ABSTRACT
The main focus of this chapter is the activity of mercantile firms in the overseas trade sector during the fifty years or so before 1870. This is a very large topic, and in order to get beyond the level of very broad generalisations within the confines of a single chapter it is necessary to examine either a limited number of trades or the activities of the mercantile community of a single port. Here the second approach will be adopted, the main analysis being the structure of the merchanting firms of Liverpool during the early 1820s and the early 1860s, based upon data drawn from their fire-insurance policies. Special attention will be directed towards the level of capital invested, its profitability, and secular trends in commercial organisation, both before and during ‘the great Victorian boom’.
