Sir George Carteret and the Royal African Company
On Friday I will be posting the final part of Balleine’s article on George Carteret from the Biographical Dictionary of Jersey, but today my focus is on my researches into George Carteret and the Royal African Company.
Sir George Carteret is mentioned in connection with the founding of the Royal African Company, but what part did he actually play?
I am not seeking in this study to allocate culpability or to whitewash Sir George. Anyone from Royalty down investing the company must have been aware that at least part of its trade was in slaves. After all, the charters issued by King Charles II (1630–1685) represent the moment at which the transatlantic slave trade officially began, with royal approval, in the English Empire. But while he was a figure of note in his day, was he known here for being a prominent courtier, or because of the scale of his involvement?
He was a “consultant” which basically meant an extra source of revenue in case the company had to draw upon his geographical knowledge of the African coast, and local historian Doug Ford notes that he was paid the sum of £300 per annum for that role.
First of all, let’s look at how the company operated? In “The Decline of the Royal African Company: Fringe Firms and the Role of the Charter”, Ann Carlos and Jamie Kruse note that:
“Although it was thought of as a slave trading enterprise, slaves were only one among a number of products shipped by the Company from Africa. In fact, over the last four decades of the seventeenth century, slaves comprised only 40 per cent of total English trade with Africa. The Royal African Company was a multi-product monopolist, which, in addition to slaves, also exported gold, ivory, malaguetta (pepper), and redwood (a dye). Castles were built and maintained to protect the gold trade, not the slave trade. As Eltis points out, one does not find structures equivalent to Cape Corso Castle on those areas of the coast which supplied four-fifths of the slaves. 'No castle was ever built where gold was unimportant’.”
“The African trade was based on barter in that goods were brought to Africa and exchanged for other commodities or for slaves. The commodities consisted of redwood (a dye), ivory, gold, wax, and malaguetta (pepper), which were shipped directly to England for sale. The trade in slaves was essentially a triangular one. Commodities were shipped to Africa; slaves were purchased, transported to the West Indies, and sold; and the proceeds, in bullion, bills of exchange, or sugar, were sent to London.”
Although Carteret was a consultant, he had retired from seafaring, and was purely an investor in the company. He is mentioned in many histories (and by Balleine and by Doug Ford) as a “founder”.
On Friday I will be posting the final part of Balleine’s article on George Carteret from the Biographical Dictionary of Jersey, but today my focus is on my researches into George Carteret and the Royal African Company.
Sir George Carteret is mentioned in connection with the founding of the Royal African Company, but what part did he actually play?
I am not seeking in this study to allocate culpability or to whitewash Sir George. Anyone from Royalty down investing the company must have been aware that at least part of its trade was in slaves. After all, the charters issued by King Charles II (1630–1685) represent the moment at which the transatlantic slave trade officially began, with royal approval, in the English Empire. But while he was a figure of note in his day, was he known here for being a prominent courtier, or because of the scale of his involvement?
He was a “consultant” which basically meant an extra source of revenue in case the company had to draw upon his geographical knowledge of the African coast, and local historian Doug Ford notes that he was paid the sum of £300 per annum for that role.
First of all, let’s look at how the company operated? In “The Decline of the Royal African Company: Fringe Firms and the Role of the Charter”, Ann Carlos and Jamie Kruse note that:
“Although it was thought of as a slave trading enterprise, slaves were only one among a number of products shipped by the Company from Africa. In fact, over the last four decades of the seventeenth century, slaves comprised only 40 per cent of total English trade with Africa. The Royal African Company was a multi-product monopolist, which, in addition to slaves, also exported gold, ivory, malaguetta (pepper), and redwood (a dye). Castles were built and maintained to protect the gold trade, not the slave trade. As Eltis points out, one does not find structures equivalent to Cape Corso Castle on those areas of the coast which supplied four-fifths of the slaves. 'No castle was ever built where gold was unimportant’.”
“The African trade was based on barter in that goods were brought to Africa and exchanged for other commodities or for slaves. The commodities consisted of redwood (a dye), ivory, gold, wax, and malaguetta (pepper), which were shipped directly to England for sale. The trade in slaves was essentially a triangular one. Commodities were shipped to Africa; slaves were purchased, transported to the West Indies, and sold; and the proceeds, in bullion, bills of exchange, or sugar, were sent to London.”
Although Carteret was a consultant, he had retired from seafaring, and was purely an investor in the company. He is mentioned in many histories (and by Balleine and by Doug Ford) as a “founder”.
