Hector MacNeill, West India merchant
Captain Hector MacNeill had a long involvement in the slave trade, first as a sailor on slaving voyages and then as an agent for plantation owners in the Caribbean and America. He retired to Bristol but continued working, the family firm of McNeil, Sadler & Claxton supplying the agricultural and household needs of the plantations. Business was conducted mainly in the evenings, and involved drinking large amounts of rum punch and smoking. The rum, sugar and spices in the punch, and the tobacco, were all the product of enslaved labour.
Men did business in the coffee houses and clubs, whilst women entertained friends at home for tea.
The enslaved Africans on the plantations of the Caribbean and the Americas produced a variety of goods for the European market, including rice, indigo (a dye plant), cotton, coffee and cocoa, as well as the main commodities of sugar and tobacco.
Rum was a by-product of sugar processing. It was imported from the West Indies and produced in Europe. Rum was distilled from the molasses that drained from the sugar during processing. Brandy from France may have been the preferred, more elegant drink. But rum was perhaps cheaper and, at times of war with France, more easily available and patriotic for the English drinkers. It was produced on the plantation and in the European sugar houses.
Men did business in the coffee houses and clubs, whilst women entertained friends at home for tea.
The enslaved Africans on the plantations of the Caribbean and the Americas produced a variety of goods for the European market, including rice, indigo (a dye plant), cotton, coffee and cocoa, as well as the main commodities of sugar and tobacco.
Rum was a by-product of sugar processing. It was imported from the West Indies and produced in Europe. Rum was distilled from the molasses that drained from the sugar during processing. Brandy from France may have been the preferred, more elegant drink. But rum was perhaps cheaper and, at times of war with France, more easily available and patriotic for the English drinkers. It was produced on the plantation and in the European sugar houses.