Joseph Brooks Yates

Joseph Brooks Yates (1780–1855) was an English antiquary, merchant and slave trader.

Background and education Born in Liverpool on 21 January 1780, he was the eldest son of John Yates, minister of the Paradise Street Unitarian Chapel, Liverpool. His brothers were John Ashton Yates (1781–1863), M.P. for Carlow and author of pamphlets on trade and slavery; Richard Vaughan Yates (1785–1856), founder of Prince's Park, Liverpool; James Yates; and Pemberton Heywood Yates (1791–1822). He was educated by William Shepherd and at Eton College.

West Indies, Jamaica and slavery interests On leaving Eton, around 1796, Yates entered the house of a West India merchant, in which he became a partner; he continued in it until a year or two before he died.

Philanthropic and antiquarian interests Yates was one of the leading reformers of Liverpool, and a supporter of its literary and scientific institutions. In February 1812 he joined with Thomas Stewart Traill in founding the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, of which he was president during four triennial periods, and a frequent reader of papers at its meetings. He was also one of the founders of the Southern and Toxteth Hospital in Liverpool. In 1854 he acted as local vice-president of the British Association at the Liverpool meeting. He collected pictures and a library containing some fine manuscripts and emblem books, and was an occasional contributor to literary and other journals. they were grandparents of G.M. Trevelyan & Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet through their daughter Caroline, who married George Otto Trevelyan.