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Coat of Arms: Difference between revisions
→Titherington's Crimenote added by Peter Elliott
Line 32:
[[File:TitheringtonList.jpg|600px|thumb|center| The LCBA removed Titherington from its list of past presidents<ref>Cotton and the Civil War, Jim Powell</ref>.]]
In Thomas Ellisons noted book "The Cotton Trade of Great Britain: Including a History of the Liverpool Cotton Market and of the Liverpool Cotton Brokers' Association" (a standard work dating from 1886) a list of LBCA Presidents also avoids mentioning Titherington. It appears thise involved in the compiling of the list substituted the name of the Vice-President (Thomas Blackburn) instead for the year of Titherington's presidency (1856). Titherington's crime came to light at a time, just after the American Civil War (1861-65) when many Liverpool Cotton Brokers went bankrupt, but Titherington appears to have gone further, and engaged on his private account, but using the funds of others and under the names of co-consprators, in what were described in court as "extraordinary cotton speculations". He was asked about his actual liabilities he stated that he didn't really know, but "thought they were not more than £100,000". The North-Western Bank was only one of his creditors.
Titherington's story (and the Coat of Arms) is worth further exploration. There are some clear suggestions that he was acting as a broker for cotton speculation during the American Civil War, This may have involved buying cotton from the Confederacy - frowned upon on some circles, and much hampered by blockade. In Manchester, the massive reduction of available American cotton caused an economic disaster referred to as the "Lancashire Cotton Famine". Private British blockade runners sent munitions and luxuries to Confederate ports in return for cotton and tobacco - it could make a healthy profit. A broker could ensure that an investor could speculate and remain anonymous - and Titherington had good connections in Chester. The Society would welcome further exploration into this potential "dark side" of the history of Hoole and Boughton.
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