William Rathbone IV

Who was William Rathbone IV?

William Rathbone IV was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool, England. He was the son of William Rathbone III and Rachel Rutter, and was a Liverpool ship-owner and merchant, involved in the organisation of American trade with Liverpool.

Originally a member of the Society of Friends, he felt compelled to write a Narrative of Events in Ireland among the Quakers in 1786 in protest against religious intolerance in the Society, for which he was disowned from the Society in 1805. He would never join another religious body, though he occasionally worshiped with local Unitarian congregations.

As a committed opponent to slavery, he was a founder member of the Liverpool Committee for the Aboliton of the Slave Trade.

He married Hannah Mary, daughter of Richard Reynolds of Bristol and Hannah at the Friends Meeting House, Shrewsbury. They had eight children:

William Rathbone V

Richard Rathbone

Hannah Mary

Joseph

Theophilus

Theodore Woolman

Benson

Basil

In 1788, he leased the family house and estate of Greenbank, then part of the Toxteth Park estate, to serve as a country retreat for his young family, and purchased the freehold of the house in 1809.