William Gray & Company

Last updated

William Gray & Company
Industry Shipbuilding
Founded1863
Defunct1962
Fate Voluntary liquidation
Headquarters
West Hartlepool
,
England
Key people
John Punshon Denton
Sir William Gray
Sir William Cresswell Gray, Bt.
Sir William Gray, Bt.

William Gray & Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding company located in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in North East England. Founded in 1863 by John Denton and William Gray as a partnership, it became a private and then a public limited company under the leadership of three generations of the Gray family until finally wound up in 1962.

Contents

Company history

Denton, Gray & Co.

In 1839 John Punshon Denton established a shipyard in Middleton, Hartlepool to build and repair wooden-hulled sailing ships. [1] In 1863 Denton entered into a partnership with William Gray, a successful businessman with a chain of stores in Hartlepool, to form Denton, Gray and Company. [2] The shipyard was modernised and extended, and began to build iron-hulled ships. Their first ship was launched on 23 January 1864. [1] In 1865 Denton, Gray and Co. established a new partnership with the shipbuilders Richardson, Duck and Co. of Stockton-on-Tees, and marine engine builders T. Richardson and Sons called Richardson, Denton, Duck and Co. [1] However, business was poor, and the partnership only completed only four ships [3] before being dissolved in September 1866, when the companies returned to their original ownership and names. [1] In 1867-68 Denton, Gray and Co. expanded their premises, taking over a neighbouring shipyard in 1868, which allowed them to diversify their business into ship repairs. In 1869 the company moved to a larger yard in West Hartlepool which covered eight acres, and employed up to 1,200 men. [1]

The partnership ended on John Denton's death in 1871. By this time Denton and Grey were in dispute over which of their sons should be allowed to join as partners. The case had gone to court, but as the company had been founded with no formal signed contracts, the courts were unable to reach a decision. [1] Eventually Denton's sons left the company, [1] and in 1874 it was renamed William Gray & Company, and Gray took on his eldest son Matthew as partner. [4]

William Gray & Co.

The business flourished, and in 1878 Gray's held the British record for output, with 18 ships launched in a single year, [5] and the company soon became West Hartlepool's largest producer of iron clipper barques, sailing ships and steamers. Now employing some 2,000 men, the company recorded the highest output of any British shipyard six times between 1878 and 1900. [2]

In 1883 Gray's established the Central Marine Engineering Works, to manufacture their own marine engines, [6] recruiting the engineer Thomas Mudd from T. Richardson and Sons to set up the business. [7]

On 1 January 1889 Gray's became a private limited company, with William Gray as chairman, and his sons Matthew and William, and son-in-law George Henry Baines, as directors. [5] In recognition of his numerous charitable works, and tenure as Mayor of West Hartlepool, William Gray was knighted in 1890. [6] Between 1892 and 1895 one of the key customers for the company was the Shell Transport and Trading Company who had eight oil tankers built. [5]

Matthew Gray died in 1896, followed in 1898 by both Sir William Gray and Thomas Mudd, which left Sir William's younger son, William Cresswell Gray, as chairman. He expanded the company, purchasing the Milton Forge and Engineering Company, allowing Gray's to increase its production of marine engines, boilers, pumps and other machinery. In association with Sir Christopher Furness, he also bought the Moor Steel and Iron Works of Stockton-on-Tees, the Stockton Malleable Iron Works, and the West Hartlepool Steel and Iron Works, which were amalgamated into a new company, the South Durham Steel and Iron Company Ltd., which provided the materials to build Gray's ships. In 1900 two more slipways were built, making a total of eleven, and the company now employed 3,000 men, who built 200 ships up to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. [5]

The war brought an increase in activity to the shipyard, and by 1918, [6] Gray's had built 30 cargo liners and tramp steamers, 13 vessels for the Admiralty, [5] including four M15-classmonitors, [8] and 30 standard "War-class" cargo ships for the Shipping Controller. [5] A facility was also established at the Central Marine Engine Works, employing mainly women, to produce shell cases. [6] On 14 June 1917 [9] King George V and Queen Mary visited the shipyard as part of a morale-boosting visit to the area, [5] and on 7 July 1917 William C. Gray was created 1st Baronet Gray of Tunstall Manor.

