![[Midland Railway Co. houseflag]](../images/g/gb$mlrw1.gif)
image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 19 February 2007
Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
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image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 19 February 2007
In the 1830s several companies were formed with the intention of building
railways in the Midlands. This included the Midland Counties (Nottingham to
Derby) North Midland Railway (Derby to Leeds), York & North Midland (York to
Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and Birmingham & Derby.
The chairman of the York & North
Midland, was George Hudson. In 1844 Hudson arranged for his own company to
amalgamate with Midland Counties, North Midland Railway and the Birmingham &
Derby. Hudson became chairman and leading shareowner of what was now known as
the Midland Railway. This was the first large scale amalgamation of several
small railway companies into one large company.
In 1845 George Hudson added
the Birmingham & Gloucester and the Bristol & Gloucester to the Midland Company.
Hudson's companies now controlled 1,016 miles of railway track and he obtained
the title, the Railway King. A survey that year revealed that Hudson had
£319,835 invested in railway shares.
Spartcus Educational
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RAmidland.htm
The Midland
Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when
it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
The Midland
Railway had a large network of lines centred on the East Midlands, with its
headquarters based in Derby. Initially connecting Leeds with London (St Pancras)
via the East Midlands by what is now the Midland Main Line, it went on to
connect the East Midlands with Birmingham and Bristol, and with York and
Manchester. It was the only pre-grouping railway to own or share lines in
England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, becoming the third largest railway
undertaking in the British Isles (after the Great Western and the London & North
Western), the largest coal haulier, the largest British railway to have its
headquarters outside London, and (after the Great Central railway moved its HQ
to London in 1907) the only railway serving London not to have its headquarters
there and the only Midlands-based railway directly serving Southern England and
South Wales.
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Railway
The first railway to
reach the a port on the North West coast of England was the the Furness Railway
at Barrow on Furness. Railway companies were not empowered to run shipping
services at this stage, so the Barrow Steam Navigation Co was formed to start
service from Barrow to Belfast. Both the Midland Railway and the Furness Railway
had interests in the Barrow SN. In 1904, the Midland Railway's purpose-built
port at Heysham was opened, with direct rail connection. Four new steamers were
built to open services to Belfast and Douglas (Isle of Man). In 1907, the Barrow
SN was taken over by the Midland Railway, and the City of Belfast and Duchess of
Devonshire joined the fleet, mainly used as relief and summer extra vessels. The
Midland Railway became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in
1923, who concentrated Belfast services on Heysham, closing the ex-Lancashire &
Yorkshire route from Fleetwood.
Simplon
http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/LMS_MR.html
Lloyd's Book of House Flags
and Funnels (1912) shows the same flag, but not swallow-tailed, for Midland
Railway Co., Heysham Steamers (#1706, p. 118).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#83
Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
![[Milburn, Lund & Co. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfmlc.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 30 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Milburn,
Lund & Co. (#1340, p. 100), a Whitby-based company, as blue with the white
letters "M" (top left), "L" (top right). "&" (bottom left), and "Co" (bottom
right).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#65
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021
![[Milford Haven Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfmhs.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 27 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Milford Haven Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. (#814, p. 75), as red with two horizontal
blue stripes. The house flag also carried the initials of the vessel's name.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/40/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021
![[W.S. Miller & Company houseflag]](../images/g/gb~wsm.gif)
image
by Ivan
Sache, 21 April 2021
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]
W.S. Miller & Company, Glasgow - white flag, blue contoured rectangle charged
with a blue anchor on top of blue letters "W.S.M & Co".
Jarig Bakker, 15 January 2005
Formed in Glasgow in 1892 with the purchase of second hand tramps, the company
traded as W. S. Miller & Co until 1903 [but is still listed under this name in
Lloyd's 1912] when he transferred his ships to the newly formed Ellaston SS Co.
Eleven ships were lost to enemy action during the Great War and in 1918 the
company owned only three ships. Four new ships were delivered in the 1920s and
at the outbreak of WWII the fleet consisted of these four vessels. The owners of
the Miller company retired from shipowning in 1940 and the ships were sold.
http://www.mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=Scottish&page_name=W.+S.+Miller+%26+Co
Mariners L
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the
same house flag (#126, p. 42),
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#7
Ivan
Sache, 21 April 2021
![[Miller & Richards houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfmri.gif)
image
by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Miller & Richards (#600, p. 65), a Glasgow-based company, as horizontally
divided blue-white-blue with the red letters "M.R." in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/30/
Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021
![[John Milligen & Co., Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~s0179.gif)
image
by Ivan Sache,
21 April 2021
from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963
Thomas Milligen was born in Ireland in 1828 but moved to Scotland. He was a
harbour pilot. Troon harbour had been developed by the Duke of Portland for the
export of coal produced in the pits around Kilmarnock - mainly to Ireland; it
was just a short crossing from Troon to Belfast.
