End of funding report to the Leverhulme Trus

Gauci, Perry

Leverhulme Trust Ref: F264/H

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THE LEVERHULME TRUSTFinal Report on F/264/H:English Merchant Culture: The Overseas Trader in State and Society 1660-1720a) The GrantStarting on 1 October 1995, the project lasted 36 months, and had an overall budget of £89,964. All the research and subsequent writing-up was undertaken, full-time, by Dr Perry Gauci of the Centre for Metropolitan History in London. Most of the research was completed in London-based archives, although two months’ work was carried out in record offices in Liverpool, Preston and York.b) ObjectivesThe basic aim of the project was to produce a book-length study of the political and social world of the English overseas trader between 1660 and 1720. This period saw great growth in English commerce, but few historians had endeavoured to study the response of the merchant to an era of profound economic and political change. As a priority, research was structured to achieve a well-rounded assessment of the merchant in public life, in order to understand their particular position within state and society. The London merchant would evidently be of particular interest, but the provinces were not to be neglected, nor their relationship with the metropolis overlooked.c) Research ActivityInitially, the research was directed to the construction of a prosopographic database of London merchants, using a tax assessment of 1692 to produce a sample of 850 overseas traders. Investigation of their social and political impact was then pursued by extensive analysis of their familial, religious, commercial, and civic associations, using a very wide array of genealogical, institutional and national sources. One of the greatest problems in this task was simply its sheer scale, but the excellence of the data facilitated the achievement of an effective “map” of mercantile relationships within the City. This exercise was repeated at Liverpool and York with smaller samples of 300 traders.  Complementing this study was an examination of the merchant in the public sphere, using printed primary sources and parliamentary records to measure the impact of overseas traders at a national level. In the absence of any general work to contextualize this particular path of research, attention was focused on the development of the merchant as a patriotic figure, which appeared from an early stage to be a most promising line of inquiry. Thus, research was structured to establish how overseas traders and mercantile issues influenced proceedings at Westminster, analyzing trends in the numbers of businessmen entering the House, and in the advancement of commercial legislation through Parliament. More broadly, printed commercial tracts were studied to trace any changes in the presentation and discussion of commercial issues in the media.d) Conclusions and AchievementsThe project has met its objectives to a very satisfactory extent. It has certainly increased our knowledge of the activities of  the merchant classes in the late Stuart period, supplying data to illuminate public perceptions of one of the nation’s most dynamic social groups. More particularly, its findings concerning the social and political outlook of the merchant (especially his essential conservatism) shine important light on the development of the state and society in the period. Although able to challenge the traditional landed elite in terms of wealth and connection, the greatest merchants did not represent a threat to the gentry-dominated status quo, thereby reducing the potential for social tension. However, the nation’s landed rulers could not ignore mercantile wishes, and were prepared to accept that commerce had to be supported in order to sustain Britain’s burgeoning responsibilities as an imperial power. Analysis of changing patterns of commercial membership and debate at Westminster will be of much wider interest to political and social historians. At a methodological level, the project has again demonstrated the value of transcending conventional historical approaches, especially the widely-perceived segregation between political and economic studies. Although the project was principally “political” in inspiration, the very cosmopolitanism of mercantile life highlighted the constant interaction of social, commercial and political spheres of activity, and the project should encourage others to cross accepted demarcations of historical scholarship. Close examination of certain historical episodes highlighted the value of this approach, most notably the French commercial treaty controversy of 1713, which illuminated not only the impact of trade on society, but also developments within national political culture. In conclusion, although a researcher always wishes to have more time to pursue such promising lines of inquiry, the three years were sufficient to make a worthwhile contribution to merchant studies, and to the history of the period in question. Certain areas could have been investigated in more depth, and time pressures precluded plans to encompass further provincial examples. However, the two provincial case-studies chosen were particularly valuable, permitting real insight into more general mercantile developments. Criticism could also be levelled at the project’s concentration on the parliamentary arena, but (in the limited time available) this focus ensured both scholarly reward and attention to the project’s main objectives. Judging by the positive feedback from colleagues working in this field, the project has certainly tackled issues which had required closer attention.e) Publications and DisseminationThe project’s objective remains the production of a book examining the aforementioned themes. A first draft of 95,000 words has been completed, and will be revised over the next nine months. Discussions about its possible publication have been held with a representative of London Books (a division of the Hambledon Press), but no contract has been signed with any publisher. The prosopographic databases produced by this project have been open to public access, and have been used by both professional and amateur historians. [Postscript: the results of the project were published in Perry Gauci, The Politics of Trade: The Overseas Merchant in State and Society, 1660-1720 (Oxford University Press, 2001).]f) Future Research Plans in the FieldThanks largely to the discovery of several excellent sources, the project has stimulated ideas for further research into closely-related fields. In particular, Chancery records promise to supply much information about the dynamics of City life in political, social and commercial terms, and Admiralty archives also contain items of such widespread resonance. More generally, the prosopographic databases invite more specific analysis of certain individuals and neighbourhoods, and the challenge remains to set the project’s findings within the broader context of developments across the 1600-1800 period.

Final Report to the Leverhulme Trust for Research Project F264/H: English Merchant Culture: The Overseas Trader in State and Society, 1660-1720

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Final Report to the Leverhulme Trust for Research Project F264/H: English Merchant Culture: The Overseas Trader in State and Society, 1660-1720

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