University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1976 TURMOIL IN A CITY AND AN EMPIRE; BRISTOL'S FACTIONS, 1700-1775 RONALD H. QUILICI Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation QUILICI, RONALD H., "TURMOIL IN A CITY AND AN EMPIRE; BRISTOL'S FACTIONS, 1700-1775" (1976). Doctoral Dissertations. 1146. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1146 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road. Tyler's Green High Wycombe. Bucks. England HP10 8HR Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 77-10,264 QU1LICI, Ronald H., 1943- TURMOIL IN A CITY AND AN EMPIRE; BRISTOL'S FACTIONS, 1700-1775. University of New Hampshire, Ph.D., 1976 History, modern Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan4 8 ioe © 1977 RONALD H. QUILICI ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TURMOIL IN A CITY AND AN EMPIRE; BRISTOL'S FACTIONS, 1700-1775 by R.H. QUILICI B.A., University of Portland, 1965 M.A., University of New Hampshire, 1973 A THESIS Submitted to the University of New Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate School Department of History December, 1976 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This thesis has been examined and approved. cJLjl s GAj Thesis director, Charles E. Clark, Prof. of History rett B.Rutma^^Prqf. of History - Marc L. Schwarz, Assoc. ProfZ3of History Robert C. Puth, Assoc. Prof.of Economics Donald J. Wilcox, Prof./of Histo'ry U September 7. 1976 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES...................................... iv LIST OF MAPS AND GRAPHS............................. v ABSTRACT............................................ vi NOTE.................................................. x I . INTRODUCTION.......................................... 1 II. THE CITY.............................................. 7 III. THE PARISH........................................... 38 IV . OVERSEAS TRADE...................................... 90 V. MERCHANTS........................................... 140 VI. ONE BODY CORPORATE AND POLITICAL................... 185 VII. CRISIS OF THE SEVENTIES............................ 233 VIII. CONCLUSION.......................................... 265 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................... 271 APPENDICES......................................... 278 BIOGRAPHICAL DATA..................................339 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES 1. St. Augustine Parish, Street and Holdings 1722-1776........................................... 61 2. Statistical Summary of Tax Assessments, St. Augustine Parish, 1722-1776........................ 61 3. Occupational Distribution, St. Augustine's Parish...............................................78 4. A Comparison of the number of ships to and from Bristol and Liverpool in 1764................ 91 5. Distribution of Overseas Trade of England and Wales, 1699-1774.................................... 93 6. Imports and Exports of England and Wales, 1726- 1774.................................................97 7. Bristol Overseas Shipping, 1700-1775; tonnages of vessels entering from overseas ports.......... 104 8. Population of Bristol Market Region, 1701-1781, in thousands....................................... 128 9. Admissions into Merchant Status................... 151 10. Burgess Registrations, Election Cycles, 1713, 1727, 1740, 1754, 1768, 1775...................... 191 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF MAPS AND GRAPHS Map of the City of Bristol, c. 1775......................... 13 Map of the Parishes of St. Augustine the Less.............. 41 Graph 1, Lorenz Curves Position Plots....................... 71 Graph 2, Distribution of Tax Assessments, Absolute Frequency........................................... 73 Graph 3, Distribution of Tax Assessments, Percentage Frequency........................................... 74 Graph 4, Occupational Distribution Fluctuations, Absolute Frequency..................................76 Graph 5, Occupational Distribution Fluctuations, Percentage Frequency............................... 77 Graph 6, Summary of Bristol Economic Indicators........... 114 Graph 7, Registrations, Apprentice and Burgess............ 195 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT TURMOIL IN A CITY AND AN EMPIRE; BRISTOL'S FACTIONS, 1700-1775 by R.H. QUILICI In Bristol's City Centre, Edmund Burke stands in black bronze on a gray base. Round about the city's most famous MP, autobuses disgorge commuters along curbs once quaysides where merchantmen discharged cargoes. Although no longer the second port of the kingdom, Bristol is still a trading city and nearby to Burke's perch there remain buildings and streets that were new when, in the early eighteenth century, none but London rivaled the volume of shipping commanded by Bristol merchants. The eighteenth century was a more prosperous period for other British ports and Bristol had already lost its second place position when the revolt of the thir­ teen American colonies once again crushed the city's trade vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bristol's shipping had been slowly rebuilding since a long depression in the 1730s and 40s and the city's mer­ cantile community well knew what the consequences of American hostilities would be to their trade. Nevertheless, Bristol merchants did not, could not, unite in a single strong voice to protest their forthcoming economic disaster. The source of mercantile disunity is the main theme of this study. Eighteenth century Bristol was in transistion. Walls, gates, and corporate institutions of a medieval city were crumbling. New streets cut open barriers to traffic flow. New economics cut open citizenship to any man. New men rose up, old families died off. There remained old guild and government forms and traditional honors. The new men wished political power and the traditional honors for themselves and their sons. The old guard had to share power when their heirs did not survive economic disruptions. In their turn new men became old guard and new men rose again. Cycles of political solidar­ ity and instability came and went in the councils of city governemnt and merchant gui1'3 The economic and p *al emersion of a group of merchants who belong to the Presbyterian congregation at Lewin's Mead was central to the political developments of vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mid-eighteenth century Bristol. Building upon the accom­ plishments of prior generations, the Presbyterians began to politically emerge in the 1730s. By the 1760s