Dr. Thomas Larkin (University of Bristol)

Founded in 1840 following a rift between partners of Russell & Co., Augustine Heard & Co. rapidly became the second largest American trading firm in China. The firm expanded operations throughout China’s treaty ports, its partners witnessing first-hand many of the defining moments of Sino-Western contact during the nineteenth century. But by 1876 the firm had failed, the Heard brothers retreating from China to pursue new interests in Europe in the United States.  Still, in the course of their enterprise, the brothers generated a massive amount of material describing life and commerce on the China coast. Applying an innovative global-microhistorial approach to the history of the firm’s partners, my research uses the case study of this company to explore the ways American merchants were shaped by their experiences living and trading within both the British and Qing empires. It in turn explores the various ways these merchants were active participants in Britain’s imperial project in China.