Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

Pirates, Death, and Disaster
hurricane, Eccleston sent four letters to the West Indies, all written in
a great rush as they were to be carried to the islands by an acquaintance
of his: ‘Mr Wilson’s stay in town is very short.’ 76 One of these
was to Ann West, notifying her that the bills she had sent in payment
of her deceased husband’s debts had been dishonoured. Eccleston,
fully aware of her widowed state and the recent hurricane, still pointed
out: ‘As soon as it becomes due, if it is not then paid, I shall take
the earliest opportunity of returning it to you protested, with the ex -
pense attending it. There is already 7s. 4d. and noting.’ 77
Eccleston rarely refers to the legal means of enforcing debts due
from individuals within his trading network. Nevertheless, he was
very well aware of the system for obtaining legal redress and was not
averse to using it if he felt that he could not resolve a situation otherwise.
As Eccleston regularly dealt with women who were in business
on their own account and appeared in all cases to follow the Quaker
tradition of treating women as absolute equals, the reason for his firm
approach to the money owed by Anne West needs to be sought elsewhere.
It seems most likely that Anne West had no plans to carry on
trading in the West Indies and would thus leave the network of
friends-in-common that Eccleston relied upon as a means of informal
enforcement. As the legal process for debt recovery was slow (and
often ineffective) Eccleston appears to have decided that prompt
action was necessary if he was to receive a full settlement of money
due to him.
76 LSF, TEMP MSS 145/1, Eccleston to William Walker Jordan, Barbados, 22
Jan. 1781.
77 Ibid. Eccleston to Ann West, Barbados, 22 Jan. 1781. A dishonoured bill of
exchange was effectively a bounced cheque. In law if a bill was not paid
when it became due then there was no defence: the person presenting the bill
was deemed a debtor, and could immediately be imprisoned for debt. In
order to set the procedure in train the creditor had to protest the bill, by
returning it to the debtor, endorsed by a lawyer. Interestingly, the legislation
covering dishonoured cheques refers back to bills of exchange. The 1926 Bills
of Exchange Act lays down that there is no possible defence for a dishonoured
cheque. The phrase ‘and noting’ as used by Eccleston in the context of
a protested bill of exchange meant that a separate account would be kept of
additional charges relating to the unpaid bill of exchange. These would
include interest and legal fees.
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