List of members of the African Company of Merchants

The African Company of Merchants was established by Act of Parliament as a successor organisation to the Royal African Company in 1752. Provision was made for interested citizens to join the corporation in three cities: at foundation there were 135 members in London,157 in Bristol and 101 in Liverpool, which nevertheless had the most extensive participation in slave trade.

Founding members
The following list of 101 names was published on 24 June 1752. Several were MPs for Liverpool at some stage in their lives.


 * John Armitage
 * John Atherton
 * John Ashton
 * John Backhouse
 * Thomas Ball
 * William Benson
 * Joseph Bird
 * John Blackburn
 * Bryan Blundell
 * Jonathan Blundell
 * Richard Blundell
 * William Blundell
 * John Bostock
 * George Bradley
 * Edward Bridge
 * George Brooks
 * Joseph Brooks
 * Jonathan Brooks
 * William Bulkeley
 * George Campbell
 * Thomas Chalmer
 * Robert Clay
 * John Clayton
 * George Clews
 * Charles Craven
 * John Crompton
 * James Crosbie
 * Thomas Crowder
 * Ellis Cunliffe
 * Foster Cunliffe (1682–1758)
 * Robert Cunliffe
 * Joseph Davis
 * Edward Dean


 * William Dobb
 * Thomas Dunbar
 * Ralph Earl
 * David Eddie
 * Elliott Ellams
 * Joseph Farmer
 * Edward Forbes
 * Richard Ford
 * Potter Fletcher
 * James Gildart
 * Richard Gildart (MP for Liverpool,1734-1754)
 * John Goodwin
 * William Goodwin
 * Charles Goore
 * James Gordon
 * John Gorrell
 * Robert Hallhead
 * John Hardman (MP for Liverpool,1754-1756)
 * Henry Hardwar
 * Arthur Heywood
 * Benjamin Heywood
 * Robert Hesketh
 * William Higginson
 * Captain John Hughes
 * Richard Hughes
 * Thomas Kendall
 * John Knight
 * George Laidler
 * Thomas Leatherbarrow
 * Pierce Lee
 * Charles Lowndes
 * Edward Lowndes
 * Thomas Mears
 * Joseph Manesty


 * Richard Nicholas
 * John Nicholson
 * Edmund Ogden
 * Samuel Ogden
 * Isaac Oldham
 * John Okill
 * James Pardoe
 * John Parker
 * Edward Parr
 * John Parr
 * William Penket
 * William Pole
 * Owen Pritchard
 * Samuel Reed
 * William Rowe
 * Richard Savage
 * Robert Seel
 * Thomas Seel
 * Samuel Shaw
 * Robert Smith, (Broad Street, London)
 * Samuel Smith
 * John Strong
 * Matthew Strong
 * John Tarleton
 * Henry Townsend
 * Richard Townsend
 * Edward Trafford
 * Levinus Unsworth
 * Christo Whytell
 * William Whalley
 * Henry Lane White
 * John Williamson
 * William Williamson