Irish Maritime Trade in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Patterns of Trade, Market Structures, and Merchant Communities Karen A. Cheer A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 2008 i Abstract Ireland has a centuries‑long history of maritime and economic interaction with Great Britain and other more distant communities on the Atlantic rim. In the last forty years of academic writing on the main themes of Ireland’s economic history, very few historians have examined the late‑eighteenth century maritime trade data. The original Customs logs or port books are lost but other sources of information remain. This thesis uses a new source of information, Richard Eaton’s A Daily and Alphabetical Arrangement of all Imports and Exports at the Port of Dublin, in the Quarter ending the 25 th March, 1785, as well as the shipping reports contained in the daily newspapers of the time to create a micro‑history of the maritime and mercantile interaction between Ireland and her trading partners. Eaton’s “List” not only gives us a complete tally of the goods exported from, and imported into Dublin in the first three months of 1785 but the customs official also recorded the names of each merchant or firm operating in Dublin at that time. This is the first time that such detailed information has been available to scholars and it is unavailable from any other source. The focus is on Dublin in 1785 and a comparison is made with another Irish port city ― Belfast. Change over time is measured by using data for the same focal cities in 1770. Ireland’s key market is England and Liverpool is the increasingly popular destination for goods leaving Dublin and the port of lading for goods arriving in Dublin. Using the databases created for the purpose, this thesis analyses the relationship between Dublin/Belfast and Liverpool and discusses the patterns of trade and market structures. Although every export/import sector had a group of leading merchants, no single merchant or small group of merchants were able to wield sufficient market power to exclude competitors. All sectors of the merchant communities of Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool ― regardless of whether they dealt in primary produce, linen products or merchants’ goods ― were general merchants, with little evidence of specialisation. Irish Maritime Trade in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Patterns of Trade, Market Structures, and Merchant Communities Karen A. Cheer Corrected and lodged April 2009 ii Table of Contents Abstract (i) Table of Contents (ii) Acknowledgements (iii) List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables (iv) Introduction 1 Chapter One 8 Richard Eaton’s “List” Chapter Two 39 Patterns of Trade and Market Structure Chapter Three 59 Ireland’s “Provisioning” Trade with England through the Port of Liverpool Chapter Four 81 The Merchant Communities of Dublin, Belfast, and Liverpool Conclusion 116 Appendices 119 Bibliography 124 iii Acknowledgements My very sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Stephen D. Behrendt, for his generosity ― time and knowledge, encouragement and support ― all given without hesitation throughout my studies and also to Professor Donald MacRaild who co‑supervised until October 2006 when he took up a position at the University of Ulster. Thank you also to the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women for financial assistance that enabled me to undertake my Master of Arts by thesis studies. Without their assistance I would not have been able to follow my passion. Without a grant from the Robert & Kezia Chapman Trust, administered by the Dublin Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Dublin, I would not have been able to visit the repositories in Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool; I shall always be grateful for the opportunity I was given. Thank you to the volunteers from the Historical Committee of the Dublin Meeting, Religious Society of Friends, who so ably act as custodians of the resources of the Quaker Library in Stocking Lane, Dublin and who made me feel very welcome. I regret that my final manuscript does not fully utilise all the material I gathered about the Quaker merchants, but I do intend to use the material elsewhere. Justin Cargill, Neal Garnham, and John Singleton ― thank you for answering my questions and emails, commenting on my work, and encouraging me for the duration of my thesis work. Thank you also to my cohorts and peers, and my workmates in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University for their camaraderie, gentle cajoling and words of wisdom. Jack, thank you for all your support and encouragement, and for letting me juggle the two projects. Thank you to the staff of the following