For example in “Freedom's Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1672-1752”, (which is the reference given by Wikipedia) for him being a "founder", William A. Pettigrew comments that:
“The duke of York had been the African Company’s governor since its creation and was its largest shareholder. The African Company’s charter and its intimacy with the royal family proved attractive for investors. Conspicuous among early subscribers were those at the heart of Charles II’s circle (including four of five of the Cabal, the king’s select group of advisers): Sir Edmund Andros, Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, George Villiers, Lord Buckingham, Sir George Carteret, Sir Thomas Clifford, Sir Peter Colleton, Sir William Coventry, William Craven, earl of Craven, Lawrence Du Puy, Ferdinando Gorges, Lord Francis Hawley, John Locke, Thomas Povey, Prince Rupert, Sir Joseph Williamson, and Matthew Wren. Many of these men had experience of the Atlantic economy. Sir Peter Colleton owned vast plantations in Barbados. Sir Edmund Andros had been governor of New York and would become James II’s governor of his Atlantic supercolony, the Dominion of New England. Ferdinando Gorges had estates in New England, and Sir George Carteret was a lord proprietor of the Carolinas. John Locke’s expertise in transatlantic issues is also well known.”
But in his book “The Royal African Company” (also referenced in Wikipedia), K. G. Davies has a similar list but relegates Sir George Carteret to what we might call a “second tier” of subscribers to the company, which, as we shall see, is reflected in his shareholding:
“In the twenty years after 1672 a total of fifteen peers and other persons of note were associated with it, though not all at the same time. A few, the Earl of Bath, Sir William Coventry, Prince Rupert and Lord Hawley, withdrew before the capital had been fully paid up. Death removed Clifford in 1673 and Buckingham in 1687. Shaftesbury sold out in 1677, Arlington in 1679, Sir Joseph Williamson in 1687 and Lord Berkeley in 1688.2 By the Revolution only three such persons remained, King James, who sold his stock in 1689, the Earl of Craven and Lord Powis, neither of the last two being large investors.3 No one of comparable calibre or distinction was recruited, and African stock passed steadily out of the hands of the aristocracy and the Court into the hands of the mercantile community. The aggregate capital invested by these distinguished men was, apart from James' £3,000, small, and at no time after 1674 can it have amounted to more than six or seven per cent. of the stock.”
“Below this group of prominent persons, and often associated with it, came such men as Sir George Carteret, Sir Peter Colleton, Thomas Povey, John Locke, Sir Edmund Andros and Ferdinando Gorges.”
Now it is important to note the Royal Africa Company was a “joint stock company”, which was in many ways a precursor to the Limited Liability Company.
So what I have investigated is how much George Carteret invested, and whether it might be more accurate to call him a “founding investor” rather than a founder as such. That’s not to say he was not culpable of investing in a company which traded in slaves, but it does let us see where exactly he stood in prominence.
In other words, was he mentioned as one of the first investors because he was a well known figure, or did he play a considerable part as a large investor, and hence that is why his name is noted. How exactly was he a founder?
In his study of the company, Jose Corpuz notes that the initial capital in 1672 was £111,100. Money was raided by issuing more shareholding, so by 30 July 1691 it was £444,400 and by 7 October 1697 £1,101,050. Maintaining the companies forts was expensive and after 1688, the Company faced more competition from other English merchants.Hence the need to issue more stock.
Dan Byrne in his study of the company actually gives some of the details of the subscription and it is worth stating that in detail because they give the details of the founders subscription to stock in the company.
“Clifford (died 1673 had £400 stock), Arlington (£500 stock), Buckingham (£500 stock died 1687), and Ashley (Shaftesbury); four of the five ministers in the Cabal, plus the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, Sir William Coventry and Sir Joseph Williamson (secretary of state, £500 stock, sold out in 1687). Plus, John Locke (philosopher interested in colonisation, £400 stock, sold in 1675). Sir George Carteret (£500 RAC stock - his family had a royal charter for Carolina, he was a Lord Proprietor of Carolina and a member of the committee of trade and plantations). Sir Peter Colleton (large plantation in Barbados, £1000 RAC stock sold in 1675, down to £400). The Earl of Craven (£600 stock).”
“Merchant Thomas Povey. Sir Edmund Andros (former governor of New York). Ferdinando Gorges (£1000 RAC stock, sold in 1679), whose family had estates in New England. Several such names had been associated with Ashley (Shaftesbury) in his earlier [unnamed] colonial schemes. Others were Lord Hawley, Lawrence du Puy and Matthew Wren, close to the Duke of York. Lord Berkeley had up to £1600 stock in the RAC but sold out in 1688. The king, James II, sold his RAC stock, £3000 on 10 January, 1689; James received in dividends £3480 and sold for £5730, with a total profit of £6210 over seventeen years. The Earl of Craven was not a large investor, nor was Lord Powis (£100 pounds stock) or Lord Falconberg. Royalty and their circles never held more than one quarter of the RAC stock.”
