THE merchant and plantation owner, Anthony Lynch, set sail from St Christopher's and settled in London sometime around 1740. When Anthony died in 1757, he left his nephew John French, a merchant of London, his plantations and slaves in the West Indies. John prospered and lived just outside London in Mitcham with his brother Anthony French, who died in 1787 and left his five mulatto children of St Christopher's £1,000 in the currency of that island. When John died the following year with £40,000 stock in the Bank of England, he left his brother Francis who had resided in Dublin but later ran a counting house in Madeira a £200 annuity and his other brother Andrew the residue of his estate, which amounted to £20,000. Andrew was also a merchant of London, in business at Three King Court since 1763 and at 3 Copthall Court from 1773 to 1796. John had leased his plantations in St Christopher's to Andrew who carried on in the West Indies trade, possibly in connection with Francis in Madeira. The firm of Andrew French and Company was also involved in the Irish trade and, in 1795, one merchant of Dublin owed the house the sum of £17,000. By drawing out this series of connections beginning with Anthony Lynch and ending with Andrew French, we can see the origins and evolution of an Irish counting house in London, which piggybacked on initial wealth creation in the West Indies.

Irish merchants, like lawyers, came to London to do business and we know that they typically were involved in Irish trade. These merchants bought and sold Irish linens and provisions, shipped and insured Irish goods, provided credit to Irish manufacturers and serviced loans for Ireland. Other markets beyond the British Isles attracted their attention too. Long standing trade routes between Ireland and Europe, and the expansion of empires facilitated the development of Irish commercial networks that spanned the globe and incorporated merchants in London during the eighteenth century. Studies of Irish merchants have focused on these business activities, either as a vehicle to explain the dynamics of Anglo-Irish trade or to piece together the Irish role in larger economic systems, particularly that of the Atlantic world.