Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: headlam and son | hindustan steam ship co | henderson line | henry and macgregor | heyn | hine brothers | hbrs |
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image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Hector Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. (#633, p. 67), a Swansea-based company, as blue
with a white shield inscribing a red sword (?).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/32/
Ivan
Sache, 26 April 2021
from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963
Headlam & Sons. Originated 1890 according to Talbot-Booth who gives earlier
names as Headlam & Rowland and Robinson & Rowland. The latter appears to have
originated the flag only the colours were then reversed with the border being
blue and the cross red as shown by Reed 1891. There was a merger with T. Marwood
& Son which produced Rowland & Marwood's Steam Ship Co. Ltd. and they continued
to use this flag except that the sources from Griffin 1895, with the exception
of Lloyds 1904, show the flag as being square. Headlam & Sons are given as the
managers who also operated through Headlam & Sons Steamship Co. Ltd. until the
late 1960s using the same flag so they may have been owners also. In 1934 the
company succumbed to Admiralty pressure re displaying the Red Cross emblem on
white which had been outlawed by the Geneva Convention Act of 1911 and reversed
the colours. This change may also have seen the flag change to a rectangle, or
it may have occurred later, as although Talbot-Booth in 1949 was still stating
that the flag was square, other sources from Brown 1943 on show a rectangular
version.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004
image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Helmsdale Steamship Company, Ltd. (J. & A. Roxburgh) (#858, p. 77), a
Glasgow-based company, as composed of a red flag with a thin white saltire
surmounted by a thin red triangular flag.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/42/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021
image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
The Hellyer family came to Hull from the South coast, originating in Devon.
Robert Hellyer moved to Hull from Brixham in the 1850s and by the end of the
1870s he and his sons owned a small fleet of sailing smacks. The Hellyer's
fishing company was originally called Devon Fishing Company Ltd and later became
Hellyer Brothers Ltd.
During the 1880s the company became involved in the
construction of steam trawlers. In 1905 Charles Hellyer decided to build a
completely new North Sea boxing fleet of steam trawlers comprising of
approximately fifty trawlers.
Hellyer Brothers was absorbed into
Associated Fisheries when it merged with the company in 1961. It ceased trading
in 1965 and was dissolved in 1972.
Hull History Centre Catalogue
http://catalogue.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/catalogue/C-DBHB?tab=description
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Hellyer's Steam Fishing Co., Ltd. (#1446, p. 105), as blue with a white "H" in
the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#70
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
The house flag of P. Henderson & Co., Glasgow. A rectangular tricolour in red
white and blue with a small Union Flag in the centre. Based on the website of the National
Maritime Museum.
Jarig Bakker, 23 August 2004
Henderson Line (British & Burmese Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., & Burmah
Steamship Co., Ltd.)
Funnel: Black
House Flag: Red, White and Blue vertical Tricolour, with Union Jack in centre.
Ships: Prome, Salween, Yoma, Pegu, Amarapoora, Sagaing, Kemmendine, Burma, Katha,
Kindat, Chindwin, Manadalay, Irrawaddy, Arracan, Henzada, Martaban.
Source: All About Ships & Shipping, by Edwin P. Harnack (ed.), 1938
Jarig Bakker, 30 June 2003
I understood that there was another similar flag to the one you described but
as follows: A vertical tricolour, red, white and blue but this one had an emblem
of a Scottish thistle centred in the white band. Do you by any chance know any
thing about this flag.
Tom McGeachie, 30 June 2003
(Possibly J & P. Hutchison, Limited?)
I have a source which shows the Burns, Philp & Co., Ltd. houseflag as a
regular r/w/b vertical tricolor with the thistle centered on the white stripe.
Source: Stewart (1953)
Ned Smith, 1 July 2003
I was one of the last people employed by Hendersons and the origin of the
"Tricolour" is interesting. The French government allowed it, as a reward for
Hendersons
transporting French troops from Marseilles to the Crimea, during the Crimean
war. This tricolour was then again, at the request of the French government,
reversed to the signal letter "T", (Red to the hoist) to avoid confusion.
Brian Dickson, 28 August 2003
Henderson Line. The fleet commodore used a swallow-tailed version of the flag.
