The Peninsular &
Oriental Steam Navigation Company -
P & O
In
1815 Brodie McGhie Willcox, a Shetlander with no social advantages, opened a shipbroking office in Lime Street, London. His clerk was
Arthur Anderson. By 1822 the two were partners in a concern unsurprisingly
named Willcox and Anderson. During a prolonged
uprising against the Portuguese monarchy, this small company supported the
royalists by running guns between 1824 and 1826 in a schooner. The rebellion
having been put down in 1833 normal trading was resumed, with Willcox and Anderson receiving the blessing of royalty.
Short voyage steamships were chartered from the Dublin and London Steam Packet
Company. After further political problems in Spain, which subsided in 1835, the
Dublin and London S.P. Co. were encouraged into starting a regular steamship
mail service: which Willcox and Anderson ran for
them. These two men had already been trying to put such a service together and
with building of better suited vessels in 1836, they officially became the
Peninsular Steam Navigation Company about a year later. At this time they also
operated in the Mediterranean as far as Malta and Alexandria.
By
this time, the once commercially mighty ‘Honourable’
East India Company was in a financially straightened position. Having lost
its monopolies and heavily involved in the administration of vast areas of
territory as a something of a proxy government for the Crown, it had become far
from capable at fighting off efficient ‘interlopers’. So, gaining both from
others’ commercially unsuccessful experiments in steamer services and also a
mail contract to Calcutta in 1839, there was large-scale capital investment in
appropriate steamers and a name change to the Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Co.
Ltd. to reflect their enlarged activities in 1840.
Further
potentially lucrative mail contracts followed, including the Ceylon to Penang,
Singapore and Hong Kong route in 1844. Five years later Shanghai became a
feeder for Hong Kong. In 1852-53 a route to Australia followed. Not that it was
all plain sailing. There was still competition from the East India Company and
also shortages of coal in the early 1850s created major problems. As well as
mail contracts, there was other government work in the form of trooping for the
Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. In 1864 a run from Shanghai to Yokohama was
begun. By 1871 the Suez Canal brought further problems, rendering most of their
vessels out of date. In response new vessels began to be built from 1873
onwards.
There
had been further wartime trooping for the Egyptian adventure of 1882. All this
experience may well have put them in good stead in government circles. Due to
naval trooping vessels being scrapped, P & O vessels were chartered for the
annual moves during the 1890s and this became a regular task Of course, P &
O also attracted their share of trooping work during the Second Anglo-Boer War
1899-1902. Increasing their market share, the assets and goodwill of the Blue
Anchor Line were acquired in 1910, with further entry into Australia from South
Africa. The summer of 1914 brought take over of the
British India S.N. Co. Ltd., which they previously enjoyed good business
relations with. (Corporate histories tend to call this an amalgamation, but
while this looks to genuinely have been the case, nevertheless, the new board
had twelve old P & O directors, to B.I.s eight.) Anyway, British India’s
trading patterns acted as feeders for P&O.
War
or not, in 1916 there was the acquisition of the New Zealand Shipping Co and
the Federal S.N. Co. The next year, at a time when many companies ceased to
exist, the Union Steamship Company of N.Z., the Nourse
Line and the Hain S.S. Co. followed into P & O.
In 1919 the Khedivial Mail Line was bought (but ditched five years later).
Also, in the same year a large, but minority, share holding of the Orient Line
was acquired. A North Sea short trading arm was added in 1920 with the
acquisition of the General Steam Navigation Co. Fifteen years later brought the
Moss-Hutchison Line into the group.
Nevertheless,
the group had had its share of both war and peacetime tribulations. Even if
wartime losses had been made up by government compensation there was still the not insignificant problems in rebuilding lost
business. After the Second World War there was the added complexity of air
travel as increasingly serious competition.
In
1958 there was a short-lived name change for the passenger liner operations,
followed two years by another: to the P & O and Orient Lines (Passenger
Services) Ltd. In 1965 the group finally got full control of the Orient Line
and a year later the company became P & O, dropping the ‘Orient’ name. The
group continues to trade, but the ‘great’ liners have now gone.
This
is a commercial entity that has attracted a number of corporate histories.
Among these are Duncan Haws: Merchant
Fleets in Profile - The Ships of the P&O, Orient and Blue Anchor Lines (Cambridge: Patrick
Stephens, 1978); David and Stephen Howarth: The Story of P&O (London: Weidenfeld
and Nicholson, 1994); and Boyd Cable: A
Hundred year History of the P.&O. - Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company (London: Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1937).
