Whitehaven 1688-98 : English provincial society in wartime

Abstract

This thesis is largely based on the Lowther Estate Correspondence 1688-98, a series of letters between Sir John Lowther of Whitehaven who lived in London and his stewards at Whitehaven. It deals with the growth of the port of Whitehaven in the 1690s. During this time the town itself, its population and its trade expanded and laid the foundations of Whitehaven's growth into a major port in the eighteenth century. This period of growth coincided with England's involvement in a major continental- war with Louis XIV and the thesis examines some of the effects of this war on the town. Whitehaven was directly affected because between 1688-91 the war was fought in Ireland as well- as in Europe. This not only affected Whitehaven's trade with Ireland but made the town a source of military intelligence for the government in London. Whitehaven was also affected by the rise in taxation and by the activities of privateers and the press gang. The thesis also examines Whitehaven's links with county society and the working of patronage in the Customs, the Church and at election time. It concludes that the growth of the town was the result of compromise and co-operation between Lowther and his stewards and the townspeople and that while the war caused much short-term hardship to the ordinary people it was not responsible for any permanent hampering of the town's expansion.