Hibbert, Purrier and Horton was a London-based merchant and shipping business, initially founded in 1770,[1] which was also extensively involved in the slave trade during the late 18th and early-mid-19th century.
A partnership (its personnel and name changed several times), it was the primary trading vehicle for successive generations of the Hibbert family's business interests in the West Indies.
[3] The third son, Robert (1717–1784), succeeded his father as manager of the Manchester business.
Several of Robert Jr's sons also joined the family business, with Thomas Hibbert (1744–1819) entering into partnership with London merchants John Purrier and Thomas Horton in 1770.
In July 1772, Maurice Suckling arranged for his nephew Horatio Nelson to sail to the West Indies in the Hibbert, Purrier and Horton merchantman, captained by John Rathbone,[7] giving Nelson his first experience of seamanship and life at sea (he sailed from Medway, Kent, on 25 July 1771 sailing to Jamaica and Tobago, returning to Plymouth on 7 July 1772).