Rathbone Papers
Family and business records of the Rathbones of Liverpool: non-conformist merchants and shipowners, philanthropists, politicians and social reformers, artists and patrons of the arts.
Greenbank, c.1900. This was the Rathbone family home in Liverpool from 1788-1940.
The Rathbone papers comprise business and family papers. The family tree highlights the names of those most well-represented in the Rathbone Papers, who are also listed below.
Rathbone family members in the archive, by generation
- A.
- William Rathbone III (1726-1789)
- Richard Reynolds (1735-1816), father-in-law of William IV
- B.
- William IV (1757-1809) m. Hannah Mary Reynolds (1761-1839)
- C.
- William V (1787-1868) m. Elizabeth Greg (1790-1882)
- Richard (1788-1860) m. 1817 Hannah Mary Reynolds (1798-1878)
- Theodore Woolman (1798-1863) m. 1826 Lucy Pearson (d.1848)
- D.
- William VI (1819-1902) MP m.1. 1847 Lucretia Gair (d.1859) m.2. 1862 Emily Acheson Lyle (d.1918)
- Elizabeth (1813-1899) m. 1839 John Paget
- Hannah Mary (1816-72) m. J.H. Thom (1808-94)
- Samuel Greg (1823-1903) m.1 1855 Rosamund Cuthbert (d.1867) m.2 1869 Augusta Hervey, née Lyle (d. 1913)
- Theodore William (1832-1890) m. Maria Mary Payne Johnstone (d.1913)
- E.
- William Gair VII (1849-1919) m. Blanche Luling
- Emily Evelyn (Evie)(1865-1954) m. Hugh Reynolds Rathbone (1862-1940) MP
- Eleanor Florence (1872-1946) MP
- May (1866-1960)
- F.
- William VIII (Bill) (1880-1941)
- Elena (1878-1964)
- Richard Reynolds (1891-1962) m. Sybil
- G.
- William IX (1906-1992)
Rathbone Papers highlights
Eleanor Rathbone, Independent MP
RP XIV.1.19: This postcard of a women’s suffrage caravan speaking tour was sent to Eleanor Rathbone by Jane Colquitt, August 16, 1912 from a tour to canvass suffragist support in rural areas in the Liverpool region. Read more...
William Rathbone VI's Victorian flower album
RP XXV.3.1 was created by William Rathbone VI and his first wife Lucretia Wainwright Rathbone as a record of annual holidays from their honeymoon in 1847 to the month of Lucretia’s death in 1859. Read more...
The Story of Rathbones since 1742
This history by David Lascelles covers 300 years of social and economic change seen through the prism of the firm's evolution from Liverpool trading house to international investment managers. RP XXIV.3.5
A puzzling letter in the Rathbone Papers
This rebus-style letter (RP XVIII.4) composed of pictograms was found amongst the papers of May Rathbone (1892-1960), and has been almost but not fully decoded. Read more...