William Harper

William Harper (1749-1815) was a major slave-trader in Liverpool with 52 voyages between 1784 and 1799 (many with Robert Brade) and left £7000 at his death. He bought an estate at Davenham in Cheshire which his son-in-law John Hosken Harper (q.v.) inherited and on which John Hosken Harper rebuilt or significantly extended Davenham Hall in its present form.

Harper had three daughters: Ann (who married John Hosken Harper), Helen and Alice (who married Joseph Pilkington Brandreth of Liverpool).

David Pope, 'The wealth and social aspirations of Liverpool's slave merchants of the second half of the Eighteenth century', in Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery, ed. David Richardson, Suzanne Schwarz and Anthony Tibbles (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2007), ch. 7 pp. 199, 211.

Lancashire Archives, DDFO 22/41: Settlement by Lease and Release : (i) William Harper of Everton, esq. (ii) Helen his 2nd daughter, and (iii) Thomas France of Bostock Hall, co. Chester, esq., William Molyneux merchant, and George Rowe, gent., both of Liverpool -- Maghull Hall and Peel Estate, with named fields -- to use of H.H. after death of W.H. (Copy). Marriage of Alice, Lancaster Gazette 30/06/1810.

We are grateful to Margaret Davison for her assistance with compiling this entry.