Joseph Brooks Yates

Son of the Unitarian minister John Yates (1755-1826) and Elizabeth Bostock (née Ashton, 1749-1819), and brother of John Ashton Yates (q.v.), Richard Vaughan Yates (1785-1856), James Yates (1789-1871) and Pemberton Heywood Yates. 

According to the ODNB entry (which is silent on his extensive slave-owning):

'....he joined the firm of a West Indies merchant, in which he became a partner, remaining with it until shortly before he died.  He was one of the leading reformers of Liverpool, and in the years after 1815 was a prominent figure in local campaigns and petitions in favour of civil liberties, adherence to constitutional rights and democratic reform. He was also a liberal supporter of the city's literary and scientific institutions....He also contributed to several local journals on antiquarian subjects, and wrote a small number of pamphlets, but none of his writings has had any lasting value.'

Baptised 18/02/1780 at Paradise Street Unitarian Church, Liverpool. He was still in Liverpool when he married in 1813. Six of his daughters were baptised at Paradise Street, Elizabeth (1814), Margaret Hannah (1816), Anna Maria (1817), Sarah Jane (1820), Emma Frances (1821) and Harriet Anne (1825). In the Poll Book for 1837 for St Peter.

ODNB, C. W. Sutton, rev. Alan G. Crosby, 'Yates, Joseph Brooks (1780-1855) merchant and antiquary'; R.K. Webb, 'Yates, John (1755-1826) Unitarian Minister'; Alexander Gordon, rev. R. K. Webb 'Yates, James (1789-1871) Unitarian Minister'.

C. W. Sutton, ‘Yates, Joseph Brooks (1780–1855)’, rev. Alan G. Crosby Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30195, accessed 12 /08/2012]; R. K. Webb, ‘Yates, John (1755–1826)’, ibid. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63410, accessed 12/08/2012]; Alexander Gordon, ‘Yates, James (1789–1871)’, rev. R. K. Webb, ibid. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30192, accessed 12/08/2012].

FindMyPast, England & Wales Non-conformist births and baptisms [database online]. FindMyPast, Cheshire Marriage licence bonds and allegations 1606-1905 [database online]. Ancestry.com, UK, Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893 [database online]. 1841 and 1851 censuses online.

The portrait of Joseph Brooks Yates is copyright National Museums of Liverpool and available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/joseph-brooks-yates-17801855-98597 [accessed 08/09/2015].