bc8 - The Blackheath Connection

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Redevelopment of the convict service from 1716: Property in the service of the body of the convict: Before Duncan Campbell's reappearance:

Between 1713 and 1720, England suffered its stupendous, almost humourous, surge of investment optimism resulting in the astonishing case of The South Sea Bubble, a spectacular financial house of cards partly-built around foundations made of yet more fantasies about freebooting Spanish domains in the silver-rich South Americas. ([1])

The arrival of peace in 1713 (the Treaty of Utrecht) after twelve years of war with France sparked a sudden upsurge in serious crime. Military demobilization set loose thousands of toughened young men in the London area needing employment (this happened again at the end of the Seven Years War and at the close of the American Revolution). ([2]) Since the idea of a full-time police force engendered widespread alarm, London and other urban areas depended on amateur guardians, inefficient constables and watchmen who laboured under a heavy workload and could be bribed as easily as many of their superiors could. But in the number of convicts transported, which grew by 1775 to about 1000 per year, convict transportation can hardly be seen as merely a policing measure - and hardly seen as an adequate policing measure. More so as the punishment of transportation was applied so arbitrarily. In some senses, the system went underground, to become a dark underside of Imperialism.

Changes made in 1717-1718 to the legislation regarding transportation came in an atmosphere of absurd economic optimism which led to the belief that the demand for labour in the American colonies would rise. Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1714-1718 ([3]) suggests that the lower orders got away relatively easily with the 1718 Act, compared to what might have been if the House of Lords had not inspected what the Houses of Commons originally proposed - as earlier noted.

One of the first ships listed as departing England in the convict service, in December 1716, was Lewis, Capt. Roger Laming, for Jamaica. ([4]) She was probably named in honour of the new Hanoverian Prince of Wales, Frederick Lewis, as Lewis was a rarity as a ship name to that date. (Or, was she named for George I himself, George Lewis?) In early 1717 the Treasury paid merchant Francis March £108 to transport 54 felons aboard three vessels to Jamaica. ([5]) Soon, transportation to Jamaica was to be superseded.

Peter Coldham's ([6]) initial lists note one vessel departing England in May 1718, landing prisoners at Barbados and Antigua. The first ship Coldham lists for North America, departing England in May 1718, was Tryal (Capt. unknown) for South Carolina. (Carolina had originally been hoped-for as a refuge for Scots debtors). Tryal's captain possibly answered to Jonathan Forward. ([7]) Kept in the service for many years, Tryal would gain notoriety as a fever ship because of the tragedy - the death of his family - that befell the Welsh poet Goronwy Owen in 1757. Owen later taught in Virginia. ([8])

Departing England in August 1718 was Eagle Capt. Robert Staples for South Carolina, ([9]) which probably sailed also for Jonathan Forward, for by now he was the major London merchant involved. ([10]) Beginning in August 1718, the Treasury had awarded Forward, a 33-year-old Londoner, £3 for every convict transported from London and seven nearby counties. ([11]) This was the first appearance of a bounty being given for the transportation of a felon. Forward had been recommended for the contract by the Solicitor-General, William Thomson, a 39-year-old MP from Ipswich. Thomson had earlier served for three years as Recorder of London, and had therefore obviously impressed the City with his abilities.

Forward operated from a Cheapside house on Fenchurch Street. He had experience in the Atlantic slave trade and had links to the tobacco trade in Virginia and Maryland. ([12]) Forward as a slaver was not well reported until Coldham suggested his ship Jonathan regularly sailed in the slave trade, until she sank at Antigua in 1717, leaving Forward in need of new business. Coldham notes from records of lawsuits, Forward took on the assigneeships of bankrupt tobacco dealers, one of whom was John Goodwin. Forward in 1717 had transported 131 convicts to Maryland and in July 1718 he shipped another 40. Thomson considered Forward ready to take felons at a lower rate than other merchants - simple price undercutting. As an indication of the commercial imagination at work, Forward once suggested that a penal settlement be founded at Nova Scotia. ([13]) Nova Scotia had been given attention by Scots colonists in 1620, but in 1629, Britain had abandoned her efforts on Nova Scotia as part of Charles I' peace plan with France. (Otherwise, till after 1788, Englishmen regularly entertained fantasies of sending convicts to Nova Scotia.) ([14])

Coldham notes, Forward's first convict ship in 1717 was Dolphin, master/owner Gilbert Poulson. Later, Poulson sued Forward, Dolphin was impounded and ended unseaworthy, Forward's Maryland assets worth £2000 were seized, Lord Baltimore obstructed Forward's endeavours, law suits dragged on. During the fracas, Forward used another of his ships from the slave trade, Eagle, Capt. Robert Staple (September 1718).

