Our history

Merchants’ Lodge was founded in Liverpool in 1780. The first Master was Thomas Golightly, a wine merchant by trade, a ship-owner and an Alderman on the Town Council, who had been Mayor in 1772. He was made Treasurer of the town in 1789, a position he held until shortly before his death in 1821.

The other eight founders included a surgeon and chemist, a ship’s painter, a ship-owner, a ship’s captain (who was also a privateer), a merchant who was also a ship-owner, and others designated simply as merchants. Some were directly involved with the slave trade and in privateering, as were many in Liverpool at that time. Many other ports were similarly engaged, Bristol for example, as were other countries such as France, Spain and the United States.

Ethical standards differ from one age to the next, and their private lives tell another side of the story. They were charitable men who founded hospitals, helped the poor and sick, were active members of their churches and encouraged the formation of libraries.

The lodge grew and had many members, among them master mariners, ships’ officers and ordinary seamen who sailed before the mast. Our members included Swedish sailors, merchants from New Orleans and a Spaniard with the distinguished name of Don Antonio Santo Callo y Castro. All good men were made welcome, without regard to race, colour, religion or wealth.