Some sources show the white band as broader both for this flag and its
predecessor. The flag is also shown by various sources for the Irrawaddy Flotilla
Co. Ltd. which they controlled or managed and which operated on the Irrawady
River in Burma.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004
"Flags and Funnels of the British and
Commonwealth Merchant Fleets" shows this flag but the white panel is wider,
resulting a 1:2 Union Jack.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 June 2006
Formed at Glasgow in 1829 to operate the marble trade from Italy and the
export of coal. In 1845, a service from Glasgow to Bombay and Australia was
started and in 1848 the company entered the emigrant trade to New Zealand with
calls at Burma for cargo on the return voyage, initially with chartered ships.
A subsidiary company, Albion Shipping Co. was formed in 1864 and this
amalgamated with Shaw, Savill Line in 1882 to form Shaw, Savill & Albion Line.
In 1874, the British & Burmese Steam Navigation Co. was formed to operate
regular liner sailings to Burma.
In 1947, ships were chartered to Elder
Dempster Lines who purchased the company and fleet in 1952. The chartered ships
were retained on the West Africa routes while P. Henderson & Co. continued to
manage the Burma traders. In 1965 Ocean Steamship Co. acquired control of the
group and in 1967 the six day war closed the Suez Canal and Henderson's service
to Burma ceased and their last three ships transferred to Elder Dempster routes.
The last Henderson ship was sold in 1970 and the name of Henderson disappeared
from the shipowning scene.
https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/burma.shtml
The Ships Lists
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag
(#160, p. 44) for P. Henderson & Co.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#9
Ivan
Sache, 21 April 2021
Loughran (1979) shows also a commodore's pennant
Jarig Bakker, 23 August 2004
image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of J. &
W. Henderson, Ltd. (#839, p. 76), a Aberdeen-based company, as horizontally
divided white-red-white. with a blue "H" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/41/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021
image by Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Henderson
& Mcintosh (Dunedin S.S. Co., Ltd.) (#1154, p. 91), a Leith-based company, as
quartered white-blue per saltire, with the blue letters "H" and "M" in the white
quarters.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#56
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021
image by Ivan Sache, 8 April 2008
Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912)
shows the house flag of "Hendry, McCallum & Co (Glasgow Steam Coasters Co.,
Ltd.)" (#183, p. 45), a company based in Glasgow (Scotland), as red with a blue
triangle charged with a small white disk.
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2008
Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 14 October 2003
Reportedly headquartered in Leith, Scotland
Phil Nelson, 14 October 2003
A.F. Henry & MacGregor. Sources vary as to size and shape of the diamond. This
version is supported by Talbot-Booth whereas the Brown series show the diamond
within the field although the later versions do make it larger. However these
editions are not consistent with one omitting the letters and others giving
their colours as black. The early Stewarts show it as here but in 1963 it is
shown as nearly throughout.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004
image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.
From the website of the National
Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Henry and MacGregor. A rectangular blue
flag with a white diamond edged with red in the centre. On the diamond are the
blue letters 'H & M'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It
has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 13 August 2004
A F Henry & McGregor house flag based on letterhead from the company.
Phil Wilson, 29 March 2005
This second version of the house flag is much closer to what I remember it as
being. The illustrations in Sampson (of which I have a copy) were sketchy at
best. The company was indeed based in Leith. Their address was 1 Dock Place. The
company was eventually absorbed by the Salvesen Group, around 1960.
Jim Piggins, 9 January 2007
image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021
Captain Herron first saw the light of day in Ireland in 1820, probably at a
small village called Kircubbin, on the shores of Strangford Lough. At the early
age of 13 he was apprenticed to a Liverpool shipowner, and obtained his Master's
Ticket when barely out of his teens. In 1850 he married a Miss Jane Carson at
St. Thomas Church, Walton-on-the-Hill, and she followed the not unusual practice
of those days of accompanying him to sea, as it is on record that in 1856 one of
their son's was born on board the sailing ship 'Lord Raglan', of which Captain
Herron was then in command. About that time the Captain was engaged in carrying
troops to the Crimea and later to India at the time of the Great Mutiny, in fact
on one occasion he witnessed the execution of some of the mutineers, who were
blown from the muzzles of the guns.
