Richard Gildart was born in 1671, the son of James Geldart and Elizabeth Sweeting of Middleham, Yorkshire. He moved to Liverpool in the 1690s, becoming a freeman of Liverpool Corporation on the 2nd of November 1697. He was one of Liverpool’s most prominent citizens in the 18th century with his substantial fortune being made in the transatlantic slave trade. A ship-owner, he was involved in five voyages, that we know of, between 1714 and 1718. These entailed the trafficking of enslaved African people from West Africa to the Americas. There, they were sold and forced to work as enslaved labour on sugar or tobacco plantations. Gildart grew rich through these activities and became a powerful figure in Liverpool and was the town's elected Member of Parliament between 1734 and 1754 and Mayor of Liverpool in 1714, 1731 and 1736. He was also a committee member of the African Company of Merchants which was founded in 1752, British chartered it replaced the Royal African Company operating in the Gold Coast of West Africa where trade in enslaved African people was a principal part of the economy for many years. The African Company of Merchants was managed by a committee composed of nine members, three from each of the major ports in Britain trading in enslaved African people - London, Liverpool and Bristol. Richard Gildart's mercantile business success may have been assisted by his family associations. In 1707 he married Ann Johnson, daughter of Sir Thomas Johnson who amassed a fortune in the sugar and tobacco trade and is believed to have been one of Liverpool's earliest people involved in transatlantic slavery. The marriage of Richard Gildart to Sir Thomas' daughter was a fortunate one for the young man from Middleham and they had twelve children, the eldest, Elizabeth being born in 1708.
In 1709 he purchased from the Moore Estate a plot of ground on the north side of Liverpool near Bevington Hill. Bevington Bush was a tiny hamlet consisting of no more than an inn and handful of cottages and was an idyllic place in the late 18th Century for sailors to take ladies for a stroll and a drink, away from the dirtiness of the town to somewhere with wonderful views of Everton Heights. Bevington Street and Bevington Hill remember the hamlet, while the romantically named street of Summer Seat gives an idea of what used to go on in the immediate area. Here Richard resided, and the street called 'Gildart's Gardens' identifies the site of the house and grounds. The Johnsons, Richard, his children and grandchildren were in public office from 1663 to 1786. The political positions of both Johnson, and later Gildart, show how central slavery was to Liverpool and its development in the 18th century.
In August 1723 the commissioners of the customs reported that Gildart ' has hitherto made due payment of Sir Thos. Johnson's bonds due to the Crown. But on 6 Sept. next another payment is due ... We have called on Mr. Gildart, but he hath not given another security in the room of Mr. Thos. Ball [Johnson's brother-in-law] lately deceased. Neither has Gildart complied with the condition of his bond to pay £1,000 at last midsummer but says he hath met with disappointment and will certainly pay it at Michaelmas next'. During the following months the collector of the customs at Liverpool reported that Gildart had not paid '£300 due on account of Johnson's hands on 6 September, nor on his own for £1,000'. Ann Johnson died in 1742 and was buried at St. Nicholas Church, Liverpool May 5 of that year. In 1745, Richard was one of the chief contributors to the founding of the 'Old' Liverpool Infirmary and he donated to the enterprise. His sons James, George, Francis and Richard were likewise donors. It was opened in 1749 and demolished in 1824. The vestry book of St. Nicholas Church, shows him to have been a member of the church board from 1715 to 1750. He supported such projects as the extension of the seating in the church, the erection
of the steeple, street lighting, etc. He was appointed "Commissioner for Enlightening and Cleaning the
Streets" in 1748 and served continuously in the capacity until 1756. In 1757 he was made Justice of the Peace and was renamed in 1758, then in 1759 he was again commissioner of streets. Having attained the
ripe old age of 88 he appeared no more in public office having retired from Parliament in 1754. He obtained a grant of arms from the College of Arms in 1759 and his portrait, painted by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1766, is still in the family. Richard was 97 at the time of the sitting. He died on the 25th of January 1770, aged 99 and was buried at St. Nicholas Church, Liverpool, as was his wife, in the Johnson vault.
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| Gildart Gardens - cheap tenements for the very poor |
The influence and legacies of the Gildart family continued in Liverpool for many years. Gildart had seven sons and six daughters. His son James Gildart (1711 - 1790) was Mayor of Liverpool in 1750. James continued to run the family business and incurred huge losses during the American War of Independence (1775 - 1783). Gildart's daughter Ann (1721 - 1800) married Spencer Steers, son of Thomas Steers who engineered Liverpool’s first dock. Gildart Street and Gildart Gardens are named after him. Finch House stood on one of the Gildhart estates which the family had purchased. (see http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/11/historical-liverpool-dwellings-finch.html )
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/12/a-liverpool-exemplar-sir-thomas-johnson.html
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