Thomas Parke (1729/30 – 1819) was a Liverpool
slave trader
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions o ...
, merchant, banker and privateer. He was part of the complex network of business interests and finance behind the African and
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...
of the later 18th century.
Early life
Originally from
Swaledale, Yorkshire, he was the son of Thomas and Hannah Parke of
Low Row
Low Row is a village in Swaledale, in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies about west of Reeth and is between Healaugh, Richmondshire, Healaugh and Gunnerside. It is part of the civil parish of Melbecks. It is a linear villa ...
; his father was a hosier and lead miner. He went into business as a linen merchant, initially with his brother John. His brother-in-law
Christopher Wilson I of
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
was another hosier, and Thomas Parke's merchant ventures included exporting Wilson's goods to North America.
Slave trade
Parke invested in the Atlantic slave trade through many ventures; he withdrew from it in 1792. Another business partner was Wilson's son,
Christopher Wilson II, of the
Low Wood Gunpowder Company, gunpowder being part of the West Africa trade.
[David Richardson, Anthony Tibbles, Suzanne Schwarz, ''Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery'' (2007), p. 130]
Google Books
Parke was a member of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, of Liverpool. He was in business with Arthur Heywood. Parke & Heywood were involved in two slaving ventures in 1783/4, and in all in 50 journeys in the "triangular trade". The firm was significant as a major player in the local insurance trade, and its business had many dealings in common with the partnership of
Thomas Staniforth and Joseph Brooks (junior). Heywood & Parke became one of the ten largest Liverpool firms (period 1783 to 1793) responsible for the trade of West African slaves to the West Indies. Their ventures employed the slaver Captain Joseph Fayrer.
Among Parke's clients for slaves were Rainford, Blundell & Rainford of
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...
. The percentage of Liverpool's slave trade in 1790 attributable to Thomas Parke and Co., of five partners, has been given as 1.1%. Parke reduced his investment in the direct trade, and concentrated more on the production of cotton goods for it, a business in which one of his sons was involved.
Parke was a director of the Liverpool fire insurance office established in 1777. He was a partner in
Heywood's Bank
Heywood's Bank was a private banking firm established and run in Manchester by members of the Heywood family of Pendleton between 1788 and 1874.
Family and banking history
The bank was founded in Manchester by Benjamin Heywood and his two sons, ...
.
Personal life
Parke married Anne, daughter of William Preston.
Their sons included:
*Thomas John, the eldest. He married Bridget Colquitt, the daughter of John Colquitt IV.
[Jeremiah Finch Smith (editor), ''The Admission Register of the Manchester School'', vol. II, Chetham Society Miscellanies vol. 73 (1868) p. 91]
archive.org.
/ref> He was a partner in William Gregson, Sons, Parke & Morland.Old Swan
Old Swan is an eastern neighbourhood of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, bordered by Knotty Ash, Stoneycroft, Broadgreen, Fairfield, Liverpool, Fairfield and Wavertree. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census, the population was 16,461. ...
Charity School (1792).
*John and Preston Fryer, who were bankrupts. John was in the textile ("African check") business, but failed, and took a position as consul to Iceland.James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale
James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale PC (22 March 1782 – 25 February 1868) was a British barrister and judge. After an education at The King's School, Macclesfield and Trinity College, Cambridge he studied under a special pleader, before b ...
.
Their daughter Alice married Sitwell Sitwell. Another daughter Anne married John Croome Smythe.West Derby
West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382.
History West Derby
Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...
, Liverpool, previously owned by Charlotte Murray, Duchess of Atholl, which he bought about 1781.[John Hughes, ''Liverpool Banks and Bankers, 1760-1837'' (1906), pp. 111–2]
archive.org
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parke, Thomas
1729 births
1819 deaths
18th-century English merchants
English bankers
18th-century English slave traders