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° Chester ° Bristol ° Dartmouth ° Falmouth ° Harwich ° Hull
° Liverpool ° London ° Newcastle-upon-Tyne ° Plymouth
° Portsmouth ° Weymouth
England's major ports,
such as London, Portsmouth and Plymouth were linked with the Royal Navy, but
were also considered "market towns." Goods shipped in and out of world
ports to and from London, Chester, Bristol, Yarmouth, Southhampon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
(coal), Hull, Portsmouth, Harwich, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Falmouth, "Dover
Castle," and Liverpool.
Bristol
Bristol in south-western England is on the River Avon. The river traditionally marked the border between Gloucestershire and Somerset. In 1373, Edward III of England proclaimed "that the said town of Bristol be a County by itself and called the county of Bristol for ever," but maps usually instead show it as part of Gloucestershire. As the city spilled south of the river, it took the county with it. Bristol was the starting point of John Cabot's voyage to North America in 1497.
Renewed growth came with the 17th Century rise of England's American colonies and the rapid 18th Century expansion of England's part in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery in the Americas. Bristol, along with Liverpool, became a significant centre for the slave trade although few slaves were brought to Britain. During the height of the slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2000 slaving ships were fitted out at Bristol, carrying a estimated half a million people from Africa to the Americas and slavery.
Competition from Liverpool from c.1760, the disruption of maritime commerce through war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to the city's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of the north and midlands. The long passage up the heavily tidal Avon Gorge, which had made the port highly secure during the middle ages, had become a liability which the construction of a new "Floating Harbour" (designed by William Jessop) in 1804-9 failed to overcome. Nevertheless, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801) quintupled during the 19th Century, supported by new industries and growing commerce.
It was particularly associated with the leading engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London, two pioneering Bristol-built steamships, including The Great Britain, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Steam-powered cotton factories enabled Victorian Britain to produce more than half the world's supply of cotton. Coal-mining around Newcastle also expanded rapidly to meet demand. With the upsurge in railway construction, moving goods to shipping ports became easy, while ship-building itself went forward at a rapid pace.
Falmouth
In 1840, Messrs Brodie McGhie Willcox & Arthur Anderson, firm of London merchants, and Captain Richard Bourne, R.N., founded Peninsular Company and begain providing monthly service between Falmouth and Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon and Gibraltar.Liverpool
Liverpool first started life as a small fishing community on the banks of the
River Mersey and grew because of trade to North America, including emigration.
Liverpool began to take her place in world history when, in
1207, King John granted the town its market charter, then in 1282 a group
of monks from Birkenhead Priory established the very first ferry service across
the Mersey. Nevertheless, it wasn't until the industrial revolution in the
18th century that her prime position on the West coast of England became readily
apparent and Liverpool quickly established itself as an important trading
port.
By the middle of the 18th century Liverpool was at the center of a thriving
trade triangle between England, Africa and the Americas.
Goods such as textiles, hardware and weaponry were shipped
to America where they were traded for African slaves. The slaves were then
transported to the Americas where they were exchanged for new-world luxuries
such as tobacco and sugar. The laden ships would then return to Liverpool.
Under this triangle of trade the city soon prospered and rapid expansion took
place. Liverpool's wealthier citizens began to build elegant town houses for
themselves and stunning civic buildings for the city.
New York Daily-Times
New York, New York
December 7, 1853
The Cotton Trade
Per Europa LIVERPOOL, Friday, Nov 18.
Tha accounts received from America on Monday appeared to confirm the occurrences of a severe frost in Georgia and Alabama, if not on 24th, at all events about the 31st of last month but in consequence chiefly of the greatly diminished consumption of cotton in this country at teh present moment, have failed to produce any animation in our market which closes steadily, with a moderate amount of business doing, at the prices of this day week. Money, as transactions become contracted grows easier notwithstanding the low rates to which the Continent Exchanges have again fallen, and (word?: Consols?) are steady at about 95, in the face of accounts from the seat of war, which would appear to leave no hope of peace being reestablished for the present. The Manchester market is very dull, the demand hardly keeping pace with the diminished quantity of goods and yarns now produced. There is slill no immediate prospect of the masters and operatives coming to terms in the districts in which the threats have taken place. The sales of the week are 37,350 of which 6,000 bales are for Speculation and for Export, leavin g31,350 in the Trade. The market today is steady. Sales 6,000 bales. The stock, 655, 128 bales, of which 359,889 American, against 421,805 bales last year, 212,143 American. We quote Fair Orleans 6-1/2d, Middhug do 6d, Fair Mobiles 6-2/1d, Middling do 5-1/2d,
A. DENNISTOUN & CO.
By the start of the 19th century slavery had been abolished in Britain, however Liverpool continued to be a significant world port - but this time it was used for emigration. In the hundred years from 1830 to 1930 some nine million people left Liverpool's docks bound for the New World. The move towards large-scale scientific farming greatly increased output but made many agricultural workers redundant. Some moved to the fast-growing industrial areas in search of work, whereas others decided to emigrate to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the United States.
