![[Kaye, Son & Co. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~kayes.gif)
image by James Dignan
Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
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image by James Dignan
Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 19 October 2003
Description: Blue; white K inside white diamond. In "All about Ships and
Shipping" the 'diamond' is square.
Jarig Bakker, 19 October 2003
Phil Nelson, 19 October 2003
![[John Kelly houseflag]](../images/g/gb~jkell.gif)
image by James Dignan
Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 12 October 2003
Based in Belfast. Originally started in 1861 to transport coal. Merged in 1993
with Lanes Group Ltd. Currently known as Kelly Fuels.
Phil Nelson, 12 October 2003
Post card collection
confirms this design but shows a centered and slightly larger "K".
António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 February 2007
![[Fred Kelsall houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfkel.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
Fred Kelsall (1870-1948) married Sarah Johnson in 1897 at the age of 27.
Despite the order to the vessels in the Kelsall Brothers and Beeching fleet to
return to Hull from Fleetwood in that year causing a slump in Fleetwood's
fortunes for a short while, Fred remained based at Fleetwood and helped develop
the Port's trade and also took a leading part in setting up the Fylde Ice and
Cold Storage Company. [...]
RootsWeb Project
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=beechingpub&id=I0064
The company was voluntarily wound up on 11 January 1922 (The London
Gazette, 13 January 1922).
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912)
shows the house flag of Fred Kelsall (#1628, p. 114), a Fleetwood-based fishing
company, as vertically divided red-white-blue, in the middle, a Union Jack of
the same width as the white stripe.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#79
Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
![[Kelsall Brothers & Beeching, Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfkbb.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
In 1893 the Hull fish merchant George Beeching became involved with the
Kelsall brothers and eventually established a fleet of up to 32 steam vessels at
the port but in 1897 closed down their operations at Fleetwood and moved to
Shadwell.
By 1935, fish stocks in the North Sea were in decline and the
older trawling companies engaged in this fishery were experiencing financial
difficulties. This was particularly true of the pioneers, Kelsall Brothers &
Beeching Ltd and their associated company, Hull Steam Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, and
the former was forced to sell off some of its vessels. Six were sold to Brixham
Trawlers Ltd, Brixham, managed by Dugdall & Son and the first of these vessels
to arrive in Brixham in February 1936 was the Owl (H801, but on 6 March 1936 the
two Hull companies were placed in voluntary liquidation and as a result two
further vessels were purchased bringing the Brixham Trawler fleet to eight; the
Auk (H755), Ibis (H764), Kite (H773), Pintail (H982), Ruff (H34), Thrush (H703)
and Vireo (H446).
The trawlers were a success at Brixham but the harbour
authorities failed to keep their promise to dredge and improve the quay, where
only one trawler could land at a time, and also to provide a slipway for
maintenance. Once again it was the high cost of bunker coal and of transporting
their catches to the market that convinced the company that they had to move and
in December 1937 it was announced that they would move to Fleetwood with the
eight trawlers. By early 1938, Brixham Trawlers was established in the port, and
with the demise of Kelsall Brothers & Beeching they retained the familiar
‘Gamecock’ funnel marking and Hull registration for all the steam trawlers,
remaining an independent company until 1960 when they were taken over by the
Boston Group.
Port of Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Trust
http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/category/trawler-companies/
The Beeching family had connections with ships and shipbuilding dating back
to at least 1795 when the firm Beeching Brothers was founded. I do not know how
Thomas Kelsall came to meet the Beechings whether through the fishing trade or
shipbuilding or however but after his marriage in 1868 the links grew as Thomas
and Sarah had 3 children in Yarmouth in the early 1870s, Martha, Thomas (Fred)
and Edith. The family appears to have moved to the Prestwich area of Manchester
by 1879 as Gertrude's birth was registered there in 1879. At the time of the
1881 Census the family was living at Springfield Bury New Road Prestwich not
far, apparently, from Wash Lane where John and Mary Kelsall were living with
their 9 children and 3 servants.
RootsWeb project
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=beechingpub&id=I0064
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Kelsall Brothers & Beeching, Ltd. (#1666, p. 117), a Hull-based fishing company,
as white with a red gamecock.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#82
Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
![[King Line houseflag]](../images/g/gb~kenn.gif)
image by
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 September 2010
The British shipping company W.S. Kennaugh & Co. flew a simple house flag, blue
with a yellow saltire, as seen in the image above from the on-line
1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels as no. 1191 ‘W.S. Kennaugh & Co., Liverpool’.
The name Kennaugh appears at
Whitehaven, a port in the N.W. of England opposite the Isle of Man, at the end
of the 19th century: managers of local ships, chandlers, sail and rope makers.
