Felix Doran (1708 – 1776) was an Irish

slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...

. He was responsible for at least 69 slave voyages. Doran moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the 1740s and operated out of the

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...

. His first slave-ship was called ''Lively'' and his final one was called ''Essex''.

Early life

Doran was born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, baptised and brought up as a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He may have been born in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, where the surname Doran was common.

Slave trade

Slave deck of the Marie Séraphique rotated

Doran moved to

in the late 1740s. From the

he completed at least 69 slave voyages. His first recorded slave voyage was with the slave ship ''Lively'' in 1737. The captain, Brooke Richmond, bought captive people from Africa and sold them in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. Thereafter, Patrick Dwyer was the captain of ''Lively'' for 5 more slave voyages. On these voyages, Doran took enslaved people from Africa and sold them in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. Doran also owned the slave ships ''Hazard'', ''Pearl'', ''Vestal'', ''Forde'', ''Kildare'' and ''Molly'', amongst others. Doran was a partner in the firm of Knight, Doran & Co. with the slave trader John Knight. Together they leased the New Glasshouse on Liverpool's South Dock from the

Corporation of Liverpool Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

. Two ships, one called ''Judith'' and the other ''Lively'', are recorded as having plantation certificates in the name Felix Doran. Doran's final slave voyage was with the ship ''Essex'' in 1776. The ship was constructed in Liverpool in 1770 and was carrying four cannons. The ship was captained by Ralph Abraham and picked up captives at Bassa and they were sold in Antigua. Of the 359 enslaved people that started the journey across the Atlantic Ocean, 31 died on board. Doran himself died in 1776, before ''Essex'' disembarked its captives.

Personal life

Doran was baptised and brought up as a

, but later married a non-Catholic, Mary Foxcroft. She was the niece of one of Doran's slave trading partners, Thomas Foxcroft. His son, also called Felix Doran (1758–1827), was a slave trader. Felix Doran Jr was responsible for 21 slave voyages, also from the Port of Liverpool.

Death

In his will, Doran left £200 to his sister in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and a further £500 to her should his son Felix Jr die before the age of 21. He was buried at St Nicholas's Church, Liverpool.

Legacy

From 1780, Liverpool was the single biggest slave port in the Atlantic world. Numerous streets and localities in Liverpool are named after slave traders. Felix Doran has Dorans Lane named after him, although he lived on nearby Lord Street. Piers Dudgeon writes that Doran "seems to cling ghost-like to the area".

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Felix 1708 births 1776 deaths 18th-century Irish businesspeople 18th-century slave traders Businesspeople from Liverpool Businesspeople in shipping Irish expatriates in England Irish slave traders