John Holt (Liverpool) Ltd

The Laird offices in Water St. Liverpool where John Holt first worked.
West Africa
The Gulf of Guinea, West Africa painting by Alfred Wiffen
The schooner Maria
Fernando Po
The island of Fernando Po where JH first started trading
Picture gallery

Books and articles on John Holts company. 
Click on the article to see the full text.

List of articles/links
Wikipedia - John Holt
Wikipedia John Holt Plc
Bodlian Library Archives, Oxford
John Holt Diary
Dr Gertzel Thesis
Liverpool Record office
D. O'Neill - John Holts illnesses in W/A 
Mary Kingsley article
John Holt Ships details
Diary of a Laird employee
Edmund Morel
Obituary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holt_(businessman)
John Holt (31 October 1841 – 22 June 1915) was an English merchant, who founded a shipping line operating between Liverpool and West Africa and a number of businesses in Nigeria which are now incorporated in John Holt plchttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holt_plc
The company traces its origins to 1862 when John Holt, 20 years old at the time, with £27 in his pocket, sailed from Liverpool to take up an appointment as a shop assistant in a
grocery store in Fernando Po ,now part of Equatorial Guinea.https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/1309"John Holt was born on the 31 October 1841 in Garthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. In June 1862 he sailed from Liverpool to Africa after being offered the post of secretary to James Lynslager in Fernando Po. Two years later James Lynslager died and John became manager of the business. In April 1867 he bought out the business and began trading in his own right....More...John Holts Diary, master copy with introduction by grandson Cecil Holt...MoreThesis by Dr. C Gertzel 1959, Nuffield College Oxford.
This thesis follows the story of a Liverpool merchant, John Holt, who in the last 30 years of the 19th century created a West African trading business, which still exists today. It provides a case study of the actions of Liverpool merchants during the critical years of international rivalry when in the late 19th century the European Powers competed for political authority in Africa..More...Entry in the Liverpool Record Office Website https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/76f2b189-04c3-442e-ac86-f797a24036b1John Holt was born in Garthorpe, Lincs., on 31 October 1841. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed to William Laird, a Liverpool coal dealer. In 1862 Holt was offered the post of secretary to James Lynslager in Fernando Po. Lynslager ran a merchanting business, a plantation and farm, a coaling agency, and acted as British Consul. John Holt sailed from Liverpool on 23 June 1862. Two years after his arrival James Lynslager died and Holt became manager of the business. In April 1867 he bought out the business and began trading in his own right.......More....

Dr. Deb O'Neill, Professor of History. Research into Illness and disease . From 1862 until 1874, John Holt lived on the island of Bioko (Fernando Pó), laying the groundwork for a company that would become one of the most influential trading houses in western Africa. During his time on the coast, Holt was almost continually ill with malaria and other tropical diseases, and his illnesses had a major impact on how he experienced and interpreted his life and work in Africa. .......MoreCatalogue of John Holt papers donated to Rhodes House, now the Bodleian library.It include  a large amount of correspondence with Morel, Mary Kingsley, company papers.......MoreArticle about Mary Kingsley at John Holts house.......MoreJohn Holt Ships - The Guinea Gulf LineHandwritten diary of one of the Laird employees so a colleague of John HoltEdmund Dene Morel was born in Paris on 15th July, 1873. His concern for damage that Britain
was doing to African culture led him to his work as a journalist for the newspaper West Africa
and later to found his own paper, the West African Mail. Morel also founded the Congo Reform
Association and took a leading role in the movement against Congo misrule.
The following is a brief reel guide to the collection conserved at the British Library of Political
and Economic Science, London School of Economics and Political Science.......MoreThe death of John Holt 
Liverpool Merchant and Philanthropist We regret to announce the death of Mr. John Holt, chairman of the firm of Messrs. John Holt and Co., Ltd. West African merchants, of Liver-building, Liverpool, which took place in his seventy-fourth year, art his residence, Broughton Grange, Broughton, Lincolnshire, yesterday. A few years ago the deceased gentleman had a serious illness, and ever since then had not enjoyed very robust health. As far as his strength would permit him, however, he continued to display a lively interest in what was going on in West African affairs....More...


Top