Hughes, Bolckow and Co
Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Co of 2 Exchange Place, Middlesbrough
Yards and Showrooms: Battleship Wharf, Blyth, Northumberland; Derwenthaugh Quay, Swalwell, S.O.; Samuda's Wharf, Millwall, East; and 10, Dover Street, London, W.(1914)
1906 Hughes, Bolckow and Co., Ltd incorporated as a limited company.
1909 Bought the battleship HMS Collingwood for £19,000. She was taken to Derwenthaugh on the Tyne to be broken up and ran aground between the Newcastle High Level and swing bridges, creating a great spectacle.[1] Derwenthaugh yard sometimes refered to as Dunston.
1910 The battleship HMS Barfleur was bought for £26,500 and also taken to Derwenthaugh.[2]
1911 Leased six acres of land at North Blyth, Northumberland, to establish a works for dismantling obsolete warships.[3] The work required included building a new dock, and the site was named Battleship Wharf.
1912 The first ship broken up at Blyth was the oak frigate HMS Southampton (laid down in 1806, completed 1812), with the timbers to be used to make furniture etc. A ceremony was held 7 Aug to mark the inauguration of the yard with the land owner, Lord Ridley, knocking out the first bolt. The company had already established a workshop in Blyth manufacturing useful objects from the timbers of ships being broken at Derwenthaugh. [4]
1914 Iron and steel merchants. Specialities: iron, steel and machinery merchants, dismantling, battleship breaking; manufacturers of battleship teak wood garden and indoor furniture. [5]
1914 Directors: Ralph T. Hughes, Charles F. H. Bolckow (Managing Directors), and Bedford L. Dorman.
1916 Purchased the business as carried on by the Andrews-Hawksley Patent Tread and Engineering Co and removed the plant and machinery to their premises at Battleship Wharf, Blyth, where the manufacture of these stair treads was to be continued.[6]
1921 "Hughes, Bolckow, and Co., Ltd., battleship breakers and iron merchants, has acquired part of Marske Aerodrome, comprising thirty acres of land, and four large hangars. It is proposed to utilise these for the assembly, repair and disposal of material brought from the dumps in France."[7] It was reported elsewhere that they had spent £2m on surplus from dumps in France.
1920 Still operating at Derwenthaugh. Ex German battleship Nassau broken up there.[8]
1924 Still had Derwenthaugh, but by 1927 it was closed.[9]
1926 "Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company Limited. Private company. Registered Feb. 18, with a nominal capital of £1000,000 in £1 shares. Objects: To adopt an agreement with Hughes, Bolckow and Co., Ltd., to develop and turn to account the business of shipbreakers and merchants and dealers in metals, timbers, and other materials referred to therein, being the business formerly carried on by the company in Blyth. The first directors are M L Bell, Rounton Grange, Northallerton, ironmaster, B L Dorman, Enterpen Hall, Hutton Rudby, Yorks, barrister; C F H Bolckow, Great Ayton, iron and steel merchant; A Griffin, The Brown House, Guisborough, merchant. ......... Registered Office is at Battleship Wharf, Blyth, Northumberland.” [10] The original company continued for a few years as iron and steel merchants at The Aerodrome, Marske-by-the-Sea.
1926 Ralph Townsend Hughes, founder of Hughes, Bolckow & Co died on 5 April 1926, aged 60.
1931 "Hughes Bolckow and Company Limited. At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at The Aerodrome, Marske-by-the-Sea, in the county of York, on the 23rd day of February, 1931, the following Extraordinary Resolution was duly passed: — " That it has been proved to the satisfaction of this Meeting that the Company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same, and accordingly that the Company be wound up voluntarily ; etc..... Charles F. H. Bolckow, Chairman."[11] Liabilities were stated as £57,695 and the principal reason for the failure was said to be the heavy depreciation in value of Government surplus stores originally bought in France.[12] The liquidator offered for sale "The well equiped saw mill of Messrs Hughes, Bolckow and Co. (in vuluntary liquidation) at The Aerodrome, Marske-by-the-Sea.[13]
By 1956 was part of Metal Industries group.
1964-1967 under contract to British Railways, Hughes Bolckow cut up 148 steam locomotives at their Blyth premises. A lavishly illustrated article on this activity was published in Steam Days magazine, January 2025, and includes a full list of BR steam locomotives scrapped.
1980 A national steel strike left the company, which had an exclusive contract with British Steel, with thousands of tons of steel on hand in the early part of the year, resulting in the workforce being laid off.[14] In September, closure was announced, with the blame attached to falling demand for scrap.[15]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Sunderland Daily Echo - May 1909; Newcastle Journal - 4 Aug 1910
- ↑ Newcastle Journal - 4 Aug 1910
- ↑ Morpeth Herald - 8 Sep 1911<
- ↑ Illustrated London News - 27 Jul 1912; London Evening Standard - 9 Aug 1912
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer 1916/05/19, p 431
- ↑ Hull Daily Mail - 19 Jan 1921
- ↑ Newcastle Daily Chronicle - 19 Jun 1920
- ↑ Shields Daily News - 6 Nov 1924; Blyth News - 6 Jan 1927
- ↑ Newcastle Daily Chronicle - Saturday 20 Feb 1926
- ↑ London Gazette – 27 Feb 1931
- ↑ Middlesbrough Standard - 28 Feb 1931
- ↑ Newcastle Daily Chronicle - 23 Mar 1931
- ↑ Blyth News - 6 Mar 1980
- ↑ Blyth News - 18 Sep 1980