‘The Whole Circle of Our Acquaintance’

Introduction

The Shaw's world, shaped by ties of kinship, friendship and trade, was overwhelmingly oriented to the country north of their Wolverhampton home. Links to London were rare, and to the wider South-east and South-west seemingly nonexistent. When London did figure it was inevitably as a centre of the country's financial and banking systems rather than as a market in itself. It is true that two of Elizabeth's brothers had tried to establish themselves in London but they both, sooner or later, returned to the North. Until the nascent Asian trade began escalating in scale and scope from 1827, culminating in the dramatic events of 1834 and the formation of a direct and very personal bridge to India, traces of international connections are equally rare; little more than a few scattered overseas orders here and there. The letters contain only two references to John himself travelling overseas; once to Dublin and once to Holland – a stormy passage across the North Sea causing Elizabeth great anxiety. Scotland is entirely absent.

The Shaws were, however, far from parochial. Within an area largely defined by the counties of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire they travelled extensively and frequently, and often for reasons other than the imperatives of trade that impelled John's commercial travels.