William Willshire

William Willshire also known as William Wiltshire (c. 1790 – 4 August 1851), was British Vice Consul to Mogadore (Essaouira), Morocco from 1814 until 1844, before being assigned to the Consularship of Adrianople (Edirne) in 1845, until his death in 1851.

A native of London, he became an employee of English trading house James Renshaw and Co, and in early 1814 he was dispatched to Mogadore as that company's agent there. In the years thereafter he established himself as the foremost European merchant in the city, which was at that time an important trading port linking Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe and North America. Today Willshire is best remembered as the man who redeemed, cared for and helped repatriate hundreds of Western sailors enslaved in the Sultanate of Morocco during the early part of the 19th century, including Captain James Riley, Robert Adams, and Captain Alexander Scott, all of whom would later write and publish harrowing accounts of their hardships endured as slaves in the desert. The town of Willshire in the US state of Ohio is named after him, in thanks, by James Riley.

William Willshire was born in London in 1790 and spent his early life there. Having gained employment with the London-based, English trading house James Renshaw and Co, he was despatched to Mogadore (Essaouira), Morocco as the company's agent in early 1814, partnering a successful mercantile establishment that was engaged in trading between Mogadore and Great Britain with the resident British Vice Consul and merchant Joseph Dupuis.

When Dupuis returned to Britain in August 1814 he recommended Willshire to take over as British Vice Consul in Mogadore, a recommendation that was accepted by the Foreign Office in London. After his appointment he remained the Vice Consul in the city and the agent of the American Consul General in Tangier for Mogadore too, (there being no Americans in the town to accept the duties of vice consul), until he left Mogadore in 1844.

...
Wikipedia