William Rathbone III (1726–1789) was a member of the noted

Rathbone family The Rathbone family of Liverpool, England, were a family of nonconformist merchants and ship-owners who were known to engage in philanthropy and public service. The family origins trace back to Gawsworth, near Macclesfield, where the first Willi ...

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 ...

. The eldest son of

William Rathbone II William Rathbone II (22 May 1696 – 1746) was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool, England. William Rathbone was the son of a sawyer who lived in Gawsworth, Cheshire, and shared his name. Born on 22 May 1696, William Rathbone II t ...

, he was a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and ship-owner within Liverpool. A devout

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, and committed opponent of the

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 ...

, he married twice, fathering eleven children, including

William Rathbone IV William Rathbone IV (10 June 1757 – 11 February 1809) was an English ship-owner and merchant involved in the organisation of American trade with Liverpool, England. He was a political radical, supporting the abolition of the slave trade and unive ...

External links

University of Liverpool Rathbone Collection
Businesspeople from Liverpool English abolitionists English Quakers 1726 births 1789 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Quaker abolitionists {{UK-activist-stub