The commercial restructuring of the situation allowed by the 1718 legislation was astutely observed by the novelist, Defoe, who quickly and ironically presented the issues in Moll Flanders. ([15]) Here a comment on the small effect of protest literature on widespread social evils can be employed. Defoe pointed out many practical and theoretical flaws in the new legislation, the way prisoners could make a mockery of the intentions of legislation. There is little if any evidence his book had the slightest effect on the views of the officials administering the punishment of transportation till the punishment ceased. Yet, Moll Flanders is widely regarded as a highly successful literary work, often set as a university text. By contrast, the abolition of slavery was accomplished by moral pressure, research, activism and pamphleteering, much less by the production of "works of literature".

A colonial governor had first asked specifically for convict labour in 1611. During the April parliamentary sessions of 1718, 27 of 51 felons were ordered transported. ([16]) From then until 1769, more than two thirds of all Old Bailey felons, or 69.5 per cent, were banished to America. Only 15.5 per cent were given the death penalty. But little matter of present interest arose until 1717-1718, when the new legislation ([17]) entrenched the custom of (or, the obsession for) banishing the offender, when a better-made carapace of authoritarianism was placed over the matter. ([18]) The documentation from 1717 is initially meagre, but the purpose of the Transportation Act of 1718 was to "deter criminals and supply the colonies with servile labour".

The Act of 1718 formally revived the convict service to North America; previously, most convicts had been sent to the West Indies. From 1718, convicts from the Western Circuit were turned over to six different contractors by the Circuit Justices. Some prisoners from the Midlands were turned over to Jonathan Forward and Andrew Reid, as A. E. Smith has recorded. ([19]) It seems Forward and Reid shared available felons without stepping on each other's toes.

Between 1718 and 1772, when the bounty system was rescinded, Treasury paid out more than £86,00 in subsidies, funding the transportation of nearly 18,000 felons. ([20]) Forward dominated the trade (and the lucrative London-only subsidy) for nearly 20 years. ([21]) The traffic attracted vessels such as the ship Worcester Capt. Edwin Tomkins departing England for Maryland in February 1719; and on 19 September, 1719 the ship Margaret. ([22])

Coldham also writes, there departed England in May 1719, Margaret Capt. William Greenwood for Maryland. ([23]) Kellock (after masterful research) mentions a firm, Greenwood and Higginson, whose earliest principal had been John Beswicke, a trader to Africa who went to South Carolina, and was later at Cheapside, London, a partner with William Greenwood and his own nephew William Higginson. In 1773, this firm organised tea for Leger and Greenwood at Charles Town; they also dealt in tea with Andrew Lord and William and George Ancrum, with their own ship the London, Capt. Curling as the carrier. ([24]) Greenwoods evidently obtained their start in business by engaging in the convict service.

Similar may apply to the tobacco merchant names Graham and Russell. Departing England in July 1772 was Alexander Capt. John Graham for Nevis. (Coldham). (From Linebaugh's information, ([25]) she probably was also linked to Jonathan Forward the convict contractor).

Graham, Johnson and Co., operating in Georgia and South Carolina, possibly had links to Graham, Clark and Co. of 4 Billiter Square, London in 1769. They may have been linked to Frank and Bickerton. ([26]) Graham Frank signed an anti-Wilkite address that so annoyed the Americans colonists; and Nortons had great regard for this firm, which stopped payment in 1773. Bickerton then went to Virginia to try to collect debts, leaving his partner Graham Frank behind at their counting house at 8 Rood Lane, Fenchurch Street. In 1790 they claimed a pre-war debt of £29,385 in Virginia. Olson notes that rivals with Nutt in Carolina business were Graham, Johnson and Co., who were "apolitical" on trade issues. ([27])

Jacob Price reports that after the 1707 Union in Scotland, Glasgow's imports of American tobacco rose spectacularly, to six million pounds by 1722. Stagnation set in till about 1740, when the Scots began to erode the English in the tobacco trade, till the percentage import was 60 per cent English, 40 per cent Scottish. ([28]) Glasgow remained pre-eminent in the Scottish trade volume. Price reports also that by the 1720s, there was a significant Scottish mercantile presence resident in Virginia. Scots merchants originally used the consignment system from the larger planters (Duncan Campbell in London later used the consignment system) but they later changed to the store system. ([29]) The marketing season in tobacco extended from 10 November with an inspection of the crop to the following August. September-October was a slack period when merchants took stock and made out accounts. With the store system, merchants could stockpile tobacco and make a quicker turnaround of ships, thus saving money and selling rapidly in bulk to Europe. ([30]) Glasgow merchants sold considerable tobacco to the French.

By the 1740s, some Virginians and also Londoners in the trade deeply resented the Scots pre-eminence, attributing it to "fraud, indulgence, collusion, corruption and perjury". (Effective capital may have had more to do with it - a Glasgow tobacco trading house usually had to have about £20,000 behind it). ([31]) Duncan Campbell in time would deal with several noted Glasgow tobacco traders.

