Lawrence Heyworth (MP)

Lawrence Heyworth (sometimes spelled Laurence Heyworth; 1786 – 19 April 1872) was a merchant based in Liverpool, England, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby.

Lawrence Heyworth was born in 1786 to a prominent family of woollen manufacturers at Greensnook in Bacup, Lancashire. He was the youngest of the four sons of Peter Heyworth and his wife, Elizabeth. Educated at first locally, at a school whose site later became that of the Bacup Mechanics' Institution, Heyworth was subsequently taught at the school of John Fawcett and then at Hipperholme Grammar School, both of which were near to Halifax. His father had died when he was 13 and he left school at 16 to begin work with his brothers in the family business.

The Heyworth manufacturing business, called Peter Heyworth & Sons, produced goods intended mainly for export to Spain and Portugal. Lawrence persuaded his brothers that it would be beneficial to deal directly with customers in Lisbon and Oporto rather than through agents based in London and elsewhere in Britain. He further persuaded them, with some reluctance, to allow him to do that trading and thus in 1805 he left Bacup for Portugal. There he proved to be a surprising success, making and exploiting contacts to further the business. In 1807, he and his brothers, now trading as Heyworth Brothers & Co., then decided to exploit his apparent flair for foreign dealings by establishing a business as commission agents in Rio de Janeiro. By 1809, with his brother James partnering him, this business had attracted so many consignments from manufacturers in Lancashire and Yorkshire that the brothers set up a shipping and commission agency in Liverpool to handle the trade. This new enterprise was operated by and named after Ormerod Heyworth, leaving one brother to run the Bacup manufactory.

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