Booker Bros & Co.

In 1815 when the Congress of Vienna granted Great Britain, France and Netherland divisions of the north-eastern coast of South America, three of the seven Booker brothers: Englishmen Josias, George and Richard were among the first British entrepreneurs to take advantage of the region’s resources.
Josias first arrived to begin working as a cotton plantation manager in what was then the British colony of Demerara the very year the Vienna Congress made its ruling. Within two decades, he saw the potential for profits from the flourishing sugar and rum trade, and he and his brothers set up several trading houses in Liverpool, UK. In 1834 Booker Brothers & Co, was established in what had by then become (in 1831) British Guiana. The following year, after a dispute arose between George, who was mainly stationed in Liverpool, and the shipping company that shipped the sugar, the brothers acquired their first vessel, the Elizabeth.
Richard Booker died four years later in 1838, leaving Josias and George to increase the business after the purchase of sugar plantations across the colony. They were handsomely compensated for the loss of slaves after Emancipation. Sixteen years later, the eldest son of Josias Booker (Josias Booker II) created a new business partnership with John McConnell, a man who had worked with Bookers from 1846. They established the Demerara Company in 1854, and after the deaths of the elder Josias in 1865, and George in 1866, Joisas II and McConnell took over all Booker’s British and South American properties and ventures to become what was described as the principal shopkeepers of the colony. The elder Josias had returned to England and helped establish the Royal Insurance Company in 1841.
During the late 19th century they built up a reputation as a formidable trading company over the continents, establishing the “Liverpool Line” shipping fleet in 1887 that was the major link between Europe and South America. While some vessels were chartered, others like the Imataka, Amakara and Arakaka – Arawak names, were owned by the company. The first two were torpedoed in the First World War, while the Arakaka was sold in 1922. Interestingly, while the Amakura and Arakaka were rebuilt, both were lost once more during the Second World War. Amakura was once again rebuilt in 1946 and Arakaka in 1949. After 150 years in the shipping business, the Liverpool Booker Line shipping company would close in the 1980s.
When Josias II died in the early 1880s, McConnell acquired sole control of what was known as Booker Bros. & Co., George Booker & Co., and his own John McConnell & Co. His sons A.J and F.V McConnell took over the three companies in 1890 and consolidated them in 1900 as Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co. The company had by this time expanded to include retail and wholesale of food and general merchandise in the colony.
Throughout the early 20th century Booker Bros, McConnell & Co. Ltd. flourished particularly by focusing on its sugar and rum trade from the Caribbean region. The stock went public in 1920, to become listed on the London Stock Exchange the same year. So pervasive was Booker Bros, McConnell & Co. Ltd – commonly called “Bookers” – in British Guiana, the country was given the nickname “Bookers Guiana”. Bookers had stakes in almost every marketable avenue at the time, from agriculture to drugs to postcards printed by Bookers Drug Store, and was often viewed as the epitome of colonial oppression.
The early 1950s saw political instability in British Guiana leading to then Booker chairman (from 1952 to 1967) John “Jock” Campbell having to diversify. It would become even more essential to do so when the colony gained its independence in 1966, as Booker had to ultimately relinquish its plantations and other holdings and businesses to the government that was pursuing a communist ideology in the newly independent nation.
While the Booker conglomerate had ended in Guyana, the company continued its operations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Central Africa, and in 1968 the company name was shortened to Booker, McConnell Ltd. while in 1986 it would be renamed Booker plc.