Catalogue description Letter Book of Thomas Leyland

Letter Book of Thomas Leyland, May 1786 - Sep. 1788

This volume contains copies of business letters sent out during the period 21 May 1786 - 14 September 1788. The letters, which number 2,262, are written in a regular clerkly hand on 780 numbered pages preceded by an index of addresses. The index is arranged alphabetically by the initial letter of the surname only and contains some 290 names.

The letters, which reflect all aspects of Leyland's business at this time, are addressed to a wide variety of destinations in England (43), Ireland (19), Spain, the West Indies, Scotland, Wales, France, Portugal, Holland, the United States and the Isles de Loss (?Guinea). The main recipient of Leyland's letters were Geo. and Thos. Kough of Dublin to whom 84 letters were addressed. 56 letters were addressed to Robt. Barnewall of London and the following each received between 40 - 50 letters: Pat. Dease, Dublin (45); Lanphier & Allen, Rose (? co. Cork) (42); John Mare, Hanley Green (45) Nesbitt & Stewart (46); John Shannon, Ross (42); and John Swayne, Youghall (co. Cork) (42).

A number of references to the slave trade appear in letters in this volume. In a letter to Hibbert, Stephens & Raester of Kingston, Jamaica, of 13 December 1787 Leyland talks of the "Sales of our Ship Enterprizes Cargo of 484 Negroes neating £23,934.4 currency". In a letter of 24 June 1786 to Justin Brennan in Cadiz Leyland has written "I perceive that you are no advocate for the African trade, it is however the principal business from this port".

The slave trade, however, was not Leyland's only source of income and the majority of the letters refer to the considerable quantity of goods in which Thomas Leyland had dealings. These include wine, salt (in a letter of 9 November 1786 Leyland talks of the "rigid Salt Laws of this Country"), barley, tallow, earthenware, oranges, cotton, grain, sugar, fruit, bark, coal and rice. Comments on some of the vessels appear, "the Nelly was quite equal to my expectation" (27 December 1786) and "your Schooner Fly is got off Hoyle and is on the Bank near this Town" (15 Jan. 1787) as well as letters of a more personal nature. To Joseph Green, of Birmingham, for example, Leyland wrote "I am sorry to inform you there are no accomodations here for Bathing in the Sea, Blackpool is the best place on this Coast, and I believe the terms very reasonable".

Further details of the life and career of Thomas Leyland can be found in Williams, G. History of the Liverpool Privateers, 1897; Hughes J. Liverpool Banks and Bankers, 1906; Crick, W.F. and J.E. Wadsworth, A Hundred Years of Joint Stock Banking; and Naylor, T.H. The Family of Naylor from 1589, 1965. The Account Books of some of Thomas Leyland's vessels are listed above at 387 MD 40-44.

Leyland, Thomas, 1752-1827, banker

This volume was purchased from Sotheby & Co., 34 & 35 New Bond Street, London W.1, with the aid of a grant from the Department of Education and Science in July 1974.

Acc. 2709

The probable date of Thomas Leyland's birth was 1752. Little is known of his background although Naylor summarises two possible lines of descent. By 1774 Leyland is known to have been in partnership with Gerald Dillon in Liverpool as merchants involved in the Irish trade. In 1776 the partners won a prize of £20,000 in a lottery, and in the following year Thomas Leyland married Ellen Bridge. In 1779 Dillon and Leyland took a two-sixteenths share in the privateer Enterprise, with the partners supplying provisions for the cruises. In 1780 or 1781 the partnership was ended and of Leyland's career in the following years Hughes in Liverpool Banks and Bankers, 1906 states "The scope of his business ... increased ... and by 1788 we find him a large trader in olive oil ..., Peruvian bark, sherry ..." etc. Later on he embarked "largely in the African slave trade and amassed huge sums as his profits".

In 1802 Thomas Leyland entered into partnership with Clarke and Roscoe, a firm of Liverpool bankers. This partnership was dissolved in 1806 and early the next year Leyland entered into business on his own account. Richard and Christopher Bullin were later admitted into partnership and the firm became known as Leyland and Bullins (this concern remained in existence until 1901 when it was amalgamated with the North and South Wales Bank Ltd. which in turn was absorbed by the London Joint City and Midland Bank (later the Midland Bank) in 1908).

Thomas Leyland died at the age of 75 on 29 May 1827. His will revealed that he left a fortune of £600,000. As well as his successful business career he had been elected Mayor of Liverpool in 1798, 1814 and 1820 and had unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary elections of 1816 and 1820.

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