Excellent research. I came across the Blounts around the time this was published, whilst I was researching old money's role in the Industrial Revolution. The Blounts were fundamental in this along with the Brookes. Of course the Civil War disrupted so much, often with Quakers ultimately taking over their interests. I believe the existence of so many Catholic families provided a liberalising effect on the Non-Conformist Merchants of Shrewsbury, thus avoiding the witch trials of Puritan areas. They also influenced both the Liberal Anglo-Catholic (in which I was brought up) and Conservative Anglo Catholic traditions in Shrewsbury.
Excellent research. I came across the Blounts around the time this was published, whilst I was researching old money's role in the Industrial Revolution. The Blounts were fundamental in this along with the Brookes. Of course the Civil War disrupted so much, often with Quakers ultimately taking over their interests.
I believe the existence of so many Catholic families provided a liberalising effect on the Non-Conformist Merchants of Shrewsbury, thus avoiding the witch trials of Puritan areas. They also influenced both the Liberal Anglo-Catholic (in which I was brought up) and Conservative Anglo Catholic traditions in Shrewsbury.