Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

MARGRIT SCHULTE BEERBÜHL and KLAUS WEBER
Molling, Spitta & Co reveal that they were also big traders in coffee,
sugar, and other colonial goods such as logwood, and Russian goods
such as hemp and flax. 52
Some of the London-based German merchants, like the Pritzlers
of Herford, diversified into manufacturing and insurance. In the
eighteenth century London was the largest sugar-refining centre in
Brit ain and one of the Pritzlers mentioned above became a sugar
refiner. They ran a refinery at Wellclose Square for several generations.
They also sat on the board of directors of the Phoenix insurance
company. 53
Via London, merchants from Germany’s north-western textile
areas also traded with Spain and Portugal and their colonies. Apart
from the already identified Hasenclever, German merchant families
with branches in Cadiz and Bordeaux also had established members
in London, like the Bethmans or Luetkens. 54 In the trade with the
Iberian Peninsula they enjoyed the privileges of the Methuen Treaty
with Portugal and the Asiento Treaty with Spain. The British merchant
navy also carried goods to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies
in the eighteenth century, and at times of war its ships sailed under
the protection of the Royal Navy. This was a decisive advantage
given the widespread nature of privateering and piracy. In addition,
the London-based Germans were connected with well-established
German merchant communities in Lisbon and Cadiz.
Linen, Glass, and Cuckoo Clocks: German Merchants in Cadiz
Until the turn of the eighteenth century, Seville had been the Spanish
port with the most extensive privileges for trading with Spain’s
American colonies. During the War of the Spanish Succession, its
position was contested by Cadiz, which already hosted an important
group of French traders and during the conflict sided with the ultimately
successful Bourbon monarchy. Consequently, in 1717, important
civil and naval institutions were transferred from Seville to
52 TNA, Bankruptcy Records, B3/4549.
53 Guildhall Library, Phoenix Fire Insurance, List of Members for 1782, PX3;
Kent’s Directory for London, 1791, Directors of the Phoenix Fire Office, Lom -
bard Street.
54 See below.
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