverpool, Old Calabar, Sierra Leone and the West Indies undertaken between 1777 and 1784; the accounts for Ann and cutter Bee reversed at the end of the volume; the accounts for Ann beginning on 13 July 1779; those for the other ships on 31 March 1777 ("...Dr Sales of 186 Slaves sold from on board the Brig: Swift Will: Brighouse from Africa on acc.t of Messrs Will: Davenport & Co Merchants Liverpool..."); the accounts covering the outward voyage from Liverpool, the slaves acquired in Africa and the voyage to the West Indies ("...Sales of Four hundred & Eighteen Slaves imported in the Ship Liverpool Hero, John Cooper Master from Old Calabar on Acc.t & risque of Messrs Park, Heywood & Co Merchants in Liverpool..."), with nett proceeds noted ("...By the Nett Proceeds of 418 Slaves Imported in the Ship Liverpool Hero John Cooper... Antiqua 5th June 1782... £12378-17-9..."); the accounts including tables of slaves listed by owner with the number of men, women, boys and girls acquired and their respective prices; also listed are goods taken on the outgoing voyages (including beads, with each type being specified), as well as goods carried back to England, including ivory, sugar and palm oil, c.150 numbered pages (six leaves torn out), kept in several flourished clerical hands, ruled in red, half calf, marbled boards, spine restored, folio, Liverpool, 1777-1784

Footnotes

'SALES OF FOUR HUNDRED & EIGHTEEN SLAVES IMPORTED IN THE SHIP LIVERPOOL HERO, JOHN COOPER MASTER, FROM OLD CALABAR' – slaving accounts of William Davenport & Co of Liverpool. Davenport has been described as 'one of the largest slaving merchants of his generation, and one of the wealthiest Guinea merchants in Liverpool's history' (Nicholas James Radburn, 'William Davenport, the Slave Trade, and Merchant Enterprise in Eighteenth-Century Liverpool', online MA thesis, Victoria University of Wellington). A large part of the Davenport company papers are held at the Raymond Richards Collection at Keele University Library, formerly as part of the Bromley Davenport Muniments, John Rylands Library; another group came to light recently and were acquired in 2006 by Merseyside Maritime Museum. See illustration on preceding page.

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