The General Steam Navigation Company C.1850-1913: a Business History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ERB^C£ USE ONLY The General Steam Navigation Company c.1850-1913: A business history Robert Edward Forrester ffi A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a very considerable debt to my supervisors, Professor Sarah Palmer and Professor Roger Knight of The Greenwich Maritime Institute for, first of all, accepting me as a research student and for their stimulating support, direction and encouragement in the lengthy preparation of this study. The always friendly staff of the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich were unfailingly helpful during the many hours spent researching archive material, as were the library staff at the Rural History Centre, The University of Reading. They assisted me greatly with my research into the importation of live animals, one of the more unexpected diversions of the work. Other libraries were also extremely helpful, notably that at the London School of Economics, and my local library which produced remarkably swiftly, through its inter-library service, a wide range of publications. Most importantly, throughout the extended period of research and writing my wife has been an constant source of support and encouragement as have my two daughters. Without them this project would never have been embarked upon. n ABSTRACT This thesis concerns the history of the General Steam Navigation Company from 1850 to 1913, immediately prior to the First World War. Established as a joint-stock company in 1824, this London-based shipowner operated a range of steamship liner services on coastal and near-Continent routes and, from the 1880s, to the Mediterranean. The focus of the study, essentially a business history, is on the management by the directors of the Company's considerable financial, shipping and property assets and their ability to meet commitments to shareholders in terms of dividends and share values. Measures of financial governance, Profit and Loss Accounts and Balance Sheets are detailed throughout. These, together with information on trades and cargoes, including live animal imports, in an increasingly competitive environment, are recorded in a series of chapters each covering a period of the Company's development. The operation of the fleet of usually around fifty vessels of from 500 to 2,500 tons is considered against the background of constantly changing ship design and technology: the paddle wheel was replaced by screw propulsion, ever more efficient engines were introduced and cargo capacities greatly increased. In order to retain its prime position the Company was obliged to be to the forefront of these developments. The uncertain economic climate of the period of the study greatly affected British industry, particularly the years from 1873 to 1896, usually referred to as the 'great depression'. The cycles of expansion and recession in that time posed problems for all ship owners and for General Steam in particular. The effects of these and of other trade influences are explored. Particular emphasis is placed on the roles of two key Board chairmen, J. Herbert Tritton, appointed in 1874, and Richard White, 1902, in influencing the Company's fortunes. It is argued that, whereas the Company was well managed and profitable up to 1870 under a Board which still included connections with the original directors, over investment following substantial capital increases in 1874 and 1877 presented problems in the more challenging business environment of the late nineteenth century, leading to shareholder unrest and the near collapse of the Company. Financial restructuring in 1902/3, disadvantageous to shareholders, and a revision of the Company's operating policy under Chairman White led to a slow recovery prior to the First World War, in still difficult trading conditions. Appendices include the first full list of the many vessels owned by General Steam, with, in most cases, details of entry and exit from the Company's service, Balance Sheets and information on capital structure. in CONTENTS: Page INTRODUCTION: 1 CHAPTER ONE: General Steam at mid-century. 22 CHAPTER TWO: A Mid-Victorian Heyday, 1850-1860. 38 CHAPTER THREE: The Good Years, 1860 - 1870. 64 CHAPTER FOUR: New Management, New Capital, 1870 - 1890. 84 CHAPTER FIVE: Severe Depression all over the World, 1870-1890. 113 CHAPTER SIX: Near Collapse, Slow Recovery, 1890 - 1902. 140 CHAPTER SEVEN: Restructured on Modern Lines, 1903 - 1913. 187 CONCLUSION: Coping with Change. Success or Failure? 210 TABLES: 1. Profit and Loss Account, 1850. 28 2. Balance Sheet for 1850. 31 3. Route Network, 1850. 32 4. Ships Acquired, 1851-1859. 43 5. Steam and Sailing Vessels in the Home Trades, 1850-1860. 47 6. Profit and Loss Account, 1850-1860. 58 7. Profit and Loss Account, 1860-1870. 79 8. Sample Balance Sheets, 1860-1870. 81 9. Profit and Loss Account, 1870-1880. 98 10.Profit and Loss Account, 1880-1890. 