In 1918 Gray's became a public company. However, in the early 1920s the company experienced financial difficulties owing to the post-war slump in the freight market, which was flooded with war-surplus vessels. In 1922 the company built only three ships, and in 1923 only seven. [5] In 1924 Sir William Cresswell Gray died, and the chairmanship of the company passed to his son, Sir William Gray, 2nd Bt. [6] He had to manage a company heavily in debt, but despite this the company completed its 1,000th ship in 1929. [5]

In 1930, when the Great Depression struck, the shipyard was closed due to lack of orders. In 1932 the yard temporarily re-opened to build a Tees pilot launch and six tramp steamers, before being closed again. In 1934 the yard re-opened to build two paddle steamers [5] to provide a passenger ferry service across the River Humber. [6] In 1935 the yard reopened briefly to build a tramp steamer, which was not sold for another two years. Not until 1936 did business began to improve, and in the years up to 1939, the company completed thirty tramp steamers and cargo liners, [5] and two Halcyon-class minesweepers for the Royal Navy. [10] The outbreak of World War II saw a revival in activity [6] with 72 ships built and 1,750 ships repaired between 1939 and 1945. [5]

Post-war, British ship production went into general decline with the emergence of Japanese and German shipbuilders. [6] Gray's built an average of only 7.5 ships per year, along with a number of tankers, between 1945 and 1959. In 1959 the only orders on the books were for two ore carriers. [5] The last ship built by Gray's was launched in 1961. Repair work continued into 1962, until the company finally went into voluntary liquidation. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North East England</span> Region of England

North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority or metropolitan district and civil parishes. They are also multiple divisions without administrative functions; ceremonial county, emergency services, built-up areas and historic county. The most populous places in the region are Newcastle upon Tyne (city), Middlesbrough, Sunderland (city), Gateshead, Darlington and Hartlepool. Durham also has city status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Hartlepool</span> Predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England

West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company</span>

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the Second World War. It also built many transatlantic liners, including record-breaking ships for the Cunard Line and Canadian Pacific, such as the Blue Riband-winning sisters RMS Campania and RMS Lucania. At the other end of the scale, Fairfields built fast cross-channel mail steamers and ferries for locations around the world. These included ships for the Bosporus crossing in Istanbul and some of the early ships used by Thomas Cook for developing tourism on the River Nile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleton, Hartlepool</span> Area of Hartlepool, County Durham, England

Middleton is an area of Hartlepool in the Borough of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It is on the North Sea coast between the centre of Hartlepool and The Headland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Napier (engineer)</span> Scottish marine engineer (1791 – 1876)

Robert Napier was a Scottish marine engineer known for his contributions to Clyde shipbuilding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Ropner</span> British politician

Sir Robert Ropner, 1st Baronet was a German-British shipbuilder, shipowner, and Conservative Member of Parliament.

Reaney, Son & Archbold was a 19th-century American iron shipbuilding company located on the Delaware River at Chester, Pennsylvania. The company was established in 1859 by Thomas Reaney but it was undercapitalized from the outset, and like many other American shipbuilding companies, fell victim to the shipbuilding slump that followed the American Civil War.

The Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, was a major late-19th-century American shipyard located on the Delaware River in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the industrialist John Roach and is often referred to by its parent company name of John Roach & Sons, or just known as the Roach shipyard. For the first fifteen years of its existence, the shipyard was by far the largest and most productive in the United States, building more tonnage of ships than its next two major competitors combined, in addition to being the U.S. Navy's largest contractor. The yard specialized in the production of large passenger freighters, but built every kind of vessel from warships to cargo ships, oil tankers, ferries, barges, tugs and yachts.

