Sir Thomas Johnson was born in Liverpool on the 27th of October 1664 and was an English merchant and Member of Parliament. Indeed, he is known as 'the founder of modern Liverpool'. He served as mayor in 1695 and was one of Liverpool’s earliest recorded slave traders, financing the second documented ship to leave the port destined to transport enslaved souls. In 1700, along with Robert Norris of Speke Hall, he financed the voyage of 'The Blessing' to the Gold Coast (West Africa)' and then on to Barbados, where the enslaved men and women were to be exchanged for cotton, ginger and sugar. Johnson was also involved in the 'Virginia Trade', which saw Liverpool merchants deal in tobacco produced by enslaved Africans.
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| Once the Bank of Liverpool, now The Sir Thomas Hotel |
As one of the leading citizens of Liverpool for over 30 years, which he represented as a Whig for over 20 years, from 1701 to 1723, the last ten without opposition. A shipper and tobacco merchant, and also a pioneer of the new rock salt industry, he acted as its mouthpiece in Parliament. Left a considerable fortune by his father, he traded as a merchant with the British colonies in North America and succeeded his father in 1689 as bailiff of Liverpool and in 1695 as Mayor. He effected the separation of Liverpool from the parish of Walton-on-the Hill in 1699 and obtained from the Crown a grant to the Corporation of the site of the old castle, where he planned the town market. He was the chief promoter of the construction of the first dry dock in 1708 and steered a bill through Parliament to authorise it.
In 1711
he introduced a bill for making the river Weaver navigable from the
Mersey to the rock salt works in Cheshire, which was rejected owing to
the opposition of the brine salt and other interests but ultimately
passed in 1721. He was largely responsible for providing Liverpool with a
floating dock, engaging Thomas Steers to draw up plans and introducing a
bill for the construction of the dock, which received the royal assent
in 1710. Other municipal improvements and developments to which he contributed
were the constitution of Liverpool as a separate parish, distinct from
Walton; the building of St. Peter's and St. George's churches; and the
establishment of the market in Derby Street. He was knighted in 1708,
when he presented a loyal address from Liverpool on a threatened
Jacobite invasion. After
the accession of George I, Johnson supported the Government. In 1716,
when some of the Jacobite prisoners taken at Preston pleaded guilty and
begged for transportation, he submitted proposals to the Treasury for
transporting them at 40s. per head, the prisoners to serve
Johnson or his assigns for seven years. The offer was accepted, and in
March the Treasury paid Johnson £1,000 in part payment of his contract.
When some of the better class prisoners argued that they had pleaded for
simple transportation and would not 'consent to be slaves', Johnson had
them 'turned into a dungeon ... and fed only with bread and water'. In
the end, all the prisoners, numbering 639, were transported by Johnson with 130 prisoners going to plantations in the Americas..
In 1717 he made an unsuccessful bid of £61,000 for the whole of the
French part of St. Kitts in the West Indies, which had been advertised
for sale by the commissioners for trade and plantations.
Johnson was frequently in financial difficulties over the redemption of the bonds which tobacco importers were allowed to deposit as security for the duty payable on tobacco stored in customs warehouses if not re-exported. In 1717 he and his partner and son-in-law, Richard Gildart, were in debt to the Crown in respect of unpaid duty on tobacco to the extent of £7,825 3s. 1d. On the 18th of January 1719 the collector of the customs at Liverpool reported to the commissioners of customs at London: - 'Sir Thomas Johnson and Mr. Richard Gildart are both in London raising money to pay off their debts to the Crown. But neither has yet paid any of the old bonds for long due but have sent ships and effects to London to raise money there for there is a great scarcity of it here and trading almost at a stand.' At the general election of 1722, his property qualification was called into question by his opponent. In 1723, having lost the fortune which he had inherited from his father, he retired from Parliament and was appointed collector of customs on the Rappahannock River in Virginia leaving Gildart to cope with his debts. He seems to have remained in Virginia until 1725, when he was given a pension of £350 p.a. in lieu of his office.
church on the 5th January, 1729.
The street leading from Dale Street to Whitechapel is named Sir Thomas Street and has Sir Thomas Buildings, commemorating his connection with the town. In 1873, a marble tablet was erected in the municipal offices by Sir James Picton to Johnson's memory. 'Being of an active and enterprising mind', says Picton, 'Johnson was very closely mixed up with the town's affairs at a period of transition when the latent capabilities of the port were just being discovered, and to no one was the town more indebted for its early development'.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/12/a-liverpool-exemplar-herbert-tyson-smith.html
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