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British shipping companies (G)

Last modified: 2023-12-23 by rob raeside
Keywords: gg&co | gillie blair | g | gb | gs | gysco | s | star: 8 points | gg |
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• Gibbs & Co.
• Gibbs & Lee
• George Gibson & Co., Ltd.
• Gibson Rankine Line
• Robert Gilchrist & Co.
• Gillespie & Nicol
• G. T. Gillie & Blair
• Gladstone & Co.
• Glasgow & South Western Railway
• Glen & Co.
• Gleneden Steamship Co., Ltd.
• Glenlight Shipping Ltd.
• Glen Coasters, Ltd.
• Glen Line
• Global Marine Systems
• Glover Brothers
• John Glynn & Son

• House flags of British shipping companies
• House flags of shipping companies
• United Kingdom

Gibbs & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

Founded in 1906 as single ship tramp companies mainly trading to the River Plate with coal and returning with grain. However, all their ships were lost during the Great War and the Gibbs Brothers stayed out of the shipping business until 1925 when they took delivery of two new ships. In WWII the company again lost all three of their ships. Two wartime built ships were then purchased. A partnership was formed with Counties Ship Management and London & Overseas Freighters to operate ore carriers under the ownership of Welsh Ore Carriers Ltd. In 1969 Gibbs became a subsidiary of London & Overseas Freighters and in 1982 Gibbs last ship was transferred to the parent company and Gibbs & Co disappeared.

Mariners L
http://www.mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=Welsh&page_name=Gibbs+and+Co

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Gibbs & Co. (#1590, p. 112), a Cardiff-based shipping company, as red with a white "G" in the middle.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#77
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

Gibbs & Lee

image by Ivan Sache, 20 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Gibbs & Lee" (#47, p. 39), a company based in Cardiff (Wales), as white with two red and white ascending diagonal stripes, a red letter "G" in upper hoist and a blue letter "L" in lower fly. The shade of blue is light is lighter than on most other flags shown by Lloyd's.
   Bob Sanders lists Gibbs & Lee's "Royal Briton" among the tug boats of Cardiff, 1894 (http://www.angelfire.com/de/BobSanders/Tugs1894.html )
Ivan Sache, 20 March 2008 

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963

George Gibson & Co. Ltd. One of the survivors with origins back to 1797 and still going. The flag however is one of uncertainty rather strangely. Not only do sources disagree over dots after some or all letters or none, but also with the colours of these letters. Basically they plump for either black or red, although an 1895 source shows blue, neither of which appear to give any cause for misinterpretation. In 1920 they absorbed the Rankine Ltd. and some sources show the flag under Gibson Rankine Line which appears to have been a service name for trades associated with the latter company. At one stage in the late 1970s/early 1980s they had a German subsidiary, Deutsche George Gibson & Co Gastanker GmbH Reederei and a Mobil chart of German liveries shows another version with the upper band being pink and the lower band red.
Neale Rosanoski, 6 June 2004

image by Jarig Bakker, 16 December 2004

Based on Wedge 1926 G. Gibson & Company, Limited, Leith. Triband red-white-blue, proportioned 2:1:2; on white "G.G.&Co" in black.
Jarig Bakker, 16 December 2004

image by Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021

George Gibson & Co. Ltd. The correct version as shown by the National Maritime Museum site has red letters with dots and is dated c.1951. The version shown for Wedge 1926 with a narrower white band, repeated in the 1929 and 1934 editions, disagrees on the whole with other publications of this period which show equal bands.
Neale Rosanoski, 18 July 2005

image by Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows a similar house flag (#1152, p. 91).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#56
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021

Robert Gilchrist & Co.