The firm was founded in 1905 and later moved to Liverpool.
A quote from a
short article (drawing of house flag) at
http://www.benjidog.co.uk/allen/index_files/Page5114.htm:
“They started
with steam coasters and built up a good reputation. The company’s ships were
named with a suffix of Force. (The word force means waterfall in the North of
England). The company was renowned for the care with which it maintained its
vessels and one of their vessels is reported as having survived for 82 years. At
one time Kennaugh had twenty steam ships, four deep-water sailing ships and
three managed ships. (…) In 1954 (three) Kennaugh ships were still operational
(…) The company ceased to exist in 1959.”
Jan Mertens, 17 November
2008
Their ships were all named after waterfalls in the North of England whose name
ended in "Force", which is the word for "waterfall" in the North, from Old Norse
"fors".
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 September 2010
![[King Line houseflag]](../images/g/gb~kill.gif)
image by
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
The King Line existed for
quite a long time as recounted by Alan Mallett, author of “Idyll of the Kings –
History of the King Line 1889-1979”:
Source:
http://worldshipsociety.org/publications/searchdetails.php?RecordNumber=202
“The King Line is well-known as the tramp and bulk-carrier arm of the
British and Commonwealth Group, but how many people know that it has a long
and interesting history which is closely bound up with the rise and fall of
that giant of shipping Lord Kylsant. 'Idyll of the Kings' includes much
fascinating historical material on both the King Line and its founder -- the
design and day to day management of its ships, the adoption of the diesel
engine in the 1920s and the economies this brought, the changes following
the resignation and later trial of Kylsant, and the Line's incorporation in
the British and Commonwealth Group.”
For 1920s read 1925 (moving away from steam); a further fact is the takeover
by Union-Castle in 1949. I do not know exactly how the firm came to its
end, if that is the right expression.
In any case Owen Phillips, founder of the company, became a shipping and
shipbuilding tycoon and was made Lord Kylsant. Under this name he became
notorious as he had used fraudulent means to financially bolster his
shipping empire.
A quote from the Red Duster site (http://www.red-duster.co.uk/GLEN3.htm):
“by 1929 he was experiencing financial problems. (…) Eventually the group
was unable to repay Government loans made available for the construction of
ships under the Trade Facilities Act.
In 1930 a Government enquiry recommended that the Kylsant Group should
negotiate with its bankers and raise funds to repay the loans but when, by
July of the same year, nothing was forthcoming Lord Kylsant was divested of
his powers and the group put into the hands of three Trustees. By 1931 the
Kylsant empire was bankrupt and the affairs of the group, which included
Union Castle Line, White Star Line, Elder, Dempster and both Glen and Shire
Lines had to be unravelled, a complicated but not impossible problem. Lord
Kylsant was found guilty of making fraudulent statements to attract working
capital.”
See also http://www.users.on.net/~snicol/story/index3.html
for remarks on Lord Kylsant, relevant for the family arms formed the
basis for the house flag. To begin with, see the augmented Phillips arms on the
first bookplate.
Compare with no. 1410 of the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels, third of
first row at
www.mysticseaport.org,
i.e. ‘King Line, Ltd. (Phillips, Phillips & Co., Ltd.), London’
and the clickable image (ca. 1951) shown by the
National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich:
“The house flag of King Line Ltd, London. A white swallow-tailed burgee
bearing a crest of a grey rampant lion, gorged with a ducal coronet and a
chain attached.”
As in Lloyds 1912, the lion seems to have an intermediate colour (or is
described as such) whereas
the picture on A. Mallett’s monograph is more satisfactory: black (sable)
lion, armed and langued gules. (This would have to be checked against a
blazon of the arms.) The torse or wreath has only one colour however and
there is also the regrettable Goldeneye…
Jan Mertens, 4 January 2006
![[Kingston Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfkst.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 4 May 2021
Kingston Steam Trawling Co., Ltd, a Hull-based fishing company, named its
trawlers for minerals, including "Turquoise", "Sapphire", "Siberite", "Diamond",
"Amber", "Mercury", "Chrysolithe", "Cornelian", "Alexandrite", "Ruby", "Aximite",
"Ceylonite", "Peridot", "Onyx", "Alalite", "Andalusite", "Garnet", "Emerald",
"Aquamarine", "Cyanite", "Hessonite", "Galena", "Topaz", "Almandine", "Euclase"
and "Beryl".
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the
house flag of Kingston Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. (#1818, p. 123) as red with
three white crowns placed vertically in the center, charged in the respective
corners with the white letters "K", "S", "T" and "C".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#88
The
three crowns come from the arms of Hull.
