What does Merchant Adventurer mean?
Adventurers
Traders – late 19th century stained glass
York Archeological Trust
But what about ‘Adventurers’? This might make you think they were action heroes like Indiana Jones or explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh. You may even think they were pirates!
The truth is these merchants were risk takers.
They risked – or (ad)ventured – their own money in trade, a bit like the stock market today. Not as exciting as being a pirate, but still adventurous.
The merchants were risking their own money, not someone else’s, so any losses hit them where it hurt ...in the pocket.