Thomas Parr (slave trader)

Thomas Parr (1769–1847) was an English slave trader who profited from the Atlantic slave trade.[2] He invested in at least 30 slave voyages. One of the slave ships that he had built for the slave trade, Parr, exploded on her maiden voyage. A street in Liverpool where he built a warehouse is named after him.

For other people named Thomas Parr, see Thomas Parr (disambiguation).

Two British slave ships off the Danish Fort Christiansborg[1]

Slave trade
A painting of the slave deck of a slave ship, showing shackled Africans
Slave shackles

Parr invested in at least 30 slave voyages,[3] and was sole owner of several ships:

Vessel No. of complete voyages for Parr Notes
Amazon 2 1783: renamed to Dumfries[4]
Argyle 1 1807: legally started a slave voyage after the slave trade had been made illegal[5]
Expedition 5 1808: condemned at Antigua as unseaworthy[6]
Hector 2 1804: captured by the French[7]
Lovely Lass 0 1798: foundered off Cape Lopez, Africa, all Africans lost[8]
Nile 2 1803: became a Privateer[9]
Parr 0 1798: the largest slaver in the British Atlantic, exploded near West Africa on first voyage[10]
William 1 Captured from the Spanish[11]

Personal life
Parr's house, later the Royal Institution, Colquitt Street, Liverpool

Parr built a house at Colquitt Street in Liverpool in 1797, that has been described as "magnificent".[12] The south wing of the house was a counting house. The house is flanked by pavilions, with one of them being used as a coach house. There was also a courtyard, a pleasure garden, a pond, and walks. The house was used between 1817 and 1948 as Liverpool Royal Institution; many of the people that established the institution were former slave traders.[12]

Parr's warehouse on Parr Street, Liverpool

Behind the house he built a warehouse that he used to store iron goods that were traded for slaves. The warehouse was five storeys high with a basement, with seven window bays to the south elevation and three to the east and west, each bay with ashlar lintels and stone sills. A passage led from the warehouse to the counting house.[12]

Retirement

Parr sold his Liverpool home around 1805 and retired to a country house and estate called Lythwood Hall near Bayston Hill in Shropshire. He became part of the landed gentry and acquired a notable collection of rare coins. The acclaimed evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin met him in 1840, and described him as "an old, miserly squire".[12][13]

Legacy

Parr Street in Liverpool is named after him. Both his former home on Colquitt Street, Liverpool and his warehouse on Parr Street are listed with Historic England.[12][14] His former home at Lythwood Hall in Shropshire was demolished but there is a memorial to him in Lythwood.[15]

References
  1. "Utrolig historie: Orkaner, sørøvere og mytteri med 700 slaver om bord". ugeavisen.dk (in Danish). 18 March 2019.
  2. "Liverpool & the North West – Slave Traders & Plantation Wealth | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  3. "Thomas Parr – Liverpool Black History Research Group". 26 May 2021.
  4. Lloyd's Register (1783), Seq.№A130.
  5. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Argyle voyage #80347
  6. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Expedition voyage #81332
  7. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4450. 4 May 1804. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005721504. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  8. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (3014). 26 June 1798.
  9. "Letter of Marque, p.80 – accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  10. Rediker, Marcus (2007). "Chapter 2". The Slave Ship: A Human History. U.K.: Viking.
  11. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – William voyage #84043
  12. "No. 57, PARR STREET, Non Civil Parish – 1292976 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  13. "The slavers and abolitionists on Liverpool's streets". BBC News. 15 January 2020.
  14. "ROYAL INSTITUTION, Non Civil Parish – 1206238 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  15. "Read the Signs – Street Names in Liverpool Connected to the Trade in Enslaved Africans | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
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