In London, the Treasury and Jonathan Forward made an agreement on 8 August, 1718 which allowed Forward a monopoly on convict contracting. ([32]) In 1719 he wanted higher fees for his services, partly since tobacco prices were low. The Treasury gave in. Departing England in October 1722 was Forward Capt. Dan Russell for Maryland (listed in Coldham). He may have been linked with the later career of James Russell and his brother William. From 1768 to 1792, William Russell was Duncan Campbell's agent in Maryland. If Capt. Dan Russell was linked with Forward, this might explain the long association between William Russell and Duncan Campbell, since Campbell as convict contractor became the inheritor of all the benefits of the convict service managed from London. Linebaugh ([33]) reports that in 1722, Forward, otherwise a tobacco merchant, used the convict ship Alexander. (Linebaugh also treats convicts returning from transportation about then, a la Defoe's novel, Moll Flanders.)

In the colonies, the certificates of convicts' arrivals were signed by the governors or custom officials, and then the ships' masters delivered their convicts to colonial agents or factors who "sold" the convicts into the labour market. These factors often dealt in tobacco exporting, and importing and distributing finished goods of British manufacture. Complex networks were built. One of the first ships listed for Virginia in 1720 was ------ Honour Capt. Richard Langley. The convicts rose during a storm at sea, took the ship and sailed her to the Spanish coast. ([34]) By this time, family partnerships were to be attracted into the trade. About 23 April, 1720 John Lux, the mate of the ship Susannah and Sarah came to Annapolis. ([35]) Departing England in October 1720, was the ship Gilbert Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. ([36]) As noted earlier, men named Lux were to have a long engagement in the convict service from London. Coldham notes, Darby Lux had Forward's new ship Jonathan, sank by a fire in 1724.

About 18 May, 1721 Capt. Darby Lux was on Gilbert, probably on his second voyage ([37]). He made eleven more voyages in the convict service, seven on Patapsco Merchant. Darby Lux's last voyage was in 1738, after which he settled in Maryland to act as general agent for Forward, and he still acted in Maryland as Forward's agent in 1749. ([38]) Another name seen again after 1722 was James Cheston, of Bristol connections, who was in the trade in the 1720s with the ship Isabella. ([39]) His surname is seen in convict service records to 1775, so two generations of the Cheston family were probably involved.

The ship -------- Honour arrived in Annapolis in Maryland in 1722 with 20 of her 61 prisoners dead by the rigours of the voyage. (The normal loss of convicts transported was one in seven). By about 1724, Jonathan was being used between London to Annapolis. Some of Forward's colonial factoring was done by either William Blewitt or Charles Delafaye. ([40]) The naming of convict service ships or captains often provides clues - as to favoured destinations for convicts such as the Rappahanock River ([41]), to the relatives of the ship owner, to the owner's political affiliations, and so on. Fashions in ship naming sometimes reflected changes in the political climate, and ship names possessed definite symbolism for their owners. Early in the convict service, many ship names gloried in enthusiasm for places and feelings American, that is, Virginian.

Records can tie up neatly. Olson records that to 1721, ([42]) the Virginia colonial agents John Povey and Nehemiah Blakiston used Micajah Perry as their banker. Virginian records reveal an answer of merchant Micajah Perry, merchant, refusing to take 50 women convicts to Virginia; they were sent instead to the Leeward Islands. ([43]) Some isolated facts: Forward's Virginian agent complained to Forward in 1725 about the behaviour of the ship Forward's captain and supercargo, each sleeping with women prisoners, or being too generous to the prisoners. On 31 August, 1726 arrived in America the convict ship Rappahanock. ([44]) (In 1724, her captain John Jones for Forward caught smallpox and died out of Falmouth). Another early glorification of the Rappahanock River was in the naming of the convict ship Rappahanock Merchant, departing England in December 1724, Capt. John Jones for Virginia. ([45]) In 1725 she was commanded by Capt. Edward Brockett, a drunkard who almost wrecked his ship on that voyage to Virginia and "squandered provisions". He was replaced, and in November 1725 Rappahanock Merchant was commanded by Capt. Chas Whale for Virginia. ([46]) And in 1725, Forward was suing the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire over a convict contract, the ship Forward finally being involved in October 1724. Convicts being collected from the Humber had escaped and caused trouble; of those recaptured, only one survived the voyage across the Atlantic, where Forward's Maryland factor was John Moal. Other Forward associates were Peter Casey of Middlesex, Major George Braxton sixty miles from Yorktown Va., and colonials George Tilly, James Horsenail.