Henry Lamont & Co.
Glasgow, Greenock and Liverpool Steamers

image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Robert Gilchrist & Co. - Henry Lamont & Co. (Glasgow, Greenock and Liverpool Steamers) (#1670, p. 116), a Liverpool and Glasgow-based shipping company, as made of two superimposed pennants, each horizontally divided blue-red.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#81
Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Gillespie & Nicol

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Gillespie & Nicol (#1323, p. 99), a Glasgow-based company, as horizontally divided blue-white-blue (1:2:1), charged in the center with the red letters "G & N".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#64
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

It’s a triangular flag with horizontal bottom, purplish blue with a dark blue border around it except in the hoist.
Jorge Candeias, 24 Feb 1999

image by Neale Rosanoski

G.T. Gillie & Blair. Judging from the company website at www.gillieblair.com the flag image comprises a mauve field with a very dark blue border except at hoist, these two colours being fimbriated white [see above]. Although the image seems to suggest that the flag comprises a right angled triangle I wonder as this would be most unusual and a normal long pennant would seem possible, particularly as the flags previously shown have been pennants.

     images by Rob Raeside

Talbot-Booth in Merchant Ships 1944 shows a blue pennant with a white orle (above, left) whilst Brown1951 and Stewart 1963 have the orle extending to the hoist (above, right) with Brown showing a thicker white. Whether these represent changes in design or colours I do not know but the format would seem to be basic after allowing for artistic licence from the sources. Also note that Stewart shows under the name of their subsidiary Firth Shipping Co. Ltd.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004

Gladstone & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

Arthur Gladstone and John Cornforth formed their company in 1880. When John died the company continued under Gladstone & Co. They ceased trading after they lost their last two steamers to enemy fire in 1917.

Arthur Gladstone (1852-1916) was born at Poplar, London. His father worked as a Lloyd’s shipping surveyor. The family came to the North-East in 1853. Arthur’s first employment was for Robert Irvine & Co. In 1875 he established the successful Vulcan Rivet Works at Stockton-on-Tees and commenced ship owning in 1880. Arthur purchased the iron works in 1881 from Jonathan Backhouse & Co. Matthew Gray joined him as a partner and the works converted from iron to steel making when steel began being used in shipbuilding. The works were eventually taken over by the South Durham Steel & Iron Co. Ltd. In 1906 Arthur moved his offices from West Hartlepool to Middlesbrough when he acquired the Grosmont Ironstone Mines along with Arthur John Dorman.

https://www.hhtandn.org/venues/5087/gladstone-and-cornforth
Hartlepool History Then and Now

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Gladstone & Co. (#1252, p. 96), as yellow with a red cross patty in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#61
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

Glasgow & South Western Railway

image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Glasgow & South Western Railway (#1665, p. 116), a Greenock-based shipping company, as triangular, blue with the central emblem from the company's badge.
hhttps://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#81
See also: Glasgow & South Western Railway
Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Glen & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

The Glen family started shipowning in 1894 when they formed Glasgow Shipowners Co Ltd and traded mainly with coal to Sweden, returning with timber. Shortly afterwards they formed Scottish Navigation Co which operated deep sea tramps and the Scandinavian Shipping Co. but ships were frequently transferred between the companies. Three ships were lost during the Great War and in WWII the deep sea fleet was wiped out and six Scandinavian traders were also lost. Eleven standard type ships were managed for MOWT during and shortly after the war but no ships were owned until the 1950s when the company took over management of the Dornoch Shipping Co and Nile SS Co from Lambert Bros. In 1961 the Scandinavian traders were taken over by F. T. Everard, Greenhithe and the services were terminated in 1967.

Mariners L
http://mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=Scottish&page_name=Glen+%26+Co&PHPSESSID=ef52bc3e0066dee3235328f36a9f9f1e

Lawrence Glen died in 1938 in his 76th year. In the 1890s, he joined the Napier Shipping Co., Glasgow, in which his uncle, James Napier, was interested. Some years later, Glen formed the Glasgow Shipowners' Co., Ltd., and subsequently took over the Napier shipping Co., changing its name to Glen & Co. Glen & Co. were managing owners of about half a dozen shipping companies, notably the Scandinavian Shipping Co., which together had a fleet of over 20 cargo vessels trading with Scandinavia. ("The Glasgow Herald", 4 July 1938)