His son John Milligen, born
in 1855, in 1887 purchased the old collier "Black Diamond" from Adam and James
Wood of Troon. He also placed an order with Workman Clark & Co. of Belfast for
his next collier "Kathleen" (1887) - the first of two vessels he would order
bearing this name. "Black Diamond" was sold on in 1888 and eventually foundered
in 1892 carrying coal for her last owner Howden Brothers of Larne.
John
Milligen took delivery of "Eveleen" in 1891. He may have chartered ships for his
coal business between 1889 and 1891. It may be significant that in 1897 the
ownership of this vessel changed from J. Milligen to J. Milligen & Co Ltd -
possibly the start of expansion of the business. "Eveleen" served the company
well but was lost with all hands towards the end of WW1. There is conjecture
that she was sunk by a German submarine but this cannot be confirmed.
"Kathleen" (1902), the second ship of this name was ordered from the Ailsa
Shipbuilding Company of Troon by the company rather than John Milligen himself
as were the vessels to follow. This ship served the company until 1940 and must
have been extremely well-built as she carried on working under later owners
until being scrapped in 1956.
The end of WW1 marked an expansion for the
company with the order of three ships for delivery in 1919/1920 - "Brideen", "Eveleen"
(1920), and "Monaleen".
John Milligen & Co Ltd. had premises at Abercorn
Basin in Belfast near Harland & Wolff where coal deliveries from Scotland
arrived, and offices in Belfast. They also owned a large number of railway
wagons for coal distribution. Although a small business compared with John Kelly
Ltd, the growth of Belfast had provided a huge demand for coal - and there were
other companies in the coal business as well.
John Milligen died in 1947.
John Kelly Ltd. acquired a majority shareholding in John Milligen & Co when John
died and in 1963 acquired the remainder of the shares. For a while the Milligen
company operated as a subsidiary of John Kelly Ltd with the last Milligen vessel
"Ballyhaft" - delivered in 1955.
The ownership of "Ballyhaft" changed to John
Kelly Ltd in 1965 marking the end of the Milligen name in shipping.
https://www.benjidog.co.uk/Milligen/history.html
Benjidog Historical
Research Resources
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows
the same house flag (#72, p. 40).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#5
Ivan Sache,
21 April 2021
![[George Milne and Co. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~gmila.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache
W. Montgomery & Co., Ltd., London. The flag is red with a white rectangle
charged with a M (blue).
Based on
The Mystic Seaport Foundation
Ivan Sache, 1 February 2004
![[James Mitchell & Sons houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfjmw.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
Banks & Mitchell was founded in 1859 by Alexander Mills Banks and James
Mitchell, shipbrokers, ships' chandlers and ship agents. Banks left in 1874 and
James Mitchell continued the business - joined in 1897 by two of his sons, John
Miller Mitchell and James Mitchell Jnr.
James Mitchell's obituary (Dundee
Courier, 26 April 1911) read “One of the best-known business men of Dundee has
gone. Mr Mitchell had reached the advanced age of 80 years, this giving him the
distinction of being the oldest shipowner in the city. He came from seafaring
stock, his father having owned and commanded one of the old Baltic schooners. In
Australia he lived under canvas at the goldfields, where he was successful. He
then returned to Dundee. One the way home he sailed by way of Cape Horn, and as
he went to Australia round the Cape of Good Hope, he had thus sailed round the
world. His first office was on the same site as his present premises. He became
the owner of a number of large steam vessels, and was also largely interested in
the whaling industry. A number of years ago his two sons, Mr J.M. Hunter
Mitchell and Mr James Mitchell, were received into partnership, and the business
is now one of the most prosperous in the city. Than that of Mr Mitchell there
was no figure better known on the streets of Dundee, and by all who knew him he
was highly esteemed."
McManus 168
https://mcmanus168.org.uk/mcmanus168entry/banks-mitchell/
Lloyd's
Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of whalers operated
by James Mitchell & Sons (#1644, p. 115) as red with a blue whale's tail.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#80
![[James Mitchell & Sons houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfjmi.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912)
shows the house flag of steamers operated by James Mitchell & Sons (#1786, p.
122) as white with a red saltire, superimposed in the center by a blue "M".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#80
Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
