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

Robert 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

Robert 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

The 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

  1. 1 2 3 "Robert Bostock (1743 - 1793)". www.bostock.net. Bill Bostock. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  2. Morgan, Kenneth. "Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792 - Description". British Online Archives. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  3. "Bostocks of Chester and Australia". www.bostock.net. Bill Bostock. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. Lovejoy, Paul E.; Richardson, David (2007). "African Agency and the Liverpool Slave Trade". Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery. Liverpool University Press.
  5. 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.
  6. John Weskett (1781). A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance. Frys, Couchman, & Collier. pp. 233–237.
  7. 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.
  8. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Jemmy voyage #82002.
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