Between 1729-1745, Treasury annually paid more than £1400 to be rid of London and nearby felons. The subsidy was helpful to the convict service merchants because it evened out fluctuations in the costs of transportation and in the price of labour in the colonies. Government however paid attention chiefly to the crime rate in the most heavily populated areas. For example, in 1730 the Justices of Warwickshire asked that their felons be included in the Treasury contract for the removal of convicts, but Treasury declined the request, probably due to cost factors. ([47]) This is significant, since even by 1790, it appears that county politicking about problems of crime cut little ice in London and its nearest major counties. That is, London politicians - the king's ministers and the Corporation of the City of London - often prevailed over questions of what was to be done with transportable felons. The provinces were forced to tag along.

Departing England in March 1729 was the Patapsco Merchant Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland, probably sailing for the ubiquitous Forward. ([48]) Departing England in November 1729 was Forward Capt. William Loney for Virginia, also probably for Forward. Coldham notes, Loney, sailing 1728-1737 had been swindling Forward before retiring to Hatton Garden in London. Forward reckoned Loney had been switching hogsheads and owed Forward £1400. Such tobacco-handling tricks were at the time arousing the industrial wrath of the influential Micajah Perry. ([49])

Pennsylvania in North America prohibited the entry of convicts in 1722. The prohibition - made for religious reasons? - must have been forceful, for no records concerning the direct entry of convicts into that colony have been cited. In contrast, the early history of Georgia has been compared, not very convincingly, to the early history of New South Wales, as Georgia began as a refuge for English debtors, the project inspired by Oglethorpe and assisted as an expression of charity by England's Freemasons. ([50]) Founded in 1733, Georgia was the last colony established by England in North America. Some distinguished upper-class English gentlemen became trustees of the colony, custodians of a 21-year charter, after which Georgia became a royal colony. The trustees were not to profit from the exercise, but had all power. Was Georgia a humanitarian project for debtors only? The project was guided by the notion that "idle" people could contribute after being transported. Promoter of the colony was James Oglethorpe, who helped apply this economic policy, but Georgia was also used as a barrier against the Spanish, which awakened Spanish resentment, as Spain believed England had encroached on Spanish territory. In Georgia, slavery and rum-drinking were forbidden, grants were made of 500 acres only. Georgia's first 20 years were brimmed with discontent; many of its settlers were of non-English birth. ([51])

Virginia and Maryland attempted from time to time in their assemblies to enact prohibitions or limitations to the entry of convicts, as in 1723. "Certainly the American provinces fought vigourously against the introduction of convicts..." Liberty [as in England] involved ideas of property protection, slaves being considered property. ([52]) Maryland tried again in 1755. ([53]) These colonies in 1723 attempted to enact a requirement that those who purchased an essential commodity, the "property in the service" of a convict, give a bond of £30 as a guarantee for the continued good behaviour of the said "servant". Generally, the London contractors affected by such colonial moves erupted in resentment and complained to the Treasury, successfully.

With the transportation of any "convict servant" the Crown had previously acquired a "property in the service of the body of the convict" by the act of the sentencing or reprieving a prisoner to transportation. Under regulations, this property was then let to a merchant prepared to carry a convict across the Atlantic, and such a merchant in effect sold the convict servant for a market price. Skilled men fetched a better price than unskilled, women got a lower price. The merchant was sometimes obliged to carry older felons, and had virtually to give them away to whoever would take them. But the legal effectuality of the transportation was independent of the "servant's" sale price; the sale could not proceed till the effectuality of the transportation had been proved.

Once the prisoners had been disposed of in the colonial labour market, the effectuality of the transportation was noted by colonial authorities. The colonial counter-signature was regarded and required at Treasury in London as proof of the effectuality of the transportation, then the merchant was paid his due. During the 1720s, possibly at the instigation of Jonathan Forward, the British Government began, or continued, to pay a bounty - £3 each for women, £5 each for men - as a continued incentive for merchants transporting felons across the Atlantic. But the payment of the incentive was often delayed.

"Effectual" meant that all legalities were observed regarding the convict being delivered properly to North America and to legal authorities there. The felon was not allowed to return to England until their period of servitude-in-banishment was completed. It meant that after delivery in England to a contractor, the prisoner was in the hands of private enterprise - mere fodder sold into the colonial labour market. This subsidy of transportation was all the interest the British Government took in felons after they were sentenced and put on a vessel. On the basis of the contracts they were given, John Stewart and Campbell later acquired a secure hold on the convict service their house did not relinquish until forced to do so by the American Revolution. Coldham regards Stewart as the most efficient contractor, providing greatest stability to the system. ([54])

While some captains behaved miserably, others were relatively humane, and many were stayers. One early stayer departing England in February 1736 was Capt. William Loney on the ship Dorsetshire for Virginia. Darby Lux also continued in the service. ([55]) The merchants and their captains dealt often with metropolitan and provincial turnkeys and minor legal officials. On 19 December, 1737, Jonathan Forward merchant, James Forward merchant and John Whiting, mariner, all of London, dealt with Miles Man, Esq., Common Clerk of the City of London, for various listed transportees. ([56])