After 1830 the numbers of people leaving Britain increased dramatically. This was particularly true of those farmers and laborers who had lived in counties that had been hardest hit by the agricultural depression such as Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Cornwall, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Cumberland. Liverpool now became the most popular emigrant port in Europe. In 1830 around 15,000 people sailed from this port to North America. By 1842 this had reached 200,000, which accounted for more than a half of all emigrants leaving from Europe. This emigration has a dramatic effect on Liverpool's population in that many people who intended to travel "through" Liverpool for the New World settled in Liverpool. Immigrants from every part of Europe immediately gave the city an international feel, and whole ethnic communities were soon established in the city.
The ethnicity of Liverpool changed again after the 1845 potato famine when huge numbers of Irish immigrants arrived, followed by a huge influx of Caribbean, Chinese and Indian immigrants in the late 19th century.
New York Daily-Times
March, 8, 1854
Liverpool Cotton Market.
The improved demand last noticed has continued, and the prices current for America are perhaps 1-16d dearer—other qualities are unchanged. The week's sales foot up 69,600 bales, (of which 40,000 were American,) including 20,800 on speculation, and 3,440 for export. Today (Friday) the sale were 8,000 bales with a firm market. The authorized quotations, which are as follows, show no change,—but some Brokers quote 11-6d quid dearer than these. Fair Orleans, 6-1/2d, Middling, 5 15-16d. Fair Mobile, 6-1/2 d, Middling, 51/2d, Fair Uplands, 6-1/2d., Middling, 5-1/2d.
Liverpool Breadstuff's MarketFLOUR closes steady at 6d decline on the week.
WHEAT active at former quotations Indian Corn is low and but little inquired form. DENNISTOUN & Co. quote as follows: Western Canal Flour, 40s and 40s. Baltimore and Philadelphia, 40s 6d . . . United States White Wheat, Red and Mixed, 11s 9d @12s. White Corn, 46s @48s. Yellow and Mixed, 45s 6d @ 47s.
Beef in brisk demand at full prices, some holders asking an advance for new and old Pork, though not entire, is steady, and the stock being light, holders are not pressing. BACON moved freely and the market closed firm. CHEESE-A fair inquiry at full rates. LARD-Small sales have realized 37s 6d @58s, but two tons for Spring delivery sold at 55s 8d. TALLOW loss active-Y C 64s. LINSEED CAKES dull.
London
In the 18th and 19th centuries, London rapidly expanded its port, national and international trade flourished, and the River Thames became the focal point for the export and import of the products of the new industrial revolution. Greenwich, on the River Thames was the birthplace of Henry VIII & Elizabeth I; Samuel Pepys lived in Greenwich, and Charles Dickens visited & wrote about it, it is home to a royal observatory and a naval hospital.
and in 1884, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was established. GMT is sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Alll time around the world is measured relative to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and all places have a latitude (their distance North or South of the Equator) and a longitude (their distance East or West of the Greenwich Meridian). Greenwich has a Longitude of 0° 0' 0" and Latitude 51° 28' 38"N (North of the Equator).
The Thames was Britain's life-blood. It connected London with the global market for Britain's goods and influence. London's naval buildings were built along the Thames and included the Long Room Custom House, India House Sale Room, South Sea House Divident Hlal, Trinity House, the Royal dockyards (in the Thames Estuary) West India Docks (developed in the early 1800s on the Isle of Dogs in East London), and Lloyd's Subscription room. St. Katharine Docks were opened on October 25, 1828
Newcastle
Tyneside,
in northern England, covers part of the area of Tyne and Wear. It includes
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, Jarrow, North Shields, and South Shields -
all settlements on the banks of the River Tyne.While Newcastle-upon-Tyne had been an important local centre since Roman times, and was a major local market town from the Middle Ages, the development of Newcastle and Tyneside is owed to coal mining. Coal was first known to be dug in Tyneside from superficial seams in around 1200, but there is some evidence that it may have been dug as early as 800 AD. Coal was dug from from local drift mines and bell pits, and although initially only used locally, it was exported from the port of Newcastle from the mid 1300s onward.
The valley of the River Derwent, a major tributary of the Tyne that rises in County Durham, saw the development of the steel industry from around 1600 onwards. The combination of coal and steel industries in the area was the catalyst for further major industrial development in the nineteenth century, including the shipbuilding industry – at its peak, the Tyneside shipyards were the biggest and best centre of shipbuilding in the world, and built an entire navy for Japan in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Weymouth
Weymouth is situated on the south coast of England and Weymouth Bay is part of the English Channel. In 1794 a packet steamer service was launched to operate between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. Subsequent services allowed for the "emigration" of several Dorset families to the islands.The East Indiaman, The Earl of Abergavenny, Weymouth's most well known shipwreck, sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805 with the loss of 261 lives.