repositories: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Belfast; Queen’s University, Belfast ― Library and Special Collections; Belfast City Library ― Local History Room; Trinity College, Dublin ― Early Printed Books section; National Library of Ireland, Dublin; National Archives, Dublin; Dublin City Library & Archives; Liverpool Hope University ― History Department, and Shepparton‑Worlock Library; Liverpool Record Office; Parliamentary Library, Wellington; Victoria University Library, in particular the inter‑loans team and the AV suite personnel, and finally to the various libraries all round the world who have allowed very old (and some not‑so‑old) books from their collections to come to the other side of the world for me to use. Most of all, thank you to my son Tristram and my friends for understanding, and to my mother Henrietta Dawn Cheer, from whom I inherited a thirst for knowledge. 9 December 2008. iv List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables Illustrations: page 1.1 Front cover, Richard Eaton, A Daily and Alphabetical Arrangement of all Imports and Exports at the Port of Dublin, in the Quarter ending the 25 th March, 1785 8 1.2 Eaton’s “List” ― An example: Hides exported from the port of Dublin 10 1.3 Eaton’s “List” ― Exports: an explanation 11 1.4 Eaton’s “List” ― An example: Imports into the port of Dublin 28 1.5 Eaton’s “List” ― Imports: an explanation 29 2.1 The Dublin Custom House near Essex Bridge, 1782 40 2.2 Port news, port of Dublin from Freeman’s Journal 41 2.3 The New Lloyd’s List ― vessel movements in and out of ports 48 2.4 Belfast News‑Letter banner 53 3.1 Port News, port of Liverpool from the Manchester Mercury 71 Maps: 2.0 North Atlantic Ocean 39 3.0 Liverpool, 1798 59 4.0 Dublin, 1798 81 4.1 Belfast, 1791 81 Tables: 1.1 Country or region of destination 12 1.2 Port of destination in England 14 1.3 Port of destination in Scotland 15 1.4 Port of destination in Europe 16 1.5 Port of destination in the American Colonies 17 1.6 Exports from Dublin, analysed by commodity 20 1.7 Country or region of lading of imports into Dublin 33 1.8 Ports of lading in England 34 1.9 Dublin imports: ports of lading in Europe 36 2.1 Vessel movements out of Dublin, 1785 42 2.2 Revised results ― vessel movements out of Dublin, 1785 43 2.3 Revised results ― vessel movements out of Dublin, 1770 45 2.4 Abstract of export values, 1770‑1800 47 2.5 Vessel movements into Dublin, 1785 49 2.6 Vessel movements outwards, Belfast, 1770 and 1785 54 2.7 Vessel movements outwards from Belfast in 1785 compared with vessel movements outwards from Dublin, 1785 55 v Tables, continued: page 2.8 Commodities despatched from Belfast, 1770 and 1785 56 2.9 Vessel movements inwards, Belfast, 1770 and 1785 57 2.10 Vessel movements into Belfast, 1785 compared with vessel movements into Dublin, 1785 57 3.1 Provisions exported from Ireland, 1770‑1790 61 3.2 Percentage of total imports into England 62 3.3 Liverpool: consignments arriving from Ireland stated in percentages ― Comparison 1770 with 1785 62 3.4 Value of exports and imports, Ireland and England, 1700‑1800 63 3.5 Increased exports from Ireland to Great Britain, 1770‑1790 64 3.6 All shipping movements into Liverpool, 1785 72 3.7 Vessel arrivals in Liverpool from Belfast, 1785 74 3.8 Vessel arrivals in Liverpool from Dublin, 1785 75 4.1 Concentration ratios, exports of butter and linen cloth from Dublin to all destinations in the first quarter of 1785 108 4.2 Liverpool: summary of butter market concentration ratios for 1770 and 1785 110 4.3 Liverpool: summary of quantities of butter imported from Ireland by port of lading, 1770 and 1785 111 4.4 Liverpool: summary of quantities of linen cloth imported from Ireland, by port of lading, 1770 and 1785 112 4.5 Summary of linen cloth market concentration ratios for 1770 and 1785 112 4.6 Concentration ratios, 1785 compared for butter and linen 114 1 Introduction Ireland has a centuries‑long history of maritime and economic interaction with Great Britain and other more distant communities on the Atlantic rim. Until relatively recently, however, historians have avoided anything other than rudimentary analysis of Ireland’s maritime economic history. Instead they have focussed on the social and political history of the country with large numbers of books written on the Irish Diaspora, the Act of Union 1801, and the nineteenth century famine. As a consequence very little is known, other than brief summaries and annual totals, of the composition of the shipments of goods, market structures or the communities of merchants who facilitated the exports and imports of Ireland in the eighteenth century. In the last forty years of academic writing on the main themes of Ireland’s economic history, very few historians have examined the late‑eighteenth century maritime trade data to remedy this situation.