Intricate research by mostly American historians reveals some of the commercial complexities involved. ([57]) For example... Capt. Darby Lux and Thomas Peters of Glasgow were linked in the matter of the transportation to Annapolis and Maryland of Daniel Crawford, and his subsequent freedom being transacted after payment by one Govan (1728-1731). This was a not-unusual case of a convict regaining freedom by arranging for friends or other agents to "purchase" his or her period of servitude. ([58]) Defoe had early identified this flaw in system in Moll Flanders, literally pouncing on it, almost with glee, because it provided such good opportunities for a picaresque plot. The problem Defoe pointed to was confusion about justice in the nature of the punishment. Was the punishment in being exiled, or being kept to servitude while exiled, or both? That problem remained to affect discussion, long later, of transportation-into-servitude to Australia.

If a convict could arrange to have their time at servitude purchased by agents, then the punishment was exile-only. What then of the question of others being sold into the labour market? These questions remained moral conundrums, since money questions could make a mockery of "justice". Defoe was correct in his early assessment, too, in that the convict service itself was picaresque. Colonialism itself was entirely picaresque, and often relied on varieties of organised freebooting, as with the issue to ships of letters of marque, along with hard winters on land, fights with Indians and a rising tide of feelings about political independence.

The name Lux surfaced again in 1736, for in May the Patapsco Merchant, Capt. Francis Lux departed England for Maryland. ([59]) By 1737, Francis Lux was again part of Forward's operations, departing England in September in Pretty Patsy for Maryland. ([60]) The impression is that the Lux boys had thrown in their commercial lot with Jonathan Forward and would serve him for years.

In 1733, Virginia merchants were in a flurry of worry, finding ways to react to the excise crisis of that year. ([61]) London's grouping of tobacco merchants shrank, reflecting a shift in tobacco trade from London to the outports; and as Jacob Price suggests, the development of an official French market gave opportunities to the merchants handling larger volumes of tobacco. But if fewer merchants were involved, there was also less leadership. After 1733, the core group shrank to five men: Micajah Perry (Virginia), John Hanbury (also trading to New York, Pennsylvania and Labrador), Samuel Hyde, James Buchanan (also South Carolina) and William Black (also South Carolina), who gave less leadership than earlier provided. ([62]) Glasgow commerce grew slowly from 1735 to 1750, though in 1740 came a change, as Scots merchants established agents in the colonies, and agents loaned to the planters etc.

Lyonel Lyde (1724-1791) was a second son of Lyonel Lyde, in 1753 the Mayor of Bristol, who combined the slave trade to Africa and Virginia with the tobacco trade. He sent his second son Lyonel to London as an agent, and by 1763 Lionel and Samuel Lyde were at Copthall Court, Throgmorton Street. They claimed in 1790 a post-war debt of £9113. They had dealt heavily in the Upper James River Naval District 1773-1775 buying tobacco with cash or bills on London, not on goods, a system which got the best tobacco leaves. In 1765 Lionel Lyde was a director of the Bank of England and in 1772 a baronet. In 1769 he signed the anti-Wilkite address. ([63])

Christopher Kilby (1705-1771) from Boston, from 1768 at 52 Bread Street, founded a firm Harrison and Ansley. Kilby arrived in London in 1739 as special agent for Massachusetts. By 1741 he replaced the usual agent, merchant Francis Wilks. ([64]) By 1745 the head of Sedgwick, Kilby and Barnard had died and Kilby married the Sedgwick widow (a sister of Richard Neave), and the firm became Kilby, Barnard and Parker. With political connections, Kilby got a share of government connections from the 1756 war with the French, and one contract here was shared with Sir William Baker. ([65]) Kilby's wife was a sister of Richard Neave, a rising merchant in the West Indies trade who by 1781 was a deputy governor of the Bank of England. The firm became Barnard and Co. of Sise Lane, Budge Row (Barnard and Harrison). (They later dealt in whale products with John Hancock of Boston, before Hancock went to George Hayley.) Later, Harrison and Barnard bankrupted. ([66]) The final firm in 1790 claimed pre-war debts of £24,684, in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

As may apply to the convict ship Captain Greenwood, to the tobacco merchant, Russell, may apply also to Anthony Bacon and others. Departing England in February 1740 was the ship York Capt. Anthony Bacon for Maryland. ([67]) An MP, one Anthony Bacon was victualling British troops in New York during the American Revolution. Departing England in January 1741 was Vernon, Capt. Henry Lee for Maryland. He may have been of the powerful Lee family of Maryland? ([68]) (At this time, a chronicler of the convict business was Francis Place). In November 1740, Jonathan Forward had chartered a former convict ship owned by Johnsons of Wapping, Loyal Margaret, and rotten too, to the West Indies. ([69])

