Francis Levett (merchant)
Francis Levett (alias Levet) (1654–1705) was a
Life
Francis and his brother Sir Richard, who served as Master of the
The Levett brothers were members of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, haberdashers being merchants who traded in commodities and textiles and acted generally as venture capitalists. Once they had imported tobacco and other goods, the Levetts distributed the commodities to their 'chapmen' across the country through fairs, including those at Lenton, Gainsborough, Boston, Lincolnshire, and Beverley. Francis Levett's brother Richard's home was located close by the Haberdashers Hall in Cripplegate.[4]
The Levetts were among the earliest English merchants to vertically integrate their trading empire, owning their own ships to transport the goods they sold.
The Levetts eventually operated on larger scale than those from whom they bought tobacco.[7] Aside from acting as wholesalers and shippers, the Levett brothers acted as lenders to the retail tobacconists who purchased their wares. Sons of a Puritan vicar from a once-mighty family, the Levett brothers had no choice but to slowly build their business from scratch, networking like ancient yuppies. Their dealings exposed them to the go-go operators of the day, including the Blackborne,[8] Sweetapple,[9] Lemon,[10] Hulse and Thoroton families, with whom they intermarried.
It was a lucrative franchise. A tax assessment for 1695 lists Francis Levett and his wife having a footman and a maid at their London residence. Levett owned a country home at
The Levett brothers's accomplishments as merchants allowed them to indulge their wants in ways unfamiliar to vicars' sons. These early London
In 1683 Francis Levett married Susan, the daughter of Sir Thomas Holt and sister of Sir
Francis Levett's son Richard, a member of Oriel College, Oxford, and a barrister at the Inner Temple, served as an Alderman of London.[18] He was later buried within Temple Church. Another son, Henry, who took B.A. and M.A. degrees from Magdalen College, Oxford, died at age 25 in 1726.[19] A third son, Francis Levett Jr., lived much of his life at Livorno, Italy, and served as chief representative of the Levant Company at Constantinople 1737–1750. He was a director of the London Assurance Corporation, and a benefactor of Morden College. He lived much of his life at Livorno, and died at Nethersole, Kent, 21 February 1764. Catherine, the daughter of Francis Levett, London merchant, married Ebenezer Ibbetson, a London merchant and son of Leeds, Yorkshire, cloth merchant Samuel Ibbetson. Their descendant Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson was a well-known English geologist, inventor and one of the pioneers of photography.
At Francis Levett's death in 1705, his widow disposed of his interest in several ships, selling them to William Love, a London merchant.[20]
References
- ^ Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, Vol. IV, J. B. Nichols & Co., London, 1875
- ^ William Herbert, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, published by the author, London, 1836
- ^ The Making of the English Middle Class: Business, Society and Family Life in London, 1660–1730, Peter Earle, University of California Press, 1989
- ^ "A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, John Strype, hrionline.ac.uk". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
- ^ Transport Services, Institute of Historical Research, Calendar of Treasury Books, William A. Shaw, 1952, British History Online, www.british-history.ac.uk
- ^ Report on the Old Records of the India Office, George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1890
- ^ The Making of the English Middle Class, Business, Society and Family Life in London, 1660–1730, Peter Earle, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989
- Honourable East India Company. Richard Levett's son-in-law Abraham Blackborne was likely either the son or nephew of Robert Blackborne.
- ^ Sir John Sweetapple, The Mayors and Sheriffs of London, A New History of London, John Noorthouck, 1773, British History Online, british-history.ac.uk]
- ^ The Rulers of London, 1660–1689: A Biographical Record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London, J. R. Woodhead, 1966, British History Online, british-history.ac.uk
- ^ The Home Counties Magazine, William John Hardy, London, 1905.
- ^ Le Neve's pedigrees of the Knights made by King Charles II, Ed. by George Marshall L.L.D., London, 1873
- ^ A History of the County of Rutland: Volume 2, William Page (ed.), Victoria County History, 1935, British History Online
- ^ The Rulers of London 1660–1689, Centre for Metropolitan History, J.R. Woodhead, 1966, British History Online
- ^ Le Neve's pedigrees of the Knights made by King Charles II, George W. Marshall L.L.D., London, 1873
- ^ The Historical Register: Containing an Impartial Relation of all Transactions, Foreign and Domestick with a Chronological Diary, Vol. XII, London, 1727
- ^ Sweetapple Court in London's East End was named for Sir John Sweetapple, goldsmith and Sheriff of the City of London in 1695. The Levetts and the Sweetapples often invested together in business ventures. Both Sir Richard Levett and Sir John Sweetapple, for instance, were members of The New England Company.[1]
- ^ Registrum Orielense: An Account of the Members of Oriel College, Oxford, Vol. II, Henry Frowde, London, 1902
- Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ Descriptive Catalogue of the Original Charters, Royal Grants, and Donations, Monastic Chartulary, Muniments of Battle Abbey, Thomas Thorpe, London, 1835