William Barton

Bartons specialised in the import of sugar, cotton, and spirits from the island of Barbados to Liverpool. Like other Liverpool merchants of the period, they operated primarily on a commission basis, accepting shipments from plantations in Barbados on consignment, and arranging for their sale in Liverpool to interested parties, remitting the proceeds back to Barbados less their commission—usually between 2½ and 4 percent—and less a variety of deductions and charges: for duties payable, for port and handling charges, for shipping and insurance, for warehousing and other costs; as well as for any credit advanced or financial transactions facilitated. Krichtal (2013) includes a sample account from 1798, showing a typical example of the charges and commissions made. The firm also bought goods outright for cash on its own account; but the commission system allowed it to be much less exposed to price and demand fluctuations; and to operate with rather less up-front capital.

Sugar was the mainstay of the Barbados economy, accounting (with its byproducts) for 98% of the value of the island's exports even as late as the early 1830s. But Bartons also built up a strong business in cotton. Based on a detailed analysis of weekly shipping and commodities reports in the Lancashire newspapers, Krichtal finds that Allanson & Barton were the third largest cotton importer into Liverpool from all sources in the 1780s; Thomas Barton & Co the largest importer in the 1790s; and Barton, Irlam and Higginson the second largest importer in the first decade of the 1800s. Bartons was one of only two houses to make this top ten in three of the four decades from 1770-1810; no importer remained in the list for all four decades. In respect of cotton specifically from the West Indies, Bartons was comfortably the largest importer in the period 1768-1815, shipping more than twice the volume of the next largest group. Krichtal notes that this was more cotton that the island itself could generate, and Bartons were likely also receiving cotton at Barbados from Guyana and elsewhere for trans-shipment and onward transport to Liverpool.