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* '''"I should think Titherington has been speculating in cotton from the earliest period of his existence as a cotton broker"'''
This may have involved buying cotton from the then recently defeated Confederacy - a trade which during the Civil War was frowned upon on some circles, and much hampered by blockade. At the time of the Civil War, cotton had become the most valuable crop of the South and comprised 59% of the exports from the United States, most of which went to Britain. During the war, the quantity of raw cotton coming into Liverpool plummeted, which meant that prices soared. At its lowest, the annual volume of cotton dropped by seventy percent. In Manchester, the massive reduction of available American cotton caused an economic disaster referred to as the "Lancashire Cotton Famine".
* '''"busy selling what they have not got to people who don't want it."'''
There is another peculiar connection between Liverpool cotton and Hoole. When the Transatlantic Cable was established (with the assistance of Thomas Brassey), Liverpool cotton broker John Rew saw the possibilities inherent in the idea of the simultaneous deal. By using the cable, he could get quotations from the Cotton Belt in the USA and buy the cotton at almost a moment's notice. He could then "hedge his bet" by a complex set of contracts - effectively inventing the "hedge fund". The cable which enabled him to do this was in part funded and greatly supported by Charles W. H. Pickering. He was the husband of Elizabeth Walker, who was the daughter of Thomas Walker of [[Flookersbrook]] and his wife Katherine Lightfoot. Pickering was present when the first official Transatlantic Telegraph message was transmitted. It was to be the message from Queen Victoria to the US president but Charles Pickering made a change and just before the Queen's message on August 5, 1858. The story of Pickering's message is reported by his son (in his memoirs) who wrote:▼
The Society would welcome further exploration into this potential "dark side" of the history of Hoole and Boughton.
There is another peculiar connection between Liverpool cotton and Hoole. When the first successful Transatlantic Cable was established (1866 - with the assistance of Thomas Brassey), Liverpool cotton broker John Rew saw the possibilities inherent in the idea of the simultaneous deal. By using the cable, he could get quotations from the Cotton Belt in the USA and buy the cotton at almost a moment's notice. He could then "hedge his bet" by a complex set of contracts - effectively inventing the "hedge fund" - although the practice haad been common during the war years.
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* '''"The message from Queen Victoria to the president was handed to the telegraph operator, a Mr. St. John .. The telegraph operator told me later that my father put his hand on Mr. St. John’s shoulder and told him to stop. My father told him there was a message to be sent before the queen’s telegram."'''
Pickering sent: "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men" - which is still recorded as the first official cable across the Altantic. That cable lasted for three weeks before it failed. The second cable was laid by the converted Great Eastern in 1865.
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