William Edward Petty Hartnell - Early Life

Early Life

William Hartnell was born in Backbarrow, Lancashire, England, and attended the College of Commerce in Bremen, Germany. He went to Chile in 1819 to work in the Santiago branch of John Begg & Co., a firm where his uncle, Edward Petty Hartnell, had helped him secure a job. With the waning of Spanish power in the region, the English trading company gradually expanded its commercial activities from Valparaiso (port of Santiago) to Callao (port of Lima, Peru) and other northern ports on the Pacific coast of South America. While in Lima, he met Hugh McCulloch, a Scottish merchant, who persuaded him to become partners in a rawhide and tallow trade in California. They established a new trading company in 1822 called McCulloch and Hartnell, commonly called Macala y Arnel. It was at this time that he adopted the named "Arnel," as it was easier for the Spanish-speaking residents to pronounce.

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