From 1738-1747, the London agent for Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina had been James Abercromby. ([70]) About 1747, the Virginia colonial agent was John Tayloe, a name to be mentioned frequently as a Campbell correspondent. ([71]) From 1745-1748, times were a'changing. ([72]) On 20 December, 1745, John Hanbury in a letter to John Custis disparaged Micajah's Perry's out-of-date business methods. By the late 1740s, Perry and Hyde were bankrupting and had no relatives to revive their business. Olson comments, "They were a sad object lesson in the difficulties of combining political and mercantile careers". Various situations helped create longer and longer credit situations, and by 1750, many London merchants gave credit for a year without charging interest, then they charged usually five per cent. Many colonial families inter-related, and merchants found that to act against one was to risk driving many others away. ([73])

After 1763, the British government was short of income, and the belief arose there was more silver in the colonies than did exist, so there began an institution of measures to fix the sterling rates of exchange for silver. First came the Revenue Act of 1764, which extended the range of duties to be paid on imports. In 1765 came the Stamp Act, with stamps for business varying in price in silver from a penny to £10. The Americans were incensed. John Adams objected as among other things, business was "embarrassed", it would reduce the colonies' use of cash.

Departing England in August 1763 was the convict ship Beverly, Capt. Robert Allan for America. ([74]). The ship was probably part of the business interests of the Beverley family; ([75]) William Beverley of Virginia used Micajah Perry of London. By 12 July, 1737, Perry was partner with Thomas Lane. Peter Perry was the brother of Micajah in Virginia. In this time-frame can also be mentioned William Fitzhugh, and John Bland, Virginia tobacco merchant, 11 Lime Street, who dealt with the colonial Robert Beverly. Virginian history in particular has been extensively cross-referenced. The researcher can easily find details on tobacco merchants, ship movements, and the convict service, yet no one has yet co-ordinated all the available information. ([76])

For example, "The correspondence of Samuel Galloway, a merchant in Anne Arundel County, shows that in 1763 he owed L1097 to Silvanus Grove of London for goods." Galloway also in 1764 acquired a debt of L734 with Thomas Philpot of London. ([77]) One Brian Philpott (died 1759) was active in the tobacco trade as early as 1730. Later, Thomas Philpott was of 24 Bishopsgate, in 1769; he faltered in 1769 when Charles Diggs of Warburton Manor in Maryland died untimely, as Diggs had a store for them at Upper Marlborough. On 6 August, 1772, after the collapse of the Ayr Bank, John Norton, who traded with Lane referred to above, was grateful they had not failed like Philpott, who only got 10/- in the pound for various of his debts in Maryland. A great deal of this sort of information produced by historians has been ranged around the debt repudiation question arising with the onset of the American Revolution... To be discussed later...

In 1763, the Duke of Newcastle's departure ended an informal 45-year alliance between the old Whig government and the London moneyed interest. ([78]) Importantly, as Olson notes here, the Virginia merchants had revived in the 1750s and renewed their oversight of Virginia legislation. ([79]) The governor of Virginia and the Burgesses were taken by surprise with the American merchants' reactions to Newcastle's departure, so that by 1763 the governor, Francis Fauquier, wrote astonished about the "clamours" raised by merchants, the Burgesses thought themselves ill-used by the merchants. Maybe as early as autumn in 1763, the Virginia lobby in London formed a committee of 21 merchants. The committee when it met usually had three merchants trading to each colonial area, and between 1765 and 1775 it met at least 16 times. ([80]) Duncan Campbell became one of this lobby.

[1] John Carswell, The South Sea Bubble. London, Cressett Press, 1960.

[3] Vol. XIII, New Series, London, 1977., pp. 506-507ff.

[4] Coldham, Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, pp. 915-916.

[5] Treasury Order, 6 March, 1717; in William A. Shaw, Calendar of Treasury Books, London, 1905-57., XXXI, pp. 171-172.; cited in Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 70, Note 1.

[7] And the same in 1730. Departing England in March 1730 was the ship Patapsco Merchant Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. Probably for J. Forward. Departing England Nov. 1730 was the ship Forward Capt. Geo Buckeridge for Virginia. Probably for J. Forward. (Coldham).

[8] The story of the death of Owen's family on Tryal is told in Hugh J. Owen, From Merioneth to Botany Bay. Bala, Wales, R. Evans And Sons, 1952.

[10] GLRO, Misc. Ms, 38.4, mentions Bonds for J. Forward to arrange for the carriage of felons excluded from benefit of clergy.

[11] Forward's colonial agent at Leedstown, Virginia, was Jonathan Sydenham, originally from London; Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 120.

[12] Coldham, Emigrants in Chains, p. 61, pp. 71ff.

[15] See Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, first published in 1722.

