Abstract
A rare surviving letterbook of the Cork trader, William Hovell, has been used by those who have written about south Munster in the later seventeenth century, notably David Dickson. Since detailed records of merchants in Ireland are sparse, it is good that it has now been made readily accessible. It gives much detail about the commodities which Hovell handled: cloth, mostly woven in the vicinity of Bandon; fish (herring, pilchards and salmon), landed and sometimes processed in the south-westerly harbours of Bantry, Baltimore and Crookhaven. Beef, pork and mutton, and their by-products including wool, tallow and hides were in demand. Whereas the beasts continued as the basis of the long-lasting and profitable provisioning trade, fish proved trickier. Shoals appeared and disappeared unpredictably. Preserving and storing the catches posed difficulties; much of the activity was on a small scale but required costly investment. Nets, for example, had to be procured in England rather than being made locally. With cloth, too, dyeing – according to Hovell – was not properly mastered. Hovell's connections stretched to Dublin, Glasgow, Plymouth, Bristol, London and beyond to the Low Countries, Mediterranean and Caribbean. He regularly received shipments of tobacco and with other Cork entrepreneurs established a sugar refinery. The vital practicalities of remittances, credit and exchanges bulk large in the correspondence, as do the vagaries of the weather on land and at sea. To the hazards and uncertainties were added the foibles of individuals. Reputations for reliability and fair dealing are shared, as are the opposites. Hovell himself was quick to refute any suggestion that he had deliberately misled customers. He made clear his low opinion of some, such as Sir Matthew Dean. A ship's captain was derided as ‘an idle, drunken fellow’ (p. 202). In contrast, he praised those whom he trusted, like Thomas Putland in Dublin, described as a ‘cautious, just and ingenious person’ (p. 234). Furthermore, Hovell advised novices in trade as to how they should conduct themselves in order to gain trust.
If the routines, opportunities and risks of trading predominate in the correspondence, it was written at a time of mounting anxiety among the Protestant settlers in Ireland. First the prospect and then the accession of a Catholic monarch, James II, emboldened the king's Irish co-religionists, who hoped for restoration to the property and power that they had only lately forfeited. Hovell, identifying himself as one ‘of the English in this kingdom’, was usually circumspect about expressing clear opinions (p. 281). Yet he alluded to the alarming news from France of the persecution of Huguenots. Confidence that all would be well so long as the veteran duke of Ormond retained royal favour gave way to alarm as Catholic judges and army officers were appointed and then Tyrconnell was named as viceroy. Hovell made clear his apprehensions when he referred to the uprising of 1641 and repeated the inflatedly high figure of 200,000 victims of the supposed massacres. Fearful that letters might be opened, Hovell was cryptic in his references to public affairs and quickly burnt messages from Dublin. But, as with the news of delayed cargoes and fluctuating markets, so with public affairs, he relied on rumour and sometimes contradictory reports. By the summer of 1686, he confessed ‘here is no certainty in report’ (p. 287). He abandoned a plan to build in Cork city, sent his wife and daughters to the safety of England and eventually followed them.
Hovell's letters offer a detailed and vivid account of his varied trading ventures. They remind of how the weather influenced trade. Severe winters killed livestock and retarded growth, creating shortages; storms delayed and sometimes wrecked vessels. Warfare also interrupted established routes. To these hazards were added the failings of those with whom he dealt. Harder still to surmount was the increasingly unfriendly political environment as both locally and nationally Catholics recovered lost power and influence, thereby jeopardising Hovell's successful enterprises. Sadly, the letters cease before his return to England, so that his exile and later career have to be imagined. But, for the busy years between 1683 and 1687, this valuable edition gives numerous insights into the activities of a bold and successful trader.