King Line
of 65 London Wall, London
1889 The company was registered 23 July[1] as the King Alfred Steam Ship Co Ltd., to own a ship of the same name; company formed by Owen Cosby Philipps, his first ship owning venture.
1893 the company name was changed to King Line Ltd; two second-hand ships were acquired.
WWI the fleet totalled 10 tramp steamers.
Postwar: the fleet was rebuilt, mainly using war-standard ships. Philipps seems to have disposed of his interest in King Line at this time
1923 the management of the firm was taken over by Dodd, Thomson and Co, led by Francis Vernon Thomson, who was later to become chairman of Union-Castle Line.
WW2 King Line had 20 ships.
After the war the company again started to buy war-standard ships as replacements
1948 King Line was bought by Union-Castle after which the strategy changed, buying new, higher specification ships to act as reliefs for cargo liner operations.
1956 King Line had 11 ships when the Clan Line and Union-Castle Line groups merged and Cayzer, Irvine and Co became managers of the combined fleet.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- King Line [1]