Trade and Traders in Mid-Victorian Liverpool Mercantile Business and the Making of a World Port

by Milne, Graeme

• ISBN13: 9780853236061
• ISBN10: 0853236062
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Summary

This book charts the development of Liverpool's trade, shipping and business culture in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Using previously neglected evidence, it assesses the causes and consequences of major changes in the port's economy, and considers the activities of the international trading community that had to work in this complex business environment. Shipowners and merchants confronted difficult choices, whether in adopting the new steamship technology, diversifying into new commodity trades, competing for government contracts, or managing their port through the elected Mersey Docks & Harbour Board.

Author Biography

Graeme J. Milne is William McQuie Mather Research Fellow, University of Liverpool/NMGM. He was formerly Research Fellow on The Portbooks Programme at the University of Wolverhampton

Table of Contents

Plan of the Mersey docks, c. 1860	vi
Preface	vii
List of tables	ix
List of figures	x
Introduction: Boom, bust, crisis and opportunity	1	(20)
Part I: Patterns and contexts
Shipping in an era of transition and opportunity	21	(25)
Trade, diversification, regions and commodities	46	(19)
Accommodating diversity: Port infrastructure	65	(30)
Part II: The dynamics of mercantile business
Function, specialisation and integration	95	(28)
Capital, credit, growth and control	123	(23)
Insecurity, information and reputation	146	(23)
Part III: Institutions and influence
Constraint and opportunity: Government contracting	169	(27)
Interest, faction and port management	196	(23)
Conclusion: Trading in interesting times	219	(3)
Notes on sources	222	(3)
Notes on abbreviations	225	(6)
Bibliography	231	(10)
Index	241