Monkhouse Davison was the senior partner in one of the leading grocers in 18th century London, Davison Newman and Co.
16 Facts About Monkhouse Davison
1.
2.
Monkhouse Davison is best known today for the disposal of chests of its tea in the Boston Tea Party at the start of the American Revolution.
3.
Monkhouse Davison's family lived five miles away in Dalston, Cumbria.
4.
Monkhouse Davison must have moved to London in his early 20s to embark on his career probably as a result of a family connection with the Rawlinson family living 47 miles away in Hawkshead, close to Windermere in Cumbria.
5.
We don't know exactly when Monkhouse Davison joined the company "Thomas Rawlinson" but he was admitted to the Grocers' Company "by redemption" in 1738, when he was 25.
6.
At the age of 28, in 1764, Abram Newman, of Mount Bures in Essex, joined Monkhouse Davison and became a partner in the business.
7.
The growth of the company is well documented in Owen Rutter's history of Monkhouse Davison Newman called At the three sugar loaves and crown.
8.
Monkhouse Davison observed that, over a hundred-year period, the five earliest owners of the business - that's Walter Ray, Thomas Rawlinson, Monkhouse Davison, Abram Newman and William Thwaytes - each earned a fortune from the business.
9.
Monkhouse Davison must have been one of, if not the, largest grocery wholesaler in England.
10.
Monkhouse Davison was a trustee of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and financially supported at least one production.
11.
Monkhouse Davison was a friend of Henry Laurens, an American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina, who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War.
12.
Monkhouse Davison was a friend of James Oakes who lived in Bury St Edmunds.
13.
Monkhouse Davison frequently had breakfast or supper at his London home.
14.
When Monkhouse was 76, in 1789, Davison Newman and Co.
15.
Monkhouse Davison left his shares to his wife Ann Thwaytes who paid for the erection of Herne Bay Clock Tower in 1836.
16.
Monkhouse Davison's will included a list of the following properties: his main London home in Fenchurch Street, in Essex: Porter's at Rippleside, Essex and Gale Street in Barking, in Cumbria: Coledale Hall, Carlisle, Dalston Hall, Dalston, Hill Top and the Gill near Kendal.