The
company records loaned to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich are
voluminous, but those of interest genealogically are ledgers containing details
of employees. Originally these would have been complex. Primarily individual’s
full company records would have been retained onboard vessels presently served
on, but there was obviously correspondence with company offices ashore, such as
at Bombay. It also appears likely that these company offices were responsible
for relaying salient information to London, where ‘service sheets’ were made
up. It is these latter documents which have survived.
These
are large, heavy ledgers, similar to those used both by the Board of Trade and
Lloyd’s (of London). Some entries of ‘good company men’, can give immense
amounts of information and if more than one page is used these are cross referenced,
mostly in red, but sometimes in the normal black ink. Shorter entries often
reflect the company rejecting individuals, though almost as frequently it seems
that it was the individuals’ choice not to remain with the company. Also, with
past merchant shipping legislation making this mandatory in crew-lists and
agreements, although officers were not included in this, the company also
reported these internally for ratings. However, they also added another
category of report of potential interest to genealogists - sobriety.
One
seemingly almost complete element deals with seamen officers, pursers and
surgeons: from 1847 until 1957. These were written up according to year of
joining the company and even though each volume is internally indexed, it is beneficial
to know the earliest date of employment. In practical terms, if one knows that
an individual worked for P & O, the ownership of each vessel served on
should be identified: in order to avoid time and effort expended needlessly.
When found, however, the standard of information recorded is normally well
worth the search. As well as dates and billets held, there are often other
highly interesting pieces of information that may give real detail as to
individuals’ relationship with the company, or of course, human weaknesses.
However, it should be noted that a seemingly small number of seamen officers
that definitely served with P & O are not
to be found in these registers.
The
engineers’ registers too appear to be largely complete, covering from 1845 until
1949 with two supplementary registers reaching 1957. In the one case that I
have found of an individual missing, this was because he had been dockyard
staff, signed on as 3rd engineer and died within a few voyages
onboard. Anyway, these registers follow the same format as for seamen officers.
However, it should be noted that these ledgers also contain details of
artisans, such as boilermakers, plumbers, foremen coppersmiths and
brass-finishers, as well as apprentices. There was even one apparently unusual
case of a fireman being promoted to boilermaker.
Both
from a genealogical and sociological viewpoint the ‘stewards’ registers are
also an important body of documentation, though these are less complete and
there are major problems with them. They cover years of joining from the early
1890s through to 1944. However, there are gaps between 1903 to 1906, 1916 to
1920, and 1940 to 1943. Also the indexes were not part of the registers
themselves and apparently only two of these have survived: from the 1890s. So,
looking for one individual can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Nevertheless, if found the standard of information can again be very high.
Also, it should also be noted that it was not just ‘stewards’ who were recorded
in these registers. As well as a bewildering variety of stewards’ rates of the
more readily identifiable sort, such as ‘general’ stewards and a small number
of stewardesses, there were others dealing (separately) with linen, laundry and
baggage. Some stewards were also entered as musicians - pianists and violinists
are mentioned. And, many others were noted here. These included cooks,
butchers, bakers (and their mates); officers’ servants (attached to individual
departments such as engineering); waiters; storekeepers and writers.
There
are also two registers from the ‘Deck’ department. Although seamen formed a
much smaller element of crew than either engine-room staff, or those under the
Purser, it is possible that much is missing. The first is entitled ‘Petty
Officers’ and Seamen’s Register’, written up from men engaging on P&O
vessels from 1921 to 1929. Although there are entries from as early as the
1890s, there are few of these. Curiously, it may be that keeping seamen’s
ledgers was peculiar to the 1920s. There are a number of entries where because
of accident or enemy action, earlier details of individuals’ time with the
company are reported as either not known, or imprecise. As well as seamen, both
A.B.s and those rated as Petty Officer (quartermasters, boatswains and baggage
masters), there others are also recorded in this
register who must have been rated as P.O.s by the company. There are the
miscellaneous, such as ‘wireless watchers’ (more commonly rated as wireless
operators, or later radio officers) and Hospital Attendants. However, there
were also artisans as well - carpenters, shipwright joiners, joiners and
plumbers.
The
second ‘deck’ register records P.O.s for the ten year period from June 1939 to
1949. A card index system replaced these registers, but none of these are
available, if indeed they are still in existence.
If
there were any registers for firemen, trimmers, greasers and donkeymen then these have not apparently survived. However,
it may have been that there was no particular reason for keeping such registers,
at least of firemen and trimmers: other than for ‘disciplinary’ reasons.
The
following give an idea of information for each type of register mentioned
above:-
Example of a Seaman officer’s service with P & O
Two examples of Engineering Officers’ service with
P & O
Two examples of individuals in P & O’s
‘Stewards’ registers
One example each from P & O’s two ‘Deck’
registers
Go to the British India S.N. Co Ltd. main page
Go to the Orient S.N. Co. Ltd. main page