The Emergence of the Liverpool Raw Cotton Market, 1800–1850

Hall, Nigel H.

doi:10.1179/nhi.2001.38.1.65

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“…110 However, it is wrong to assume that dealers were no longer important in supplying cotton spinners by 1815: Manchester had at least 20 cotton dealers in 1788, more than 40 in 1804, and more than 80 by 1819. 111 Smaller cotton spinners, as noted by Edwards, likely continued to prefer long credit terms given by dealers, and their influence was evident in circulars published by Liverpool brokers. 112 New entries into the Liverpool cotton brokerage community continued operations in a similar fashion to Waterhouse.…”

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“…As we have neither knowledge nor leisure to conduct the business of importing our Cottons, we should certainly wish to decline it, unless it can be done upon a very secure footing... 111 Evanses' Brazilian cotton orders could arrive in Liverpool damaged, of a lower quality than expected, or lost completely in the shipping process. Shipping insurance would cover most of the losses, and Evanses' Liverpool agents would attempt to rectify quarrels regarding damage or malpractice on the part of shippers and Lisbon merchants, but the risk associated in receiving a large amount of cotton below expected quality, combined with unfavourable changes to cotton prices on the British market could seriously damage the potential profits of a Lancashire cotton dealer or spinner.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A common practice developed whereby Lancashire men gave instructions to Sandeman & Co to consign cotton entering Liverpool on ‗order' or giving the firm the name of their Liverpool agent. 113 Although not a perfect measurement as to the power of Lancashire men in Liverpool's cotton trade, the percentage of Brazilian cotton shipments consigned on ‗order' in Liverpool decreased from 29 percent in 1784-1802 to 16 percent in 1804-1815, suggesting a decrease in cotton importation by Lancashire dealers and manufacturers in the early nineteenth century. 114 Additionally, based on Sandeman's wine and order book, Lancashire men asked for their shipments to be consigned to at 2.6).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The surviving business papers of Francis Reynolds, who worked as a cotton broker in Liverpool by August 1809, attest to the general pattern of operations. In the 1790s, Reynolds, a raw and yarn cotton dealer in Blackburn, occasionally bought cotton from Waterhouse or other Liverpool brokers, 113 and sold cotton to local spinners one or two bags at a time, extending credit to his clients of two & two months. 114 After he moved to Liverpool, Reynolds followed the general pattern of brokerage transactions, giving short-term credit extensions to his buying clients of ten days' credit with the sum of the transactions payable by a three months' bill.…”

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“… Fitton and Wadsworth, p. 282. 112 Wine and Cotton Order Book, 1792-1809, Sandeman and Sons & Co, CLC/B/196/MS08645, LMA 113. For example, Daintry, Ryle & Co of Macclesfield gave instructions to Sandeman & Co in 1802 for their fifty bags of cotton to be sent to order; other examples include Alsop, Robert & Co of Bolton in 1800, and Robert Rider of Manchester in 1801, Wine and Cotton Order Book, 1792-1809, Sandeman and Sons & Co, CLC/B/196/MS08645, LMA 114.…”

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Liverpool and the Raw Cotton Trade: A Study of the Port and its Merchant Community, 1770-1815

Krichtal¹

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<p>This thesis examines the port of Liverpool, its merchant community, and the growth of the raw cotton trade from its initial rise c. 1770 to the end of the Napoleonic period in 1815. By constructing a large database from Liverpool import lists published in Lancashire newspapers, combined with surviving cotton planter, merchant, and manufacturer papers, this thesis analyses: first, the rise of Liverpool as a major British cotton port and the geographical shifts in the port‘s cotton supply from the West Indies to Guyana, Brazil, and the United States; then second, the organisation of Liverpool‘s cotton trade in the Atlantic basin and at home. The port‘s cotton trade and the form of cotton procurement developed out of the pre-existing trading conditions prior to the cotton boom between Liverpool and each cotton cultivation region, and underwent major re-organisation in the early nineteenth century. Liverpool‘s cotton trade attracted new merchants who specialised in the import-export trade with one major region. Therefore, as cotton cultivation expanded from the West Indies to northern South America and the southern United States, the Liverpool market underwent a de-concentration from an oligopoly in the hands of few large cotton merchants to a more competitive market with many cotton importers. Ultimately, greater specialisation of Liverpool‘s cotton merchant and brokerage community resulted in increased efficiency in the importing, marketing, and selling of cotton on the British market, while a de-concentration of the Liverpool market provided the right market conditions to ward off artificially high prices, fostering the development of a cheap supply of raw cotton needed to sustain industrialisation of the British cotton industry in the nineteenth century.</p>

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