Bartons, prominent family in bordeaux, originally from Lancashire in the north of England, which joined the Tudor Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Unlike most others who joined the bordeaux trade from abroad, the Bartons maintained their nationality, religion, and family connections with their country of origin. Thomas Barton arrived in Bordeaux in 1725, played a leading part in shipping fine claret back to Britain, and died in 1780 a very rich man. His son William (1723–99), with whom he bitterly quarrelled, formed his own company and was prominent in the trade on his own account. His son Hugh (1766–1854) married Anna, daughter of another prosperous merchant, Nathaniel Johnston. The association with Daniel Guestier of a Breton Huguenot family began in 1795 and Barton & Guestier was formed in 1802.
