Robert Bostock (1743,

Tarvin Tarvin is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It had a population of 2,693 people at the 2001 UK census, rising to 2,728 at the 2011 Census, and the ward covers about . ...

– 24 September 1793,

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 ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

r, who was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. He was held to be a "very considerable African merchant". His letterbooks for the period 1779-92 have been found to be very useful for historians researching the slave trade of that era. They provide information about his prolific career. Which is ironic as his family tree now includes two mixed race Aboriginal branches.

Early life

Robert was the son of Peter Bostock, a

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

living in Tarvin and his wife Elizabeth, née Blease, who died shortly after Robert's birth. His father remarried two years later. However his second wife, Ann, also died, in 1748.

Slave trader in Liverpool

Robert married Elizabeth Wilkinson in Tarvin in 1770 and by 1772 was living in Liverpool. He joined the congregation of St Anne's Church, Liverpool, occupying three pews.

Charles Wilkinson Charles Wilkinson may refer to: * Charles Wilkinson (MP) (1725–1782), English Member of Parliament *Charles Edmund Wilkinson (1807–1870), acting Governor of British Ceylon * Charles Wilkinson (cricketer) (1813–1889), English cricketer and cle ...

was related to him and worked as his agent in London before settling on the

Rio Pongo The Pongo River or Rio Pongo is a river that flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Boffa, Guinea. Its source is located in Fouta Djallon. The surrounding area has also been known as "Pongoland" or "Bongo Country".SeSamuel Crighton's Baptismal entry ...

. Richard Bostock maintained correspondence with him there.

Slave trading voyages

The information here is based on "Robert Bostock of Liverpool and the British Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast, 1769-93" by Denise Jones. She uses the Voyage ids from the
Slave Voyages database
' which she has collated with Bostock's ''Letterbook''. The one exception from 1792 does not appear on the database. * 1786: Bostock purchased the schooner , of 86 tons ( bm) which he then captained. They departed Liverpool on 3 April 1786. He acquired an estimated 161 enslaved Africans on the

Windward Coast The Windward Coast was used to describe an area of West Africa located on the coast between Cape Mount and Assini, i.e. the coastlines of the modern states of Liberia and Ivory Coast, to the west of what was called the Gold Coast. A related re ...

. He transported the captives to Antigua, where he arrived with 150.Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Jemmy'' voyage #82002.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bostock, Robert (1743-1793) 1743 births 1793 deaths English slave traders 18th-century English businesspeople