John Dawson, bankrupt Whitehaven sugar merchant (1803-1874), Blennerhasset Manor

[amondg]

There are several reference to John Dawson in the Cumberland Paquet on FindMyPast regarding imports of sugar from Antigua and apply to John Dawson of Whitehaven

14 May 1833, 9 September 1834, 24 October 1839, 11 August 1840, 27 June 1843 etc.

Sorry I don't have a subscription to see the full articles

There are quite a lot about John Barwise both father and son and a ship called Volunteer bringing  Wine, rum, coffee and sugar from Antigua.

[Kendra71]

Thanks amondg. I’ve got a subscription and have been looking at these. He was busy from the early 1830s to mid-1858, when the papers declare that “John Dawson of Whitehaven has failed”. The next ten years are about selling off the estate, and then his widow in court.

[sugarbakers]

Thanks Kendra71, I'll do some more searching.

[Rena]

British traders are often at the mercy of international events, such as cutting off friendships with various countries and the American Dollar.

Possibly what happened in the USA in 1857 reached and affected U.K. businesses of the UK in 1858:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857

[Kendra71]

Thanks Rena, that’s a good one. I know he was in trouble or borrowing and taking out mortgages before then, but it may have been a factor in his downfall. I think I’m going to have to research sugar prices!

[sugarbakers]

The History of Sugar Vol 2 - Noel Deerr 1950

Raw sugar prices - UK (shillings)
1839 - 39s
1840 - 49s
1841 - 40s
1842 - 37s
1844 - 33s
1847 - 27s
1849 - 22s
1851 - 23s
1852 - 20s
1855 - 24s
1856 - 28s
1857 - 34s
1858 - 24s

... set that against ...

Consumption of sugar - UK (pounds per caput per year)
1830-39 ... 17.8 lb
1840-44 ... 16.4 lb
1845-49 ... 22.6 lb
1850-59 ... 30.1 lb

Government duty was also blamed, but those taxes were progressively reduced from 1845 - to no duty in 1875.

[Kendra71]

So in that 20 year period, consumption almost doubles and the price almost halves. I’m not great on the economics of this but I assume that the volatility means that a trader buying at source in Antigua could find themselves out of pocket in a nervous market.

I know he had problems in 1857, the year before his bankruptcy, when a buyer called Askew sold his sugar on and then went bust, leaving Dawson forced to deliver his sugar for free. I imagine that failure quickly becomes contagious.

[Kendra71]

Economics quickly make my head spin. Playing with dates - Dawson is buying wholesale in February in Antigua, hoping that the Whitehaven sale price in June will be give him a profit. He’s then giving buyers 90 days (September) to settle their bill. If he hits a bad six months, he could find himself with no profit at the time of sale, and then even worse off if his buyers default. Right?

The Bank of Whitehaven had extended him a loan facility of £25,000 during these years. He had mortgaged Blennerhassett Manor already, and the bank eventually withdrew support in 1858, when his assets no longer covered his debts.

[sugarbakers]

Yes, that sounds logical. The Whitehaven market would have been small ... he would have shipped a relatively small cargo that would supply a small number of customers, and a couple of defaulters would have made quite a difference to his profits. The large markets in Liverpool and London would have been able to survive that same couple of defaulters.