Edward Parr

Edward Parr (26 February 1718 - February 1768 ) was an English slave trader, apothecary and merchant of Liverpool. He was involved in 51 slave voyages, operating out of the Port of Liverpool between 1750 and 1768. Parr owned a slave ship called Briton, whose captain employed an African pirate called Captain Lemma Lemma to capture and enslave people with his war canoes. Parr was a member of the African Company of Merchants.

Early life Parr was born in Liverpool, the son of Jonas Parr, apothecary, of Castle Street. His grandfather was also Edward Parr, of Haysom in Rainford, of a family settled there as small landowners in the 15th century, established in Liverpool as merchants and shipowners by the late 17th century. He was a first cousin of the merchant and mayor of Liverpool John Parr. He became a slave trader with West Africa, the Caribbean and Chesapeake Bay, and reputedly became the second richest man in Liverpool, as documented in the letter books of his assistant, Joshua Dixon. He was involved in 51 slave voyages between the years of 1750 and 1768.

Parr and John Welch owned a slave-ship called Briton and in 1762 it was sent on a slave voyage to the Kingdom of Whydah in West Africa. One day in 1763, the Briton was moored in the Bight of Benin being surrounded by 10 war canoes. and was buried at St Nicholas, Liverpool, on 21 February 1768.