Heinemann (London & Liverpool 1897) pages 155 & 674.įrom: Capitalism & Slavery by Eric Williams, Univ of N Carolina (1944) History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Slave Trade.īy Gomer Williams. He declined on the ground of military inexperience, and joined as an ordinary yeoman, but eventually became Major Commandant of the Wrexham Yeomanry and High Sheriff of Denbighshire in 1787.įrom: ‘ A History of Wrexham, Denbighshire: Published for the Wrexham Borough Council in Commemoration of the Centenary of the Incorporation of the Borough, 1857-1957 By Arthur Herbert Dodd. The first command was offered to Sir Foster Cunliffe of Acton Park. Its purpose was to defend against a Napoleonic invasion.

The Wrexham Yeomanry was formed in May 1795, as one troop the Wrexham Yeomanry Cavalry. Robert fought in India with the East India Company. After his death in 1834 his second son, Robert Henry, became 4th Baronet. Sir Foster Cunliffe enjoyed this lifestyle with his love of archery and the arts. By then the family were wealthy enough to live off their investments, and settled into politics and the life of the landed gentry at Acton Park. The company founder, Foster Cunliffe died in 1758, and the company’s last voyage was in 1761. He later went bankrupt and spent three years in debtors prison. His son Robert, however, had moved to Philadelphia and was an important financier of the War of Independence, a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence and one of the Founding Fathers. In 1750 the Cunliffes’ manager Morris was killed in an accident involving a cannon on deck. Slave ships were usually armed with a few cannon, and sometimes carried a war captain as well as a merchant captain. Merchant ships including “slavers” were at risk of attack by pirates and French corsairs. They even won the contract to ship Jacobites into exile after the failed rising of 1745. They traded Cheshire salt, pig iron, white indentured servants and enslaved men, women and children from Africa. Morris also made his own investments in American tobacco.īy 1750 the Cunliffe company had 5 trading posts in Virginia and 26 ships working the Triangular Trade.

Sir Foster's father, Sir Robert Cunliffe, was director of the company, but preferred to keep it at arm’s length and appointed Robert Morris as manager. Sir Foster's uncle, Sir Ellis, 1st Baronet of Acton Park became MP for Liverpool, although he actually spent his time hundreds of miles away in Sussex. Henry White must have done well for himself though, as in 1714 he had only been co-captain - not owner - of a much smaller slave ship, the Peace. According to Lloyds the insurer, it was shipwrecked without delivering its cargo of up to 250 Africans, and presumably all lives were lost. The ship next sailed from Liverpool late in 1744 with a different Captain. White was himself Captain on a voyage that left Liverpool in the summer of 1743 and arrived in Kingston nine months later with the loss of half the crew and 65 out of 359 African captives. The ship remained for four months in the West Indies, presumably buying cargo, and returned to Liverpool on April 4th, 1755.Ī ship named the New Foster was listed as being owned by Henry White, co-owner of the Cunliffes’ other ships and they likely co-owned this one too. Only 218 captives disembarked at Kingston, Jamaica on October 3rd 1754. Captain Jackson sailed the ship down the West coast of Africa until 267 Africans were chained and crammed on board.

Altogether these ships held 1,120 slaves, and they brought the Cunliffe family enough profit to load a dozen ships a year with sugar, rum and tobacco for sale in England.įor example, on Sept 8th, 1753, the Robert and Ellis, a ship jointly owned by the Foster family and five others, captained by Richard Jackson with 32 crew members, set sail for Africa. In mid-century, he and his sons Ellis and Robert part-owned at least 26 ships, at least four of them slavers, the Bulkley, Bridget, Foster and Ellis and Robert. The company owned four slave trade ships and twelve cargo ships. By 1720 Foster had built up a trading business with the tobacco plantations in Virginia. He was a leading figure in the city and was mayor three times. Foster Cunliffe (Sir Foster's grandfather) was known as a Liverpool merchant and philanthropist.

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