John Moss of Otterspool (1782-1858)

Otterspool Park lies by the River Mersey, in the Aigburth district of Liverpool. I first recall visiting it on a winter's day in the early 1960s when, as a toddler, I sledged down its embankments. In the `70s, during the school summer holidays, I played tennis and golf on its immaculate greens. As a young man, I regularly jogged through Otterspool's wooded hills, and I recall listening excitedly to rock bands performing on the patio in front of the cafe. Never was I made aware that once, in that place, there had stood a splendid mansion, occupied by an outstanding gentleman whose business interests propelled him into the circles of such figures as the Gladstones, William Wilberforce, George Stephenson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. It was not until 2002, after having purchased a property in Aigburth, that I first became acquainted with the name John Moss. Accompanying the deeds was a copy of Moss's will, which revealed that, at his death in 1858, his estate was valued at just under £120,000 - around £9,000,000 in today's terms. My mother, a member of the congregation at St Anne's in Aigburth, recognised his name as that of the church's founder. I established the date of Moss's death from his mausoleum in the church's grounds, and in Liverpool Central Library, I unearthed the Liverpool Mail's obituary of 9 October 1858, which provided the impetus to write this book.

It was my great privilege to chance upon a collection of 312 letters at Flintshire Record Office that Moss wrote to Sir John Gladstone (father of the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone). Having read every word of his mercifully legible writings, I was able to put some “meat on the bones” of the Liverpool Mail's obituary. Moss's letters reveal very little about his family life, and there are only scant details about the roles he played in the Conservative Party, the Church of England, the Mechanics Institute, the Botanical Gardens, the Lunatic Asylum, his work as a Magistrate, his charitable works and his work with the various other committees on which he served. I therefore make mention of these topics only in passing, if at all. Nonetheless, I uncovered so many details of other fascinating aspects of his life in business that those omissions scarcely mattered. Although Moss must have been aware that the correspondence of prominent men such as Gladstone might be retained and scrutinised, he was seldom afraid to express a forthright opinion, and his wonderfully frank views litter this book. The correspondence is not continuous, and there are frustrating lapses at crucial times when the two friends may well have refrained from writing at all about matters so sensitive that the risk of their letters being intercepted was too great.

With Gladstone's backing, Moss was able to exert influence both nationally and internationally. He played a leading role in two monumental events which helped shape the modern world; the abolition of slavery and the creation of the railways. As slave owners, he and Gladstone represented the West Indian interest in the debate for the abolition of slavery and, following emancipation, they were the instigators of the Indian Indentured Labour scheme. As the first chairman of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Moss was one of the pioneers of a mode of transport which changed British society forever. While chairman of the Grand Junction Railway, his vision and drive helped establish a national rail network in the 1830s and 1840s. Thereafter, he assisted in the development of French and Dutch railways. All this was achieved while “keeping up his day job” as the head of Moss & Co, Liverpool's most successful independent family bank. Yet he shunned the spotlight, and his gentlemanly modesty deprived him of enduring notoriety - something he came to regret. When, in 1846, Peel recognised Gladstone's achievements with a baronetcy, Moss felt moved to remind Sir John of some of his own attainments. "The Liverpool & Manchester, Grand Junction, Paris & Rouen, Rouen & Havre, Birmingham & Oxford all owe their origin to me. So far that I have had the honour of sitting as chairman in starting all, the shareholders, from first to last, have made about twelve millions profit by them...and yet, I believe, some who owe their present situation in life to these rail roads give no credit to me and even doubt if I was the original chairman of the Liverpool & Manchester.”

Now, just over 150 years since his death, it is befitting that we should become reacquainted with John Moss's lifetime of achievement.