Empire Bay was a 2,824 GRT collier. She was built by W Gray & Co Ltd, Hartlepool in 1940. She was owned by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and managed by the Joseph Constantine Steamship Line Ltd. Empire Bay was sunk by German bombing off Middlesbrough on 15 January 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pile (shipbuilder)</span> 19th-century English shipbuilder

William Pile was a British shipbuilder. 'His genius was displayed in the building of ships, wherein he was not excelled. As Watt was great as a builder of engines; and Stephenson was great as a builder of railways; so William Pile was great as a builder of ships.'

Edward Withy was born in Bristol, England and in 1869 co-founded a shipbuilding partnership at Hartlepool that eventually became part of Furness Withy. He sold the firm in 1884 and emigrated from England to New Zealand, where he was elected to Member of Parliament in 1887, representing the Auckland electorate of Newton. He was the father of Arthur Withy, journalist and political activist. Like his son, he was a single-taxer and follower of Henry George.

Ocean ship

The Ocean ships were a class of sixty cargo ships built in the United States by Todd Shipyards Corporation during the Second World War for the British Ministry of War Transport under contracts let by the British Purchasing Commission. Eighteen were lost to enemy action and eight to accidents; survivors were sold postwar into merchant service.

Edenhurst was a cargo ship that was built in 1930 by Furness Shipbuilding Ltd, Haverton Hill-on-Tees for British owners. She was sold in 1937 to Finnish owners and renamed Ilves. In 1939, she was sold to German owners and renamed Glückauf. In 1940 she was sold and renamed Warnow and was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in that year. She was seized by the Allies in Rendsburg in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Conleven. In 1946, she was allocated to the Soviet Government and renamed Alexandr Parkhomenko(Александр Пархоменко). The ship was deleted from Lloyd's Register in 1960.

Lawrence & Foulks was a 19th-century American shipbuilding company based in New York. Established in the early 1850s, the company built 144 vessels of all types over the course of some fifty years, but is best known for its production of high-speed wooden-hulled steamboats and steamships. Notable vessels built by the company include the record-breaking Hudson River steamboat Chauncey Vibbard, the luxury Long Island Sound steamer Commonwealth, and the fast oceangoing steamships—later U.S. Navy gunboats—Bienville and De Soto. In addition to the domestic market, the company also built ships for service as far afield as South America and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Young Blair</span> Scottish marine engineer

George Young Blair was a Scottish marine engineer, who specialised in the building of triple expansion engines at his factory Blair & Co., Ltd. in Stockton-on-Tees.

The Furness Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilding company in Haverton Hill, Stockton on Tees, England. It was established during the First World War and operated from 1917 until 1979.

Richardson, Duck and Company was a shipbuilding company in Thornaby-on-Tees, England that traded between 1855 and 1925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir David Dale, 1st Baronet</span>

Sir David Dale, 1st Baronet, was an English industrialist. He died as chairman of the Consett Iron Company and the mining firm Pease & Partners, and as a director of the North Eastern Railway Company. Dale owes his main distinction to his pioneer application of the principle of arbitration to industrial disputes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Duncan and Company</span>

Robert Duncan and Company was a shipyard in the town of Port Glasgow on the Clyde in Scotland.

Ocean Queen was a steam cargo ship built in 1908 by the William Gray & Co. of West Hartlepool for Jacob Christensen of Bergen. The ship was designed and built as a bulk carrier, but was wrecked on her maiden voyage.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Denton, Gray and Co". Grace's Guide. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Sir William Gray". This is Hartlepool. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "Denton, Gray and Co". Tees-built Ships. 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "William Gray and Co". Grace's Guide. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "William Gray and Company". Hartlepool Built. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Central Marine Engine Works". Grace's Guide. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "William Gray & Co. : Vessels built 1900-1934". Tees-built Ships. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "A Royal Visit to Teesside". Picture Stockton - Stockton-on-Tees Libraries. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "William Gray & Co. : Vessels built 1935-1965". Tees-built Ships. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.