[19] About 1718. A. E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage, p. 115 writes convicts were assigned to six different contractors by the Justices in the Western Circuit between July 1718 and March 1720. Some convicts from the Midlands were turned over to Forward or Reid. Coldham, Emigrants in Chains, p. 79.

[20] The figure is from Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 23.

[21] Peter Coldham, Bonded Passengers to America. Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1983. Three Vols. This title includes a history of transportation from 1615 to 1775. In Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775. Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988., is a note, p. xii that the British Treasury has listed all the 180-odd convict ships sent to America between 1716-1775, many complete with the names of passengers. "A voluminous correspondence was conducted between Assize judges, clerks of Assize, and the central bureaucracy in London which often duplicated and amplified the Assize records themselves... many contracts for the transportation of felons, gaolers' accounts, bonds and lists relating to transportation are to be found in County Record Offices." Also in Old Bailey Sessions Papers kept at London Guildhall Library. Coldham, Bonded Passengers, variously. Ekirch, Bound for America, pp. 70-73.

[24] After 1773 they found a harsh reaction in America, where their property was confiscated. Kellock; Greenwood and Higginson: in Kellock, `London Merchants', London debt claimants of 1790, appendix, p. 126.

[25] Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 154 and elsewhere.

[26] Kellock, `London Merchants', London debt claimants of 1790 appendix, p. 124.

[28] Jacob M. Price, `The Rise of Glasgow in the Chesapeake Tobacco Trade, 1707-1775', William and Mary Quarterly, Series 3, Vol. XI, April 1954., pp. 180-183.

[34] Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 213. Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, p. 73.

[36] Coldham's Listings; Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, p. 73.

[37] A. E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage, p. 126. Also, noting Darby Lux.

[38] Departing England Jan. 1722, ship Gilbert Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. Probably for J. Forward. Coldham. Departing England Oct 1722 ship Forward Capt. Dan Russell for Maryland. Coldham. Departing England Feb 1723 ship Jonathan Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. Probably for J. Forward. (Coldham's Listings).

[40] Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 110, p. 124; 1724: Oct 1: Jonathan Forward re convict to John Greatorex, Derbyshire Transportation Records. Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 88, p. 124; one ship Forward used was named Eagle. A colonial factor used by Forward was Thomas Cable.

[41] Departing England April 1732 ship Patapsco Merchant Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. (Coldham). Probably for Forward.

[42] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', p. 373.

[43] William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VIII 1899-1900., Sainsbury Mss, 1697, p. 273.

[46] 13 Aug, 1726: Ekirch, Bound for America, p. 103, Note 3, the ship Rappahanock was used in the trade; 48 of 108 convicts died on the voyage; Oldham, Britain's Convicts, p. 5. Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, pp. 74ff.

[47] From 1730, re the trade, details on fees etc. payable to whom by whom. Ekirch, Bound for America, pp. 78ff

[48] As listed in an appendix to Coldham. 1720, 23 April, John Lux, mate of ship Susannah and Sarah, at Annapolis. Oldham, Britain's Convicts, p. 4, on 23 April, 1720 at Port of Annapolis, John Lux deposed that out of 79 felons shipped, ten had died at sea. Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, pp. 77-78.

[49] Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, p.78: Loney had sailed on the ships Forward, Smith, Caesar and Dorsetshire.

[50] As noted in John Hamill, The Craft: A History of English Freemasonry. London, Crucible, 1986., p. 140. In Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of the British Peripheries in the Eighteenth Century, Esso Lecture, 1988. Canberra, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Occasional Paper No. 5, 1988., p. 16, Georgia and Oglethorpe are mentioned. Oglethorpe's associates were students of social problems; ten of the Georgia trustees had been on the 1729 inquiry into the state of the jails. See also J. H. Watson, `J. M. Matra, `Father of Australia'', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. X, 1924. In February, 1729, the House of Commons appointed a committee chaired by James Edward Oglethorpe to investigate conditions in gaols. Oglethorpe was "an Imperial Idealist", associated with a successful prison reform movement considering debtors for America. In 1733, B. Martyn wrote, Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia, published in London.

[52] Ver Steeg, The Formative Years, pp. 61, 188-190.

[53] A. E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage; Oldham, British Convicts, pp. 6ff. A. G. L. Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies, pp. 17-37. Also, Coldham, Emigrants in Chains, pp. 63ff.

[55] 6 June, 1734: From GLRO Index to Catalog, Misc. Ms 136.14 - Order for the payment of J Forward for the transportation of 64 malefactors to Maryland at £5 per head. 6 June, 1734, 53 from London and Middlesex, the rest from nearby counties. 19 Dec., 1737, Jonathan Forward merchant, James Forward merchant and John Whiting, mariner, all of London, dealt with Miles Man, Esq., Common Clerk of City of London, for various transportees named. Forward was still about. Departing England October 1738 was ship Genoa Capt. Darby Lux for Maryland. Probably for J. Forward. (Coldham).

