Richard Hare, a leading provisions merchant in mid-eighteenth-century Cork, boasted that he had personally supervised his business for thirty years. Much of his letter-book, edited by James O’Shea, therefore is concerned with the details of trade. When not supervising in person, Hare had reliable subordinates to whom he delegated. Only in the busiest seasons, as when freshly slaughtered beef had to be salted, did he take on unknown hands. Aware that his reputation and his continuing success depended on the quality of his commodities, he investigated any alleged shortcomings. Trade fluctuated with the weather, piracy, warfare and embargoes. Hare rarely commented on these. However, in the autumn of 1771 he was worried that the Irish Parliament was on the verge of putting an additional tax on spirits, which might hurt Hare’s trade in rum. He had unsuccessfully opposed the regulation of butter in Cork itself, which he felt damaged the lucrative trade with the West Indies. He mentioned the combinations among workers in Cork, especially the journeymen coopers vital to making the barrels in which beef, alcohol and butter were shipped. Stoppages designed to protect their wages were resisted by Hare. One of the demands of the coopers was that no offal be included in the meat that was to be exported since it was usually sold to the local poor. Hare revealed the strength of popular feeling against any breach of this convention: a merchant who disregarded it was likely to have his house destroyed. In a rare expression of opinion, Hare contended that, if the rioters were indeed starving, it was their own fault.

Hare, unlike other traders some of whose correspondence has survived – the Macartneys in Belfast or William Hovell at Kinsale – seldom comments on wider regional, national or international events. He knew of a prospective increase in duty on spirituous liquors, but was irritated to learn rather late of the rapid passage of the bill in a letter from a Cork M.P. to the mayor. A customer in Limerick had heard of the impost more quickly and as a result had bought a consignment of rum from Hare before the price increased. Signs of his manner of living are also few. He seeks a horse for himself and mushrooms from the countryside (the smallest are best). One son was educated at the dissenting academy in Warrington, which may hint that Hare belonged to a network of Protestant nonconformists helpful for his trading. Connections in Bristol and Liverpool prompted him to donate money to the infirmaries in both ports. His wealth allowed him to move to a newly-built house at Ballintemple, overlooking the river and favoured by other prosperous Corkonians. He considered ornamenting the garden with marble statues that he could procure from a contact in Liverpool. Whether he indulged in this display is unknown. As well as the annual profits from commerce, he reckoned that he enjoyed £2000 p.a. from landed rents. In 1782 he was able to give £15,000 to a daughter on marriage. Moreover, the family was on course to supply local members of parliament.

James O’Shea, constrained by the editorial conventions of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, offers a brief and useful introduction. The letters are far removed in content and context from those recently edited by Louis Cullen, John Shovlin and Thomas Truxes as Bordeaux–Dublin letters, but a longer essay on Hare and his importance would have helped readers to understand the implications of the rather prosaic correspondence published here.