I list this lengthy and ponderous list in some detail because it provides a context for understanding the scope of Sir George Carteret’s investment.
So we can see from this that George Carteret, while mentioned as a” founder”, only had £500 of the original £111,100 stock (which was later diluted in size) which amounted to 0.45% of the stock at the start.
Clearly he was a favourite of Charles II and also a significant figure in his own right, which is why he comes into the histories as a “founder”, but it is also clear that is the reason why he is listed as a founder, not because he was a large stockholder in the company, for clearly he was not, rather that he was a notable courtier.
Now what George Carteret he did was reprehensible, and wrong, although by the standards of the day, it was considered “respectable” which itself is a shocking indictment of that period of history, but while in Jersey he is seen as a large fish in a small pond, actually in terms of his investment, he was only a small fish in a big pond.
Like many of his ventures at this time, he was trying to retire from his seafaring days and find lucrative businesses to invest in, as Balleine notes:
A rich man must find investments, and some of Carteret's were of the wild-cat type. Knowing that coal comes from decayed vegetation, he imagined that there must be coal beneath Windsor Forest, and he formed a company to make a mine there. He leased thousands of acres in Connacht, "which are overflowed every tide", hoping to drain them and secure good agricultural land.
More profitable was his purchase of estates. The war had ruined many landowners, and large numbers were for sale. He bought manors in Devon and Cornwall, in Lincolnshire and Essex, and never lived in one of them, but their rentals, timber, and manorial dues provided a steady income. He bought Alderney, and appointed Jean Germain as Rector. "On Sundays", we are told, "he proclaimed the sublime Truths of Religion. On weekdays he acted as Sir George's gamekeeper".
To see of him simply as an investor in the slave trade is to diminish his other investments – he was clearly not someone who sought only one source of revenue!
As Balleine says, “Wherever an investment looked promising, Carteret jumped at it, for acquisitiveness was one strongly marked feature in his character.”
Tomorrow, I will conclude with the second part of the Balleine article, and also an assessment of Sir George Carteret himself.
“The duke of York had been the African Company’s governor since its creation and was its largest shareholder. The African Company’s charter and its intimacy with the royal family proved attractive for investors. Conspicuous among early subscribers were those at the heart of Charles II’s circle (including four of five of the Cabal, the king’s select group of advisers): Sir Edmund Andros, Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, George Villiers, Lord Buckingham, Sir George Carteret, Sir Thomas Clifford, Sir Peter Colleton, Sir William Coventry, William Craven, earl of Craven, Lawrence Du Puy, Ferdinando Gorges, Lord Francis Hawley, John Locke, Thomas Povey, Prince Rupert, Sir Joseph Williamson, and Matthew Wren. Many of these men had experience of the Atlantic economy. Sir Peter Colleton owned vast plantations in Barbados. Sir Edmund Andros had been governor of New York and would become James II’s governor of his Atlantic supercolony, the Dominion of New England. Ferdinando Gorges had estates in New England, and Sir George Carteret was a lord proprietor of the Carolinas. John Locke’s expertise in transatlantic issues is also well known.”
But in his book “The Royal African Company” (also referenced in Wikipedia), K. G. Davies has a similar list but relegates Sir George Carteret to what we might call a “second tier” of subscribers to the company, which, as we shall see, is reflected in his shareholding:
“In the twenty years after 1672 a total of fifteen peers and other persons of note were associated with it, though not all at the same time. A few, the Earl of Bath, Sir William Coventry, Prince Rupert and Lord Hawley, withdrew before the capital had been fully paid up. Death removed Clifford in 1673 and Buckingham in 1687. Shaftesbury sold out in 1677, Arlington in 1679, Sir Joseph Williamson in 1687 and Lord Berkeley in 1688.2 By the Revolution only three such persons remained, King James, who sold his stock in 1689, the Earl of Craven and Lord Powis, neither of the last two being large investors.3 No one of comparable calibre or distinction was recruited, and African stock passed steadily out of the hands of the aristocracy and the Court into the hands of the mercantile community. The aggregate capital invested by these distinguished men was, apart from James' £3,000, small, and at no time after 1674 can it have amounted to more than six or seven per cent. of the stock.”
“Below this group of prominent persons, and often associated with it, came such men as Sir George Carteret, Sir Peter Colleton, Thomas Povey, John Locke, Sir Edmund Andros and Ferdinando Gorges.”
