Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

Pirates, Death, and Disaster
profit venture’. Eccleston and his friends had drunk the puncheon of
best rum that had travelled with him from Barbados, and ‘Tho’t it
very good’, so a replacement was required. 61 Again though, apart
from the request for rum, Eccleston was busy promoting his business,
chasing payment, detailing terms and conditions of trade, and
developing his role as exporter of luxury goods. His business plan
was not for these goods to be sold to the planters but: ‘To be sold for
cash to the retailers etc. in the Town, as it wouldn’t at any rate answer
my purpose crediting the estates you may have connexions with, for
the long credit they usually take wou’d soon ruin me.’ 62
As well as the hats, material, and ribbon, Eccleston shipped out
180 dozen Queensware plates, a bale of oznaby (used for clothing
slaves), and a chest of combs in February 1780. Eccleston also plan -
ned to ship out cutlery, but had found that he could not get the highclass
goods he demanded without visiting Sheffield as he had no contacts
in that town. He wrote that he planned to travel round several
manufacturing towns in the spring of 1780 to seek out quality items
for export to the West Indies. 63 Eccleston’s travels in pursuit of new
business contacts led him to develop a political network that interlocked
and overlapped in many places with his business network. 64
These new networks provided a forum for the development of
Eccleston’s ideas on freedom and religion, and later in his life led to
Eccleston publishing radical petitions and books on freedom of
thought and religion, resulting in several brushes with authority,
including a spell in prison.
Deaths and Disasters
One of the greatest risks of the late eighteenth century was that of
sudden death, and living in the West Indies added to that risk. More
than 62,000 British soldiers died from disease in the two West Indies
campaigns during the American Revolutionary War, a figure that is
61 Ibid. Eccleston to John Bispham, Barbados, 20 Feb. 1780.
62 Ibid. Eccleston to Walker and Nash, Barbados, 20 Feb. 1780.
63 Ibid. Eccleston to William Eccleston, 20 July 1780. Eccleston said that he
expected to be travelling on business for five months out of every twelve.
64 Ibid. Eccleston to John Bispham, Barbados, 20 Feb. 1780.
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