ABSTRACT
The capital with which Alfred Booth and Company was founded originated in the legacies, amounting to some £14,000, left by Charles Booth in 1860 to his children, Anna, Alfred, Charles, Emily, and Thomas Booth. Of more general importance in the period 1863–1903, than the occasional call upon outside capital, were the private credit resources made available to Alfred Booth and Company. In this respect, the history of Alfred Booth and Company is in many ways a microcosm, in which most of the stages through which the English banking system emerged during the eighteenth century from its merchant origins are reflected. At their Liverpool offices, Charles and Alfred Booth were active merchants with a minute knowledge not only of the products in which they dealt, but also of the technicalities of shipping. Alfred Booth and Company continued to be the managing owners of the first Booth Steamship Company, despite its existence as an individual enterprise.