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of (#1589, p. 112), a Glasgow-based shipping company, as swallow-tailed, blue, in the center a white disk charged with a blue "G".

https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#77
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

Gleneden Steamship Co., Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Gleneden Steamship Co., Ltd. (John Napier) (#84, p. 40), a Glasgow-based company, as, swallow-tailed, white with a blue border and a red "N" in the center.

https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#5
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021

Glenlight Shipping Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 3 November 2005

Glenlight Shipping Ltd., Ardrossan - red swallowtail, in center narrow white stripe; white disk, charged with black "G".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 3 November 2005

Glen Coasters, Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Glen Coasters Ltd. was wound up voluntarily on 4 August 1914.
[The London Gazette, 21 August 1914]

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Glen Coasters, Ltd. (Matthew Worth) (#581, p. 64), a Newcastle-based company, as blue with a white border, charged in the center with a white "G".

https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/29/
Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Glen Line

image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)  This flag flies under a blue pennon charged with a white Maltese cross (possibly on a black square?)
James Dignan, 18 October 2003

Blue pennant with white Maltese cross over a red and white flag quartered diagonally, with Union Jack in center.
Jarig Bakker, 18 October 2003

Founded in the mid 1800s in Glasgow. The company name emerged in 1868. In 1880 became known as McGregor, Gow & Company, although it was still promoted as the Glen Line. Glen Line Ltd was formed in 1910. The shares of the company were acquired by Elder, Dempster and Co. in 1911. As Elder, Demster was owned by Royal Mail, the ensuing problems of caused by Lord Kylsant resulted in the line being a part of Alfred Holt and Co. (later known as Ocean Transport and Trading Co.). Glen Line ceased to own ships in 1978, and the Ocean Transport and Trading Co. was purchased by P&O, which sold the Glen Line assets to Curnow Shipping Limited. The company is not operating, although it appears to be still legally registered.
Phil Nelson, 19 October 2003

Glen Line. Originally the blue pennant flown superior had a white hoist bearing a blue saltire befitting the Scottish origin of the founders. By the 1912 books the Maltese Cross version was being shown whilst some sources show this as just a cross couped. A couple of early sources also show the Union Flag panel without any white but this seems to be printing blues.
Neale Rosanoski, 6 June 2004

Global Marine Systems

image by Martin Grieve, 19 April 2009

I have re-drawn the flag of the Global Marine Systems ensign copying Graham's version from "British flags and emblems". This intrinsically "was" the old flag of the GPO (General Post Office), but the old Father Time figure has been increased in size relative to the ensign's hoist width.
Martin Grieve, 19 April 2009

Global Marine Systems is a descendant of Cable and Wireless.

Based on Wedge 1926 Glover Brothers, London - quartered diagonally white and red; on white "GB" in blue.
Jarig Bakker, 16 December 2004

The three Glover Brothers became ship owners in 1865 when they purchased the barque "W. E. Gladstone" and bought their first steamship in 1872. Their primary trades were coal to the Mediterranean, returning with grain from the Black Sea and also the Baltic trade. The company owned four tramps at the outbreak of the Great War of which three were lost. The fleet was built up after the war and by 1927 owned seven ships and traded worldwide. The depression of the 1930s caused the sale of most of the fleet and by 1936 only two ships were owned. One was lost to enemy action and the company was then sold to South American Saint Line with their remaining ship which was also sunk shortly afterwards.

Several of the company's ships were named for writers and poets: Dante, Milton, Ossian, Shelley, Burns, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, Ovid, Keats, Spencer, and Chaucer.

http://www.mariners-list.com/mobi/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=English&page_name=Glover+Brothers%2C+London
Mariners L

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#46, p. 39).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#4
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021

John Glynn & Son

image by Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "John Glynn & Son" (#5, p. 37), a company based in Liverpool, as red with, in the middle, the white letters "A E".
Ivan Sache, 10 March 2008 

Letters "AE" refers to the name of the company managed by Glynn & Son, Atlantic & Eastern S.S. Co., Ltd.
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021

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