His seafaring days came to an end in the
1860s when he was made Marine Superintendant of the fleet of Mr S.R Graves, a
well known Liverpool owner, also Irish born, but when that gentlemen decided to
stand for Parliament and sold his ships, Captain Herron himself became the
owner, first in partnership with his brother under the name William and John
Herron and later to John Herron & Co, with his son-in-law, Captain Isaiah
Weaver, of 'Mount Pleasant House', Wallasey, as one of his partners. Although
Mrs Heron presented her husband with eight children, the marriage was not
without tragedy in as much as five of the children, two sons and three
daughters, predeceased their parents, one of the daughters Mary, the first born,
being lost at sea in 1899 with her husband and two children, when one of their
father's sailing ships, the 'Lord Raglan', presumable named after his earlier
command, left San Francisco for Queenstown with a cargo of wheat and vanished
without trace.
Mrs Herron died in April 1897, and barely a month later, at
the age of 77 , her husband succumbed to an attack of pneumonia, said to have
been caught while attending the funeral of a friend, Mr H.A Bailey, in St.
Hilary's Churchyard, He was buried in Flaybrick Cemetery on 28th May, 1897, six
ferrymen acting as pall-bearers.
During his lifetime Captain Herron took an
active part in local affairs, being Chairman of the Wallasey Local Board in
1892, Chairman of the Liscard Branch of the Wirral Liberal Association, a
Governor of Wallasey Grammar School, and an official of Egerton Presbyterian
Church. Although his private benefactions were said to overshadow his public
gifts, he did, in fact, present the band stand in Central Park to the town, and
gave £600 to the Jubilee Fund for the erection of Victoria Central Hospital, in
memory of his wife.
History of Wallasey
http://www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/mansions_manor_road_and_withens_lane/index.html
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
John Herron & Co. (#1875, p. 126), a Liverpool-based company, as swallow-tailed,
white with a blue cross, charged in the respective quarters with the red letters
"J", "H", "&" and "Co", in the center, a charge, maybe a liverbird.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#91
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021
image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
Fritz Herskind owned ships from the early 1870's. Herksind & Woods was formed in
1884 between Fritz and Peter Herskind and James Jabez Woods. The partnership was
dissolved by mutual consent on the 20th August 1892. On 31st August 1892 the
Company became known as Herskind & Co. with the main shareholders Fritz and his
father Peter.
Five of Fritz's early ships were built by Matthew Pearse and
two by Ropner. All of his subsequent ships were built in West Hartlepool and all
appear to have been purchased new.
https://www.hhtandn.org/venues/4411/herskind-and-co
Hartlepool History
Then and Now
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the
house flag of Herskind & Co. (#1254, p. 96), as swallow-tailed, yellow with a
blue cross patty.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#61
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021
Hessler Shipping Co., was founded in 1901 with the main owner being Jacob
Hessler. He had entered into a partnership with Furness, Withy & Co.,
in that year. The company was later known as the Swift Steam Ship Co. Ltd., then
as the Hartlepools Seatonia S.S. Co.
The company managed ships for the
M.O.W.T. during WW1.
Jacob Kruse Muller Hessler (1859-1938) was born on 3
January, 1859 at Skein, Norway. He came to West Hartlepool when he was about
twelve years of age.
He first worked for Groves, Maclean & Co., shipowners
then for V. Nilson & Co., timber merchants. In 1881, living at Stranton, Jacob
was listed as a shipbroker’s clerk. By 1891 Jacob had started his own business
as a shipbroker. He became a naturalised British subject on 10 July, 1899.
