The Expansion of Liverpool's Carrying Trade with the Far East and Australia 1860–1914

Francis E. Hyde

doi:10.2307/3678844

The Expansion of Liverpool's Carrying Trade with the Far East and Australia 1860–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

Francis E. Hyde

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THE story of Liverpool's carrying trade with the Far East and with Australia embraces many fields of human endeavour and is of interest in demonstrating how individuals in the exercise of their functions as entrepreneurs, merchants and shipowners can adapt their ideas and influence the course of a country's economic growth.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 6 , January 1956 , pp. 139 - 160

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678844 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1956

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^{page 140 note 1} The author is indebted to Mr. Lawrence Holt for permission to quote from Alfred Holt's diary; to Miss Anne Holt for permission to read the diary of Sir Richard Holt and to Sir John Hobhouse and Mr. George Holt for the use of the records of the Ocean Steam Ship Company.

^{page 140 note 2} Holt MSS., Alfred Holt's Diary, 19 April 1866.

^{page 140 note 3} Holt, Alfred, Fragmentary Autobiograpny (Liverpool, 1911), pp. 16–17Google Scholar. Alfred Holt was apprenticed to Edward Woods, engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Co.

^{page 141 note 1} Thornton, R. H., British Shipping (Cambridge, 1939), p. 66Google Scholar.

^{page 141 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 141 note 3} Minutes of the meetings of the Ocean Steam Ship Co. (hereafter cited Minutes O.S.S.Co.): First Circular, 16 January 1866.

^{page 141 note 4} Rathbone MSS., Private correspondence 185 2–1870.

^{page 142 note 1} Rathbone MSS. Rathbone Bros. and Co. were part owners of ships run by Lamport and Holt, a firm in which Philip Holt was a partner.

^{page 142 note 2} Holt MSS., Alfred Holt's Diary, 12 August 1866.

^{page 142 note 3} See especially Greenberg, M., British Trade and the Opening of China, 1800–1842 (Cambridge, 1951)Google Scholar; Allen, G. C. and Donnithorne, Audrey G., Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development (London, 1954)Google Scholar; Wright, S. F., China's Struggle for Tariff Autonomy (Shanghai, 1938)Google Scholar.

^{page 143 note 1} M. Greenberg, op. cit.; also Saul, S. B., ‘Britain and World Trade, 1870–1914’, Economic History Review, vii (1954), 50Google Scholar.

^{page 143 note 2} Rathbone MSS., China correspondence, 1852.

^{page 143 note 3} Ibid., information collected from a series of letters to William Rathbone, 1852–56.

^{page 143 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 143 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 143 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 144 note 1} Rathbone MSS., China correspondence, 1852.

^{page 144 note 2} Ibid. The Rathbone correspondence stresses the importance of the opium trade. For a contrary view, see Allen, and Donnithorne, , op. cit., pp. 16–17, 21–2Google Scholar.

^{page 144 note 3} Holt MSS., Alfred Holt's Diary, April 1867; also ibid., July–August, 1875.

^{page 144 note 4} Scott, J. H., A Short Account of the Firm of John Swire and Sons (London, 1914), pp. 2–3Google Scholar.

^{page 144 note 5} Jackson, A. and Wurtzburg, C. E., The History of Mansfield and Company, Part I, 1868–1924 (Liverpool, 1953)Google Scholar.

^{page 145 note 1} Scott, , op. cit., p. 20Google Scholar.

^{page 145 note 2} Ibid. For steam navigation on the Yangtse River before 1872, see Liu, Kwang-Ching, ‘Financing a Steam Navigation Company in China, 1861–62’, The Business History Review, xxviii (1954), 155–81Google Scholar.

^{page 145 note 3} Scott, , op. cit., pp. 20–3Google Scholar.

^{page 146 note 1} Jackson, and Wurtzburg, , op. cit., p. 2Google Scholar; also Minutes O.S.S.Co., seriatim, 1875–82Google Scholar.

^{page 146 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 146 note 3} Holt MSS., Mìscellanea, Alfred Holt's Diary, 13 October 1869; also Ships' Journals, O.S.S.Co., 1869.

^{page 147 note 1} Report of the Royal Commission on Shipping Rings (1909), Appendix III, gives a distribution of China's imports from United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and the United States.

^{page 147 note 2} Minutes O.S.S.Co., Reports of Annual General Meetings, 1881–91.