[57] Noted in Ekirch, Bound for America. See the case of 1731 GLRO Index to Catalog, Misc. Ms 366.11 - Correspondence of John Govan, Basing Lane, London, and, 6 June, 1734, From GLRO Index to Catalog, Misc. Ms 136.14 - Order for the payment of J. Forward for the transportation of 64 malefactors to Maryland, at £5 per head. 6 June, 1734, 53 from London and Middlesex, others from nearby counties.

[61] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', p. 379.

[62] Jacob M. Price, `Buchanan and Simson, 1759-1763: A Different Kind of Glasgow Firm Trading to the Chesapeake', William and Mary Quarterly, Series 3, Vol. XL, No 1, January 1983., pp. 3-41. Buchanans had earlier concentrated on York River tobacco production, later on the James River product.

[63] Lyonel Lyde (1724-1791) was the second son of Lyonel Lyde, Mayor of Bristol in 1753. In 1786, (Lane senior had died in 1784) John Lane of Lane, Son and Fraser made a hasty decision to visit the US, as he had heard a rumour that one of his creditors, Nathaniel Tracy, who'd contracted an advance in 1785, was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lane stayed five years till 1790, using the legal advice of John Lowell and Boston's leading banker, Thomas Russell, till he acquired property which he then exchanged for silver. Lyonel and Samuel Lyde. Kellock, `London Merchants', p. 114, and London debt claimants of 1790 appendix, p. 133.

[64] Harrison and Ansley: Kellock, `London Merchants', London debt claimants of 1790, appendix, p. 128.

[65] Olson, Making the Empire Work, lists merchants named Baker in 1755 and before, pp. 115-119; and see p. 137, Newcastle got on well with Sir William Baker regarding American affairs, and once gave Baker a lucrative contract to supply the army in New England. Pitt the Elder used the advice of the West India merchant, William Beckford.

[66] Harrison and Ansley, from 1768 were at 52 Bread St. They began with Massachusetts merchants going to London. Harrison and Barnard were bankrupt before 1768. In 1768 Harrison took a new partner John Ansley at 52 Bread St, conducted New England trade. In 1766, John Hancock at Boston annoyed as he found Gilbert Harrison of London had charged him interest on overdrafts on one of Harrison's "rare accounts", so Hancock took his business to Harrison and Barnard and found George Hayley would take him on, and later he got a large advance from Hayley. Kellock, `London Merchants', p. 111. citing W. T. Baxter, The House of Hancock. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1945., pp. 245-247, p. 248, pp. 251-252.

[67] Coldham's Lists. Anthony Bacon (d. 1786), MP, was once involved in provisioning African garrisons, and victualling British troops in New York during the Revolution. He also manufactured cannon; address, 12 Copthall Court, Throgmorton Street; as noted in Kellock, `London Merchants'.

[68] Departing England in Feb. 1742 was Industry Capt. Chas Barnard for Maryland. (Coldham). Barnard is a merchant name in Kellock's lists. Coldham, New Emigrants in Chains, p. 79 has further details on convict situations.

[70] Landon Carter's diary is available as Jack P. Greene - The Diary of Col. Landon Carter of Sabine Hall. Vols. 1 & 2. Virginia Historical Society, University of Virginia Press, 1965., here, p. 105. Greene on Landon Carter, p. ix; some of Landon Carter's diary is held at William Clements Library, University of Michigan. Duncan Campbell is noted, pp. 245ff, 271, 302, 335, 407, 561. Stewart and Campbell pp. 270, 271, 273, 302. Ella Lonn, The Colonial Agents of the Southern Colonies. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1945.

[71] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', p. 378.

[72] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', pp. 378-380, Note 73. (Custis Papers, Library of Congress, 1747-1772.)

[75] William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 1, 1892-1893., Reprint 1966., pp. 223-225,

[76] John M. Hemphill, Virginia and the English Commercial System, 1689-1733. London, Garland, 1985. [Facsimile of a 1964 Ph. D thesis, Princeton University., p. 7, citing material on William Fitzhugh, earlier in that family's history; Richard Beale Davis, (Ed.), William Fitzhugh and his Chesapeake World, 1676-1701: The Fitzhugh Letters and Other Documents. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press for the Virginia Historical Society, 1963.

[77] T. Thompson, `Personal Indebtedness', p. 15.

[78] Olson, `London Mercantile Lobby', pp. 28-29. Olson, Making the Empire Work, pp. 140-141, observes that when Newcastle departed there passed nearly a decade of confusion for traders, with six ministries working in seven years.

[79] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', p. 378, Note 63. E.g., see Fauquier to Board of Trade, 24 May, 1763.

[80] Olson, `Virginia Merchants of London', p. 382.