Jacob was Vice-Consul for Norway for many years and in 1919 was made a Knight of
St. Olav in recognition of his services.
https://www.hhtandn.org/venues/3545/hessler-shipping-co-ltd
Hartlepool
History Then and Now
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows
the house flag of Hessler Shipping Co., Ltd. (Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd.) (#399,
p. 55) as red, charged in the center with a blue fouled anchor placed per bend
on a white rectangle framed in red and white.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#20
Ivan
Sache, 23 April 2021
(Hugh Evans & Co.)
image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Hill
Steamship Co., Ltd. (Hugh Evans & Co.) (#1597, p. 113), a London-based shipping
company, as white, in the middle a red square diamond, in the respective
corners, the red letters "H", "I", L", and "L".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#78
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021
from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963
Brown 306: Hindustan Steam Shipping Co., Ltd. (Common Bros),
Newcastle-on-Tyne
Funnel: Black, on a wide red band bordered white a white C.
Flag: 2:3; quartered Blue before Yellow over White before Red. (The C on the
funnel could be for "Common")
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003
The same house flag is
shown (#1754, p. 120) in Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#85
Ivan
Sache, 4 May 2021
Hindustan Steam Ship Co. Ltd. Formed in 1893 by J.W. Squance & Co. who changed
their name to Common Brothers Ltd. in 1906 following the retirement of Captain
Squance. The flag is probably more correctly ascribed to Common Brothers
although Hindustan Steamship Co. Ltd. was their main shipping arm in their days
of shipowning which seems to have ended in the late 1970s. By then they were
into ship management mainly as Common Brothers (Management) Ltd. and according
to Loughran (1979) they flew their
flag as a pennant [possibly the ordinary rectangular flag was also so used as
Brown 1951 shows this in the case of the Australia-China Line and then shows the
pennant in the 1958 edition] superior to that of the houseflag of the managed
company, first as the plain quartered pennant but then with an amended version
which saw the quarters placed diagonally and the company logo placed on the
white in the hoist. Unfortunately there is no
description of this. The company faded out of sight in Lloyds in the late 1980s
after it was acquired by Norex Corporation before resuming briefly in the late
1990s.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004
My father sailed with the company [Common Bros.] from mid 50s to early 70s, and
so did I being a young ‘un who got to sail with his dad. Your information
suggests that it was Hindustan team Shpg Co that did most of the trade during
the ship-owning days, by which I suppose you mean the entire life of the
company. While that may be the case, from early 50s, Commons became heavily
involved with tankers, having a 25% share in the Lowland Tanker Co, formed with
British Tankers and Mathesons of Hong Kong, with Commons being the managers. The
tanker trade outstripped the general cargo side, and in fact there was another
subsidiary, the Vallum Shipping Co which ran 5 ore carriers.
As regards
the Common Bros pennant, I do have recollections of seeing a rectangular flag
flying too, although time may have dimmed the accuracy of the memory.
John
Bedigan, 17 May 2011
image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.
From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Hine Brothers, Maryport. A white rectangular flag with a red border. In the centre, there is a blue oval with the letters 'H. BRS.' in white. The flag is made of wool bunting with a linen hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Maryport is in Cumbria (England) opposite the Isle of Man
Jarig Bakker, 15 August 2004
The Hine Brothers, Wilfred and Alfred, founded their shipping company, the Holme
Line in 1872. Wilfred Hine had already been involved in the shipping business,
operating and co-owning several ships in Liverpool. In its first five years, the
company operated 16 ships. The Hine brothers tended to buy newer ships, as
opposed to most ship owners in their port town of Maryport, who relied on older
ships. The Holme Line ships ran trading routes to Australia, returning to
Britain with wool. They also carried steel rails to Canada for the Canadian
Pacific Railway coming back loaded with grain and timber products. By 1900 the
company operated about 27 steamships. It was in this year that the company
purchased its last ship, the ‘Hazel Holme’ which was subsequently wrecked in the
Bay of Biscay in 1911. The Holme Line was particularly unlucky with wrecks and
lost nine ships during its time in business. One wreck, the ‘Thomas Vaughan’, is
now a popular dive site off the coast of Pembrokeshire. In the early twentieth
century, Maryport experienced a severe decline in its shipping business. In
1913, shipbuilding ceased in the town and in 1914 the shipyards had closed. The
Holme Line inevitably suffered during this time and was forced to finally
terminate its business in 1913.
National Maritime Museum:
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/432.html
image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2012
Lloyd's
Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows a very similar house flag (#1595,
p. 112).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#77
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2012