Uncatalogued: Bolton Steam Shipping Company Archive

NB: PLEASE CONTACT ARCHIVE STAFF FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ORDERING FROM THIS COLLECTION.Collection is held offsite and presently uncatalogued. Some records are to be closed in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

Loose items forming part of the Bolton Steam Shipping Company Archive, including two boxes

1. Ships' voyages and accounts, 1904-1945, 9 volumes. Includes ships requisitioned for service during WWII; accounts of voyages with details of freight (wheat, rye, barley etc.)

2. Steamer Ledgers, 1921-1956, 11 volumes. Monies paid to captains and crew, for sundry items, insurance.

3. Advances and Allotments, 1921-1955, 2 volumes. Payments made to crew.

4. Voyage Statistics, 1890s-1940s, 7 volumes. Volumes organised by ships' names; records port sailed to, cargo carried, port charges.

5. Officers and Apprentices Registers, 1921-1946, 2 volumes. Officers' and apprentices' career details with comments.

6. Results of voyages, 1946-1982, 3 volumes. Accounts of completed voyages. Volume 3 unfit for production.

7. Company service records, 1960s-1970s, 4 volumes.

8. Private Ledgers, 1949-1955, 2 volumes. Expenses, investment details, employee expense account. Includes money for old rope.

9. Officers and Personnel Records, 1885-1910, 1 volume. Records service with the company.

10. Officers who left the Company 1960 and before, 1963 and before, 2 volumes. Records of service.

11. Marine Underwriting Ledger, c.1850s-c.1900s, 1 volume.

12. Letter Copybooks, 1882-1914, 3 volumes. Copies of correspondence sent by Frederick Bolton.

13.
i. Papers regarding the liquidation of the Company, 1918-1919. Indentures regarding the sale of ships up to 1960; accounts; letter to shareholders; list of shareholders; sale papers.

ii. Company Accounts, 1902, 1917, 1922-25, 1928, 1930-31, 1933-35.

iii. Insurance documents, 1882-1918.

iv. Ships building contracts, 1898, 1902, 1928.

v. Annual reports of the Mercantile Steamship Company, 1896-1914.

vi. Annual reports of the Shakespear Shipping Company Ltd, 1898-1940.

vii. Marine Underwriting Ledger, 1874 to c.1929, 2 small volumes.

viii. Notebook, notes regarding the Company's ships, n.d.

ix. Notebooks, brief notes on voyages made by ships, 2 small volumes, n.d.

x. Ships specifications, n.d., 3 small volumes.

xi. File of company history papers

xii. File regarding company ships and other property

Administrative / biographical background
In 1921 Bolton’s second son, Louis Hamilton Bolton, revived the company purchasing three second-hand ships and ordering a new one. Between 1929 and 1932 the second-hand ships were replaced with new ones. At the start of World War II, the company owned three ships with two more on order. Two ships were lost in 1942 and the company ended the war with three vessels. At some point, the company acquired a financial stake in the Mercantile Shipping Company and sole ownership of the Shakespear[?e] Shipping Company. L.H. Bolton died in 1953 and Frederick Bolton (Lady Bolton’s husband) became chairman of the company. In 1954 the company expanded with a part-ownership venture in the North Yorkshire Shipping Company; all the share capital in this venture was acquired by 1963. In 1971, when the company’s records were surveyed by Mathias and Pearsall, the company owned seven ships, the largest a bulk carrier of 27,000 tons deadweight. The company’s offices were in London but their activities extended to a part-ownership venture in the North Yorkshire Shipping Company, financial interests in the Mercantile Shipping Company and sole ownership of the Shakespear Shipping Company. The company traded internationally from ports in Europe to Africa and the Middle and Far East. The collection demonstrate the company’s fortunes during both World Wars.