William Hibbert

William Hibbert (1759 – 1844) was an English planter, slave trader and merchant. He was the sixth son of Robert Hibbert (1717–1784) and Abigail Scholey. With his brother George Hibbert and cousin Robert Hibbert (1769–1849), William was a partner in the West Indian merchant house Geo. Rob. & Wm. Hibbert. The firm was involved in the slave trade and principally with the shipping, insurance and distribution of sugar from the West Indies.

Life and career Hibbert was born in Manchester in 1759, and baptised on 22 September 1759 at Cross Street Presbyterian Church. In the 1780s he moved to Jamaica to work in his uncle's slave factorage business in Kingston, Jamaica, where his brothers Robert and Thomas were already working. He was thought to be in Jamaica from 1781 to 1782 but found it to be not to his liking. In 1782, Hibbert won £20,000 (or a share of it) in a benefit lottery, and returned to England, where he continued working in the London branch of the family business. On his death in 1844 the house passed to his eldest son William Tetlow Hibbert, who had joined the merchant house and went on to a successful commercial career of his own, including as a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1851 to 1867.

By 1825, Hibbert's occupation was listed as "merchant", at W. & S. Hibbert, of 1 Billiter Court, City of London. The building has an inscription which reads;

The almshouses were designed by Edward I'Anson and are Grade II listed; they are considered to "have ensured that William's memory has been enshrined in the local area although it is unlikely that many people are now aware of his involvement with slavery".