Eighteenth-century Liverpool saw the rise of a class of immensely wealthy merchants and professional men, buoyed by the rapid growth of international trade. The Exchange and surrounding district were central to their business concerns, offering ready access to commercial intelligence and business networks. Contemporary business papers suggest that this constant flow of information was a vital ingredient of commercial success. It is therefore all the more remarkable that, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, significant numbers of Liverpool merchants and professional men began to construct country homes several miles from the heart of business.
What was the exact purpose of these homes? Were they providing an opportunity to pursue occasional rural pursuits as a form of relaxation from business? Were they a shrewd investment of the profits of trade? References in the trade directories suggest that their owners often retained their existing Liverpool addresses prompting questions about their concept of home. This paper focuses on one mercantile family of the period, with extensive interests in both Greenland whaling and the African slave trade. Their unusually full personal papers over a period of five decades allow analysis of the exact relationship between their Liverpool town house and their country home and offers insights into this neglected aspect of material culture.