2013/04/30 by Gary Sturgess, Ken Cozens · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories
paper · doi:10.1080/00253359.2013.785134
openalex publication_date 2013/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Camden, Calvert & King, a major London shipping firm of the late eighteenth century, was one of the first medium-sized enterprises in Britain to operate on a global scale. They are well known to historians of the African slave trade and Australian convict transportation, but they also sent vessels to the Continent and the Americas, to the East Indies and the Pacific, as well as contracting vessels to government and investing in privateering. This article documents the career of Anthony Calvert, who was managing partner of this and three related firms over more than thirty years. None of Calvert's own records have survived, and the article reconstructs his business affairs from a wide variety of sources, looking at his personal life and his management style, the rise and decline of his business concerns, the diversity of his interests, and the extent of the personal and financial risk faced by him, his partners and their employees