Robert Bostock (1743, Tarvin – 24 September 1793, Liverpool) was an English slave trader, who was born in Tarvin, Cheshire.[1] He was held to be a "very considerable African merchant". His letterbooks for the period 1779-92 have been found to be very useful for historians researching the slave trade of that era. They provide information about his prolific career.[2] Which is ironic as his family tree now includes two mixed race Aboriginal branches.[3]
Early life
editRobert was the son of Peter Bostock, a joiner living in Tarvin and his wife Elizabeth, née Blease, who died shortly after Robert's birth. His father remarried two years later. However his second wife, Ann, also died, in 1748.[1]
Slave trader in Liverpool
editRobert married Elizabeth Wilkinson in Tarvin in 1770 and by 1772 was living in Liverpool. He joined the congregation of St Anne's Church, Liverpool, occupying three pews.[1] Charles Wilkinson was related to him and worked as his agent in London before settling on the Rio Pongo. Richard Bostock maintained correspondence with him there.[4]
Slave trading voyages
editThe information here is based on "Robert Bostock of Liverpool and the British Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast, 1769-93" by Denise Jones.[5] She uses the Voyage ids from the Slave Voyages database which she has collated with Bostock's Letterbook. The one exception from 1792 does not appear on the database.
| Voyage id | Ship | Date left | Date return | Captain | Owner | No. of enslaved Africans | Location in Africa | Location in Americas | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #91581 | Little Ben | 30 Aug 1769 | 1 June 1770 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe |
79 of 80* | Cape Mount | Dominica (DB) | This was a smaller ship, a sloop of 40 tons, later replaced by a larger ship |
| #91582 | Little Ben | 14 Aug 1770 | 7 June 1771 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe William Mason |
64 of 82* | Windward Coast | Dominica (DB) | |
| #91783 | Little Ben | 17 July 1771 | 17 April 1772 | Thomas Melling | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe William Mason |
65 of 83* | Windward Coast | Dominica (DB) | |
| #91801 | Townside | 23 Aug 1771 | 4 Sept 1772 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe William Mason |
197 of 230* | Windward Coast | Dominica (DB) | |
| #91896 | Little Ben | 7 July 1772 | 26 August 1773 | Thomas Melling | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe Thomas Harvey |
106 of 124* | Windward Coast | South Carolina (DB) | |
| #91802 | Townside | 23 Aug 1771 | John Barber | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe William Mason |
Shipwrecked near Cape Mount | ||||
| #91972 | Burrowes | 9 May 1773 | 1 April 1774 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe Thomas Harvey William Mason |
220 of 270* | Windward Coast | Barbados (DB) | |
| #91897 | Little Ben | 30 Sept 1773 | Thomas Melling | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe Thomas Harvey |
0 of 230* | Windward Coast | South Carolina (DB) | Shipwrecked off coast of Africa | |
| #92517 | Burrowes | 29 May 1774 | 26 May 1775 | Robert Withington | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe Thomas Harvey William Mason |
168 of 206* | Windward Coast | Barbados (DB) | |
| #91973 | Bostock | 20 April 1776 | 27 Jan 1777 | James Briggs | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe Rob Green William Kirke Rob Oliphant James Briggs |
328 of 359* | Bonny | Saint Croix (DB) | |
| #92591 | Matty and Betty | 4 June 1777 | John Hewan | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe |
328 of 359* | Africa (unspecified) | Martinique (DB) | Ship captured by an American privateer off Barbadoes. The enslaved Africans on board and taken to Martinique. Insurance deemed fraudulent by a London jury, 29 May 1780.[6] | |
| #92478 | Little Ben | 26 October 1778 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Ratcliffe |
195 of 210* | Africa (unspecified) | Jamaica (DB) | This was another larger ship, a brig named Little Ben, (100 tons) | |
| #80704 | Bud | 23 June 1783 | 12 June 1784 | John Spuritt | Robert Bostock Thomas Foxcroft William Rice James Welsh Felix Doran George Welch |
175 of 189* | Cape Mount | St Kitts (DB) | |
| #80587 | Bloom | 13 Aug October 1783 | 4 Nov 1784 | Robert Bostock | Robert Bostock Thomas Foxcroft William Rice Aretas Warton Felix Doran George Welch James Welch |
307* | Cape Mount | Antigua (DB) | In Antigua he sold the enslaved Africans for £35-£45 a head. He then bought a cargo of molasses and tobacco with which he returned to Liverpool. The profit of the trip was £9,635 9s 7d, of which he received £360 14s 3d.[7] |
- 1786: Bostock purchased the schooner Jemmy, of 86 tons (bm) which he then captained. They departed Liverpool on 3 April 1786. He acquired an estimated 161 enslaved Africans on the Windward Coast. He transported the captives to Antigua, where he arrived with 150.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Robert Bostock (1743 - 1793)". www.bostock.net. Bill Bostock. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ Morgan, Kenneth. "Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792 - Description". British Online Archives. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "Bostocks of Chester and Australia". www.bostock.net. Bill Bostock. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ Lovejoy, Paul E.; Richardson, David (2007). "African Agency and the Liverpool Slave Trade". Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery. Liverpool University Press.
- ^ Jones, Denise (2014). Lovejoy, Paul; Schwarz, Suzanne (eds.). "Robert Bostock of Liverpool and the British Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast, 1769-93". Slavery, Abolition and the Transition to Colonisation in Sierra Leone. Africa World Press: 69–88.
- ^ John Weskett (1781). A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance. Frys, Couchman, & Collier. pp. 233–237.
- ^ Lloyd, Christopher (12 November 2012). The Navy and the Slave Trade: The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-25786-5.
- ^ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Jemmy voyage #82002.