William Davenport was a Liverpool merchant and British slave trader. From the late 1740s till the early 1790s, he invested regularly in the African slave trade and was a partner in slaving ventures with other leading merchant Liverpool families.

Within a few years of this first known venture to Africa, Davenport had clearly become a regular shareholder in slaving voyages and a recipient of profits from them. Davenport was one of the principal investors at Liverpool in such voyages

Professor David Richardson, University of Hull

Insights

The majority of these records are the 'Trading invoices and accounts' for each of the company's ships between 1762 and 1783. These records list which cargoes each ship carried for a time between these years.

Cargo lists enable the reader to see how trade with the colonies changed over the lifetime of each ship and which cargoes had the highest values placed upon them.

The letterbook among the ledgers covers the years 1748 to 1761. This item covers instructions to the company's sailors about taking French and Spanish sailors with them.