^{page 147 note 3} Ibid. Twenty-sixth Annual General Meeting, 11 February 1891.

^{page 147 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 148 note 1} Minutes O.S.S.Co., Reports of Annual General Meetings, 1870–80.

^{page 148 note 2} Holt MSS., Swire correspondence, 1880–81; also Royal Commission on Skipping Rings (1909), Minutes of Evidence, 10 March 1908, Q. 16764, evidence of R. D. Holt.

^{page 148 note 3} R. D. Holt's evidence, loc. cit.

^{page 148 note 4} Holt MSS., Swire correspondence, John Swire to A. Crompton, 14 July 1880. Figures compiled from voyage account books.

^{page 149 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 149 note 2} Holt MSS., Swire correspondence, John Swire to Alfred Holt, 20 July 1880.

^{page 149 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 149 note 4} Brugmans, I. J., Tachtig Jaren Varen met de Nederland, 1870–1950 (1950), pp. 21–2Google Scholar; also de Boer, M. G., Een Halve Eeuw Paketvaart, 1891–1941 (1941), pp. 64–5Google Scholar.

^{page 150 note 1} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 31 December 1892.

^{page 150 note 2} N.S.M.O. Papers, August, 1891; information supplied by Mhr. D. Rahusen, N.S.M.O., Amsterdam.

^{page 150 note 3} De Boer, , op. cit., pp. 67–8Google Scholar.

^{page 151 note 1} e.g. by the China Mutual Co.; see Minutes of China Shippers' Mutual Steam Navigation Co. (hereafter cited CM.), 27 April 1885.

^{page 151 note 2} Holt MSS., Swire correspondence, John Swire to Alfred Holt, 20 July 1880.

^{page 151 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 151 note 4} Minutes O.S.S.Co., Annual General Meetings, 1880–1892.

^{page 152 note 1} Minutes CM., First meeting, 2 January 1883.

^{page 152 note 2} Ibid., 30 January 1883.

^{page 152 note 3} Ibid., Seventh Annual Meeting, 15 April 1889.

^{page 152 note 4} Ibid., 24 July 1884.

^{page 152 note 5} Ibid., 18 April 1887.

^{page 152 note 6} Minutes O.S.S.Co., February to December, 1888.

^{page 153 note 1} Royal Commission on Shipping Rings, Appendix XV.

^{page 153 note 2} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 16 February 1887.

^{page 153 note 3} Ibid., Accounts, February, 1889 and February, 1893.

^{page 153 note 4} Royal Commission on Shipping Rings, Minutes of Evidence, R. D. Holt, Q. 16764.

^{page 153 note 5} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 11 February 1891.

^{page 153 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 153 note 7} Minutes O.S.S.Co., compiled from successive costings, 1891–1913.

^{page 153 note 8} Ibid., 7 February 1906.

^{page 154 note 1} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 7 February, 1906.

^{page 154 note 2} Holt MSS., Papers relating to the firms of Gilchrist, Watt and Sanderson Pty., Ltd., of Sydney; George Wills & Co., of Adelaide; and John Sanderson (Shipping) Pty., Ltd., of Melbourne; also Bulletin, Holts, ‘A History of “The Syndicate”,’ 01, 1955Google Scholar.

^{page 155 note 1} Holt MSS., Papers relating to the Glasgow Shipping Co., and the Gulf Line, 1881–1910.

^{page 155 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 155 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 155 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 155 note 5} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 20 February 1902.

^{page 156 note 1} Holt MSS., Papers relating to the Glasgow Shipping Co.

^{page 156 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 156 note 3} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 3 February 1875.

^{page 156 note 4} Holt MSS., Richard Holt's Diary, 1893. Richard Holt made an extensive tour of Far Eastern stations in 1893 and returned with new ideas for the reorganization of the Company.

^{page 157 note 1} Minutes O.S.S.Co., 7 February 1900.

^{page 157 note 2} Ibid., Special General Meeting, 7 May 1902.

^{page 157 note 3} Ibid., 11 February 1903.

^{page 157 note 4} Ibid., Reports of Annual Meetings, February 1902 to February 1909.

^{page 157 note 5} Royal Commission on Shipping Rings, Minutes of Evidence, R. D. Holt's evidence, Qs. 16813, 16814.

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The Expansion of Liverpool's Carrying Trade with the Far East and Australia 1860–1914

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