The Tuohy papers
The Tuohy papers
Collection: Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754–1792 Volumes The Tuohy papers
The documents pertaining to David Tuohy are those of an Irishman who spent fourteen years in the African trade, including the captaincy of four slave voyages between 1765 and 1769 and part-ownership of ten Liverpool slave ships from 1772 to 1786. Tuohy married in Liverpool in 1768 and settled there in 1771. After his experience as a captain of slave vessels, he settled down as a merchant on Merseyside. In Gore’s Liverpool Directory for 1781, he is described as a merchant resident at 48 Old Hall Street. His correspondence indicates that he conducted trade between Liverpool and Ireland, importing beef, butter and tallow, and exported beer, cheese, and salt. He also remained active in the transatlantic slave trade. Tuohy participated in voyages where he could spread his investment among other partners, as in the voyage of the Brig Nancy in 1774, in which he held a one-sixth share (380 TUO/4/7). His ventures in the triangular slave trade involved sending ships to the Windward, Ivory and Gold coasts, the Bight of Benin, and especially Angola, and then selling Africans at Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, and Grenada. Tuohy had few mercantile contacts on the North American continent apart from in Charleston, South Carolina. He probably died in the late 1780s or early 1790s; the last mention of him in these papers is a letter addressed to him dated September 1788 (380 TUO/6/4).
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Letters to David Tuohy
[380 TUO/1]. Sixty-three letters covering the period May 1779 to February 1788. Among references to the slave trade in this correspondence is a letter detailing the current difficulty of selling...
Date:1779-1788Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-1
Draft letters from David Tuohy
[380 TUO/2]. Covering the periods 1771-1776 and 1783, and including a draft letter from Edward Tuohy, dated 18th May 1772. The first letter mentions competition with the French for slaves...
Date:1771-1783Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-2
Accounts
[380 TUO/3]. Covering the period 1765-1787.
Date:1765-1787Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-3
Papers from the Snow Betty and Peggy
[380 TUO/4/1]. A bill of lading from 1753.The most detailed material on the slave trade in the Tuohy Papers is found in the ships’ papers (380 TUO/4/1-13). In common with...
Date:1753-1753Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-4-01
Papers from the ship Ranger
[380 TUO/4/2]. From 1767.
Date:1767-1767Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-4-02
Papers from the ship Sally
[380 TUO/4/3]. From 1768, with 18 draft letters from David Tuohy, May to June 1776.
Date:1768-1776Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-4-03
Papers from the ship Corsican Hero
[380 TUO/4/4]. From 1771, including a crew list and orders to the captain.
Date:1771-1771Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-4-04
Papers from the ship Tom
[380 TUO/4/5]. From 1771.
Date:1771-1771Contributor:Liverpool Record Office
Identifier:147-380-tuo-4-05
