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Goldney: symbolic connections

The Goldney family is known to have had a long association with mercantile trade in Bristol, and family connections to the Society of Merchant Venturers. Evidence for the life of the Goldney family in Bristol "exists almost entirely in public records, chiefly those of the Society of Friends, and with a few references in those of the Corporation of the City of Bristol... some family documents have survived, but these are miscellaneous, mainly business papers".¹ This brief overview draws on secondary sources of research to provide a summary of the family's involvement with the Society of Merchant Venturers and the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.

Thomas Goldney I was the first of the Goldney family to make a significant contribution to the merchant community of Bristol. He initially served as an apprentice in Bristol for seven years, enabling him to become a freeman of the City in 1646. He established a grocery mercantile, building it into a successful business. Both Thomas I and his wife joined the Society of Friends (the Quakers).

Their son Thomas Goldney II (1664-1731) followed in his father's footsteps, taking over the family grocery business. He was admitted to the freedom of the city in 1688. He married the daughter of Thomas Speed, a 'free burgess' of the Society of Merchant Venturers. Speed had been Warden (the chief officer) of the Society of Merchant Venturers for 1651-2, and it is reasonable to assume that this family connection to the Society assisted Thomas II's business dealings.

By the end of the seventeenth century, Thomas II began expanding his business interests to include investments in at least one privateering expedition and local mining and industry works; he also became an agent for the Collector of Customs for the port of Bristol.

Records indicate that Thomas II was involved in funding several sea voyages associated with the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans, in particular the Woodes-Rogers voyage of the Duke and her sister ship Duchess. Information documented in the National Archives show how that voyage, and more financed by both Thomas Goldney II and his son, were part of the triangular slave trade.^₂ Thomas II was the largest shareholder in this particular venture, with 36 of 256 shares at the rate of £103 10s each.³

Thomas Goldney III (1696-1768) continued the family tradition of mercantile interests, expanding them through investments in mining, copper and iron works across Bristol, Chester and North Wales. Eventually, Thomas III and his father held the controlling shares in Abraham Darby's ironworks at Coalbrookdale. There is little doubt that the funds making this investment possible resulted directly from the profits made by the Goldneys in the Woods-Rogers voyage.⁴

During their time, the ironworks produced, amongst other things, manillas and the brass objects, which slavers then used to trade for human cargo. The business interests maintained by the Goldneys – in ships, mines, property and eventually banking – undoubtedly relied on the ongoing development of transatlantic expeditions and the slave trade in particular in the 18th century.

Apart from his business career, Thomas III had a half share of the Clifton house, grounds, and household goods that had been purchased by his father in 1705 (Goldney House, listed grade II*). Thomas III spent significant funds and time in the management and development of this property.

The estate was broken up in the mid-nineteenth century, with the University acquiring Goldney House and a proportion of the garden. It is through this purchase that the Goldney name has become associated with the University.

1. ^ P. K. Stembridge, The Goldney family: A Bristol merchant dynasty (Bristol: Bristol Record Society's publications Vol XLIX, 1998), p. X.
2. ^ The National Archives Exhibitions & Learning online | Black presence | Learning journeys. (n.d.-b). www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2021, from https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/journeys/voyage_html/questions.htm#8
3. ^ Tembridge, p. 15.
4. ^ B. M. H. Rogers, Woodes Rogers' Privateering Voyage of 1708-11, Mariner's Mirror 19(2) XIX p. 205.