Now it is important to note the Royal Africa Company was a “joint stock company”, which was in many ways a precursor to the Limited Liability Company.
So what I have investigated is how much George Carteret invested, and whether it might be more accurate to call him a “founding investor” rather than a founder as such. That’s not to say he was not culpable of investing in a company which traded in slaves, but it does let us see where exactly he stood in prominence.
In other words, was he mentioned as one of the first investors because he was a well known figure, or did he play a considerable part as a large investor, and hence that is why his name is noted. How exactly was he a founder?
In his study of the company, Jose Corpuz notes that the initial capital in 1672 was £111,100. Money was raided by issuing more shareholding, so by 30 July 1691 it was £444,400 and by 7 October 1697 £1,101,050. Maintaining the companies forts was expensive and after 1688, the Company faced more competition from other English merchants.Hence the need to issue more stock.
Dan Byrne in his study of the company actually gives some of the details of the subscription and it is worth stating that in detail because they give the details of the founders subscription to stock in the company.
“Clifford (died 1673 had £400 stock), Arlington (£500 stock), Buckingham (£500 stock died 1687), and Ashley (Shaftesbury); four of the five ministers in the Cabal, plus the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, Sir William Coventry and Sir Joseph Williamson (secretary of state, £500 stock, sold out in 1687). Plus, John Locke (philosopher interested in colonisation, £400 stock, sold in 1675). Sir George Carteret (£500 RAC stock - his family had a royal charter for Carolina, he was a Lord Proprietor of Carolina and a member of the committee of trade and plantations). Sir Peter Colleton (large plantation in Barbados, £1000 RAC stock sold in 1675, down to £400). The Earl of Craven (£600 stock).”
“Merchant Thomas Povey. Sir Edmund Andros (former governor of New York). Ferdinando Gorges (£1000 RAC stock, sold in 1679), whose family had estates in New England. Several such names had been associated with Ashley (Shaftesbury) in his earlier [unnamed] colonial schemes. Others were Lord Hawley, Lawrence du Puy and Matthew Wren, close to the Duke of York. Lord Berkeley had up to £1600 stock in the RAC but sold out in 1688. The king, James II, sold his RAC stock, £3000 on 10 January, 1689; James received in dividends £3480 and sold for £5730, with a total profit of £6210 over seventeen years. The Earl of Craven was not a large investor, nor was Lord Powis (£100 pounds stock) or Lord Falconberg. Royalty and their circles never held more than one quarter of the RAC stock.”
I list this lengthy and ponderous list in some detail because it provides a context for understanding the scope of Sir George Carteret’s investment.
So we can see from this that George Carteret, while mentioned as a” founder”, only had £500 of the original £111,100 stock (which was later diluted in size) which amounted to 0.45% of the stock at the start.
Clearly he was a favourite of Charles II and also a significant figure in his own right, which is why he comes into the histories as a “founder”, but it is also clear that is the reason why he is listed as a founder, not because he was a large stockholder in the company, for clearly he was not, rather that he was a notable courtier.
Now what George Carteret he did was reprehensible, and wrong, although by the standards of the day, it was considered “respectable” which itself is a shocking indictment of that period of history, but while in Jersey he is seen as a large fish in a small pond, actually in terms of his investment, he was only a small fish in a big pond.
Like many of his ventures at this time, he was trying to retire from his seafaring days and find lucrative businesses to invest in, as Balleine notes:
A rich man must find investments, and some of Carteret's were of the wild-cat type. Knowing that coal comes from decayed vegetation, he imagined that there must be coal beneath Windsor Forest, and he formed a company to make a mine there. He leased thousands of acres in Connacht, "which are overflowed every tide", hoping to drain them and secure good agricultural land.
More profitable was his purchase of estates. The war had ruined many landowners, and large numbers were for sale. He bought manors in Devon and Cornwall, in Lincolnshire and Essex, and never lived in one of them, but their rentals, timber, and manorial dues provided a steady income. He bought Alderney, and appointed Jean Germain as Rector. "On Sundays", we are told, "he proclaimed the sublime Truths of Religion. On weekdays he acted as Sir George's gamekeeper".
To see of him simply as an investor in the slave trade is to diminish his other investments – he was clearly not someone who sought only one source of revenue!
As Balleine says, “Wherever an investment looked promising, Carteret jumped at it, for acquisitiveness was one strongly marked feature in his character.”
Tomorrow, I will conclude with the second part of the Balleine article, and also an assessment of Sir George Carteret himself.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment