Hughes Bolckow

Hughes Bolckow
Formerly	Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company, Ltd; Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co., Limited;
Industry	Ship breaking
Headquarters	Blyth, Northumberland, England
Services	Scrap recycling
Parent	Metal Industries Group subsidiary

Hughes Bolckow formerly Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co., Limited was a well-known shipbreaking company based in Blyth, Northumberland.

Background

Intending to create an industrial park for dismantling obsolete warships in 1911, the company leased 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land from Lord Ridley and the Blyth Harbour Commissioners.^[1]

The company was responsible for scrapping a number of famous Royal Navy ships including HMS Britannia (previously HMS Prince of Wales).^[2] Their first ship was the former Certified Industrial Training Ship, HMS Southampton, which was sent to Blyth in June 1912 to be broken up.^[3] In response to requests from customers, the company created a series of "choice Antiques" from the fine old seasoned timber they possessed from Britannia.^[4] The company even had a Ship Timber Department that would create articles manufactured from teakwood taken from obsolete battleships and preserved in "Solignum."^[5]

During World War I, Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co. Limited experimented with employing women in jobs that were traditionally reserved for men.^[6] By 1916 13% of the workforce were women; the UK Ministry of Labour approved the work provided the women did not have to lift a sledgehammer weighing more than 5 pounds (2.3 kg).^[6]

In 1921, the company acquired four huge concrete hangars at the Marske-by-the-Sea Aerodrome in North Yorkshire. The hangars also had an attached 30 acres (12 ha) of land that the company announced would be used to store and to dispose of material purchased by the company from dumps in France.^[7]

Over the course of its existence the company bought up a number of other companies such as the Worth, Mackenzie ft Company, Limited, which was purchased in 1935.^[8] By 1952 it had become a subsidiary of Metal Industries, Limited and was listed on their books.^[9] In 1960 The Hughes Bolchow Shipbreaking Co., Ltd., of Blyth changed its name to Hughes Bolckow Ltd. so as to serve notice that, although its main activity was still shipbreaking, the company was branching out.^[10]

They also scrapped locomotives en masse during the 1960s,^[11] one locomotive purchased from this area being NER Class T2 (BR Class Q6) No. 63395, which has been preserved.^[12]^[13]

Bibliography

Notes

^ Mechanical World and Metal Trades Journal 1911, p. 131
^ The Daily Telegraph 1915, p. 11
^ "• View topic - Southampton - 1820".
^ Studio International Art 1918, p. v
^ The Timber Trades Journal and Saw-mill Advertiser 1913, p. 613
^ ^a ^b Woollacott 1994, pp. 31–32
^ Spooner 1921, p. 68
^ Institute of British Foundrymen, Welsh Engineers' and Founders' Association & Foundry Trades' Equipment & Supplies Association 1935, p. 116
^ The Times 1952, p. 7
^ Shipping World 1960
^ "Rail UK Locomotive Scrapyard". www.railuk.info. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
^ Hunt, John. "Ultimate Survivor How NELPG saved Q6 No. 63395". Press Reader. Steam Railway. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
^ "63395 (NER 2238, LNER 3395 & BR 63395)". Preserved British Steam Locomotives. WordPress.com. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2020.

References

Institute of British Foundrymen, Welsh Engineers' and Founders' Association; Foundry Trades' Equipment & Supplies Association (1935). "Hughes Bolckow". The Foundry Trade Journal. 52. Institute of Cast Metals Engineers.
The Daily Telegraph (15 February 1915). "H.M.S. Britannia – The Passing of an Historic Ship". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
Mechanical World and Metal Trades Journal (1911). "Mechanical World". Mechanical World and Metal Trades Journal. 50.
Shipping World (1960). "Shipping World". Shipping World. 142.
Spooner, Stanley (January 1921). "Marske by the sea Aerodrome Acquired". Flight – the Aircraft Engineer & Airships. XIII (631). Royal Aero Club of The United Kingdom. ISSN 0015-3710. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
Studio International Art (1918). "Antiques". Studio International Art. 75–76. National Magazine Company.
Woollacott, Angela (1994). On Her Their Lives Depend: Munitions Workers in the Great War. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520914650. - Total pages: 241
The Timber Trades Journal and Saw-mill Advertiser (1913). "The Timber Trades Journal and Saw-mill Advertiser". The Timber Trades Journal and Saw-mill Advertiser. 74 (1936–1948). W. Rider & son.
The Times (4 September 1952). "The Times". The Times. London, UK. ISSN 0140-0460.