100 11.Sample Balance Sheets, 1870-1878. 107 12.Services in 1870. 114 13.The Share of the Cattle Trade in GSN Profits, 1883-1892, 127 14.Estimated Weekly Returns for 1896. 163 IV IS.Profit and Loss Account, 1890-1902. 178 16.Sample Balance Sheets, 1895 and 1901. 181 17 Route Network, 1903. 194 18.Comparison Passenger Receipts, 1902. 195 19.Profit and Loss Account, 1902-1913. 203 ZO.Balance Sheet for 1908. 207 21.Dividend Payments and Share Prices, 1903-1913. 209 FIGURES: 1. Receipts and Costs, 1850-1860. 60 2. Receipts and Costs, 1860-1870. 80 3. Receipts and Costs, 1870-1890. 103 4. Ordinary (£15) Share Prices, 1870-1890. 112 5. Receipts and Costs, 1890-1901. 180 6. Ordinary Share Prices, 1890-1902. 183 7. Receipts and Costs, 1903-1913. 206 APPENDICES: 1. Vessels Owned and Operated, 1850-1920. 218 2. Balance Sheets, 1850-1913. 228 3. British Tonnage entering London from France, Holland and Belgium in 1851. 235 4. General Steam's Capital, Authorised and Issued, 1824-1920. 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY: 239 INTRODUCTION "The benefits arising from the power of steam are so universally acknowledged that it appears unnecessary to dwell upon its many advantages. Ships are enabled to enter or quit harbour regardless of winds or tides, and it affords the most flattering prospects of connecting the remotest parts of the world by a safe and rapid communication". September 1824 The immediate historiographical context for this study of The General Steam Navigation Company is the great body of work produced by historians and other writers on the early days of steam shipping, which was largely, if not exclusively, a British phenomenon. The greater part, has, however, concentrated on the development of oceanic shipping lines, such as P & O, and The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, from the 1835/50 period.2 In many of these cases entrepreneurs and other interested parties, some with experience of coastal shipping, greatly extended the range and activities of the steamship with very considerable financial support from Government in the shape of mail subsidies. Yet British coastal and short-sea steam shipping pre-dated the era of such deep-sea traffic and has a strong claim for a measure of attention by scholars, though it has received little. Largely overlooked is the fact that much of the experimentation with steamships took place in the waters around the British coast. Coastal steamship owners, by investing in the innovations of shipbuilders and engineers, participated in the development of the new hull forms and improved methods of propulsion which so benefited their oceanic counterparts. Prospectus of The General Steam Navigation Company, dated September 1824, see L. Cope Cornford, A Century of Sea Trading 1824 - 1924. The General Steam Navigation Company, (London, 1924) 2 Edwin Green and Michael Moss, A Business of National Importance: The Royal Mail Shipping Group, 1902-1937, (London, 1982): T.A. Bushell, Royal Mail. A Centenary History of the Royal Mail Line 1839- 1939, (London, 1939): Stephanie Jones, Two Centuries of Change in International Trading. The Origins and Growth of the Inchcape Group, (London, 1986): Boyd Cable, A Hundred Year History of the P. & O. (London, 1937): Peter N. Davies, The Trade Makers: Elder Dempster in West Africa 1852-1972 1973- 1989, Second Edition, (St John's, 2000): Sheila Marriner and Francis E. Hyde, The Senior, John Samuel Swire, (Liverpool, 1967): Francis E. Hyde, with the assistance of J.R. Harris, Blue Funnel. A History of Alfred Holt and Company of Liverpool from 1865 to 1914, (Liverpool, 1957): Freda Harcourt, Flags of Imperialism. The P & O Company and the Politics of Empire from its Origins to 1867, (Manchester, 2006). General Steam is important: its development covers the period of radical technical change, from its purchase in 1836 of one of the first iron-vessels to the building of a sophisticated triple-screw turbine steamer of 1906.3 The history of General Steam is, in many respects, the history of British coastal and short-sea shipping. Only Sarah Palmer to date, amongst academics, has given attention to the Company with her 1982 paper, 'The most indefatigable activity. The General Steam Navigation Company, 1824-50'. There are three non-academic publications concerning General Steam: the authors of two, L. Cope Cornford and H.E. Hancock, clearly published with the co-operation of the Company so that they are selective and unanalytic, though helpful.4 Other articles have explored coastal shipping companies but only over a limited time span: these include Freda Harcourt's study of Charles Wye Williams and Irish steam shipping in the period 1820-50'and Clive H. Lee's review of The Aberdeen Steam Navigation Company, 1835-80.5 The limited period of the Harcourt study is due to the fact that the subject was Wye Williams' impressive career as a shipping entrepreneur rather than a history of the company.