Gair - The Gair Papers - 1770-1930
The Gair Papers in the University of Liverpool Special Collections and Archives, incorporate papers relating to their business ventures, and their family life; dating from the late 18th to the mid 20th centuries.The papers feature the correspondence of Samuel S. Gair and his two sons Thomas and Henr...
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| Other Creators: | , , |
| Archive level description: | Fonds |
| Physical Description: | 10 boxes |
| Languages: | English |
| Summary: | The Gair Papers in the University of Liverpool Special Collections and Archives, incorporate papers relating to their business ventures, and their family life; dating from the late 18th to the mid 20th centuries.The papers feature the correspondence of Samuel S. Gair and his two sons Thomas and Henry, primarily concerning their work as partners in Baring Brothers & Co.. The papers also include an extensive collection of papers concerning the research into Gair family history, led by Walter Burgh Gair, including the careers and personal lives of various Gair family members. |
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| Date: | 1770-1930 |
| Reference Number: | Gair |
| Accruals: | No further accruals are expected. |
| Arrangement: | This collection has been arranged into the following sections:
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| Related Material: | The University of Liverpool holds the papers of the Rathbone family.The Rathbone PapersDeposited MaterialThe following items have been deposited within Special Collections.Reference number: Spec Y68.5.94. Book of Common Prayer & Psalter.Reference number: Spec Y68.5.48-49. Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 1688. |
| Access Restrictions: | Reproduction and Licensing Rules available on request. |
| Biographical/Administrative Information: | The Gair Papers are associated with Liverpool in the first half of the nineteenth century. Samuel Stillman Gair arrived in the city by 1816 (aged 27) from Boston. Initially he went into partnership with Willis and Latham as import/export agents and successful merchant bankers particularly importing cotton and goods from the USA. By 1832 he was asked by Joshua Bates, Managing Director of Barings Bank, to open their first branch which was to be in Liverpool and there are letters about this and other commercial matters. Samuel married Elizabeth Greene Wainwright of Boston in 1821 and carried on a long correspondence with his brother in law, Henry Wainwright. Henry wrote many letters over a period of 15 years these consist of a mixture of business information, prices and family news. Samuel and the family lived in Gambier Terrace, Liverpool and later moved out to Penketh Hall in Wavertree. He owned property in Abercromby Square and died of typhus in 1847. Later that year his eldest daughter, Lucretia (Lucretia Wainwright Gair 1823-27 May 1859) married William Rathbone VI (11 Feb 1819-6 Mar 1902). Samuel S. Gair had two sons, Thomas and Henry, both would become partners in Baring Brothers & Co. Thomas married Anna Rotheram from a Liverpool insurance family and their eldest son was Walter Burgh Gair. Walter was a managing director of Barings in London and it is his trunk which contained these records. Walter pursued information about his ancestor, Angus Gair, who had left Scotland for Boston. The eighteenth century material concerns the son of Angus Gair, the Reverend Thomas Gair, who was the father of Samuel Stillman Gair. The Reverend Thomas was an early graduate of Rhode Island College in 1777. He became a Baptist minister, first in Medfield and then Boston and there are journals recounting his spiritual progress, his difficulties as a student and his journeys during the time of the War of Independence, including a visit to his only brother in the American army. Thomas died in 1790 when his youngest son, Samuel Stillman was just a year old. Samuel Stillman's childhood was spent in acute poverty with intermittent education. His mother had died when he was eleven. Through all this he rose to commercial prominence in Liverpool in the 1830s and 1840s. |