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021
![[William Kinnear & Co. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfwki.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 1 May 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of William
Kinnear & Co. (#1602, p. 113), a Dundee-based shipping company, as
swallow-tailed, blue, in the center, a white disc charged with a red "K".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#78
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021
![[Kirkcaldy, Fife & London Steamship Line houseflag]](../images/g/gb~kfsl.gif)
image
located by Ivan Sache,
21 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Kirkcaldy, Fife & London Steamship Line (Stocks, Turnbull & Co., Ltd.) (#66, p.
40) as white with a red cross cantonned by the blue letters "K", "F", "S" and
"L", and superimposed in the center with a blue shield inscribing a white "L".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#5
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021
![[J. & E. Kish houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfjek.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 29 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of J. & E.
Kish (#1158, p. 92), a Sunderland-based company, as white with a red "K".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#57
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021
![[J.P. Knight Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~jpk.gif)
image
by Jarig Bakker, 20 September 2005
J.P. Knight Ltd., Rochester - blue flag, white "K".
Source:
Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 20 September 2005
![[J.L. Knott houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfjlk.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 1 May 2021
James Knott was born on the 31st January 1855 at Howdon on Tyne. [...] James was
educated at the Scotch School in North Shields, which he left at the age of 14
to start work as a shipping clerk on Newcastle Quayside.
At the age of 19,
James started as a shipbroker. In 1878 he married Margaret Annie Garbutt and
acquired his first ship, a collier brig named ‘Pearl’ for £186. In 1881 he
purchased his first steam ship the ‘Saxon Prince’. By 1883 he added a further 8
steam ships and by 1886 owned a total of 17 and had purchased his first tanker.
James Knott set up the Prince Line Ltd in 1895. It became the third largest
shipping line in the world with 45 ships, many of them built in Tyne and Wear
shipyards, primarily by Short Bros. [...] James Knott had many other interests;
he owned coal mines, became a ship’s master, studied law, was called to the Bar
in 1889 and in 1910 served for a short time as MP for Sunderland.
In 1916
James Knott sold the Prince Line to Furness Withy & Co following the tragic loss
of two sons, Major James Leadbitter Knott DSO and Captain Henry Basil Knott,
both killed in action in the Great War. [...]
Sir James Knott died in 1934.
Sir James Knott Trust
http://www.knott-trust.co.uk/knott-family-history/
The Prince Line
page has to be corrected.
"Sir James Knott, the owner, had his three sons
killed during World War I".
As said above, James and Basil Knott were killed
during the First World War, but they were survived by their eldest brother.
Thomas Garbutt Knott inherited his father's title and died in 1949.
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of J.L.
Knott (#1524, p. 109), a Newcastle-based shipping company, as white, in the
center a crown.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#74
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021
![[Knotts Prince Line houseflag]](../images/g/gb~knprl.gif)
image by
Klaus-Michael Schneider,
18 June 2012
In the middle of the red flag was the emblem of the Prince of Wales in white with light blue lining.
Source: [el1897 - Elbe Flag Chart 1897 – part 9; “Gratis Beilage zu Deicken und Behrmann’s Neuen Monatsheften Neue Ausgabe Sommer 1897"]
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 May 2012
![[Knutsford Steamship Co., Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfknu.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 1 May 2021
Stoker opened an office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for the start of the Furness
Line's operations to North America and within two years the line was operating
ten ships on the North Atlantic. Stoker was asked to open an FW office in London
in 1890, by which time he owned a 3,500-ton tramp steamer named the Sydenham and
later the steamer Knutsford. Furness, Withy and Company was formed in 1891, with
Christopher Furness as chairman and Stoker as ship director. Stoker went to New
York in 1896 on behalf of FW to buy the Philadelphia Trans-Atlantic Line,
returning after six months.
On the formation of Manchester Liners Limited
(ML) in 1898, FW took a major shareholding in the new company and Stoker
resigned from FW's board to become ML's first managing director. [...] On the
death in 1912 of Lord Furness, as he had become, Stoker was elected as chairman
of ML, remaining in office until his death. [...]
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burdon_Stoker
Lloyd's Book of
House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Knutsford Steamship Co.,
Ltd. (R.B. Stoker) (#1546, p. 110), a Manchester-based shipping company, as red,
in the center a white square diamond charged with a red "S".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#75
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021
![[Kyle Shipping Co. Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~s0432.gif)
image
by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000
from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963
![[Kyle Transport Co. Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfkyl.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 22 March 2008
Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912)
shows the house flag of "Kyle Transport Co. Ltd. (W.N. Bicket & Co.)" (#65, p.
40), a company based in Liverpool, as red with a blue square diamond charged
with the white letter "K".
Ivan Sache, 22 March 2008
