Thomas Daniel (merchant)

Thomas Daniel
Portrait of Thomas Daniel
Born16 September 1762
Barbados
Died6 April 1854 (Aged 91)
Bristol
Occupations
  • financier
  • sugar merchant
  • business man
  • local politician
  • bank owner
Known forCompany received one of the largest financial awards in UK when slavery was abolished. Tory who dominated politics in Bristol at the beginning of the 19th century.
Spouse
Susanna Cave
​
(m. 1789)​

Thomas Daniel (16 September 1762 – 6 April 1854) was a shipping magnate, financier and sugar merchant in Bristol and London. His omnipotence was such that he was known as the "King of Bristol" and in later life "The Father of Bristol" because of his power in corporate and political affairs for over 50 years.[1] [2]

Across the Americas he owned plantations. He was a partner in many Bristol businesses (see list) and owned 25 ships transporting goods from the West Indies.[3][4][5]

The extent of his family's company Thomas Daniel & Sons in Bristol and Thomas Daniel & Co. in London, founded by his father in the mid-eighteenth century, was such that when slavery was abolished in 1834 the British Government awarded them one of the largest compensation awards in the UK. There is no evidence that the family was ever involved in buying or transporting people in Africa to sell as slaves in the Americas.[6][7]

Thos. Daniel & Sons and Thos. Daniel & Co. provided mortgages for plantation owners. Between 1823 and 1843 he and his brother headed the list of British merchants who were the major creditors for estates that passed through the chancery courts in Barbados. During that time they extended £62,694 in credit (the total amount of mortgages extended during this period in Barbados was valued at £256,981).[8]

The vast extent of this mortgage lending has been attributed to the amount of compensation the company received being so high -the company becoming shareholders in failing plantations they provided mortgages to, and subsequently in the enslaved individuals. For decades he was a key member of organisations in Bristol such as the Society of Merchant Venturers and the West India Association which lobbied against the abolition of slavery.[9][10][11]

He was a leading Tory in Bristol and a member of the Council continuously for more than 56 years.[10]

Despite his influence on Bristol when alive, very few people today have heard of Daniel because, unlike other West India merchants connected to the City such as Edward Colston, he did not leave any testementary legacies to the city Although he was worth the equivalent of £26.2m when he died– .[12][4][13]

  1. ^ Latimer, John (1970). The annals of Bristol in the eighteenth century. Redwood Press. p. 455.
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  6. ^ "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Database". Slave Voyages. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery". wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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