P Henderson & Company

P Henderson & Company, also known as Paddy Henderson, was a ship owning and management company based in Glasgow, Scotland and operating to Burma. Patrick Henderson started business in Glasgow as a merchant at the age of 25 in 1834. He had three brothers - two were merchants working for an agent in the Italian port of Leghorn (now known as Livorno); and the third was a sea-captain with his own boat.

The brothers together invested in the first boat - the “Peter Senn“ and the business grew from there. Patrick died in 1841, and the business was taken over by his brother George, the sea-captain.

In 1848, George took into partnership a young man of outstanding abilities, James Galbraith, who expanded the business from merchants, to ship owners and ship managers.

The Company started trading to New Zealand (NZ) in 1854 with sailing ships taking Scottish Emigrants, and the Royal Mail, out to the new world.

In 1860, there being little cargo home to Scotland from NZ, P Henderson & Co started to call at Burma with a regular service, this trade grew so fast that in order to obtain further capital, several new partners came in to form the Albion Shipping Company Ltd as ship owners, the vessels being managed by P. Henderson & Co.

The Albion Shipping Company became the dominant British company in the New Zealand Trade, and holders of the mail contract.1869 saw the opening of the Suez Canal making coal more economic on the Glasgow to Burma route, and in 1870 P. Henderson & Co. started a steamboat service between Glasgow, Liverpool and Burma. No mail contract was available on this route as all mail went via India.

In 1874, The British and Burmese Steam Navigation Company Ltd, was formed to increase the capital and spread the risk of the Burmese side of the business as it grew from the era of sailing ships into more expensive and much larger steam ships. BBSN took over the fleet of steamers on the Burma run. P. Henderson and Co were appointed as Managing Agents. Most of the shares in the new company were taken up by P Henderson partners and their associates. Ship’s Masters were encouraged to take shares. Peter Denny took about a fifth of the capital.

1882 saw P. Henderson and Co. pioneer the first frozen meat shipment from New Zealand to London - still in sailing ships as the distance involved was too far for coal-fired vessels - the coal required for such a long trip took up too much valuable cargo space, and there were as yet no bunkering facilities.

However the new technologies opened up immediate trading possibilities and capital requirements that were beyond the capabilities of P. Henderson or the Albion Shipping Company to fulfil on their own, and so in 1882, the Albion Shipping Company amalgamated with Shaw Savill Line to form The Shaw, Savill & Albion Company Ltd. Following the amalgamation, P. Henderson & Co remained as Managers and loading Brokers for the new company in Glasgow.

James Galbraith, the driving force of P. Henderson & Company, died in 1884. His death marked the end of an era of private capital, of pioneering and of expansion into unknown countries and technologies.

P. Henderson & Company remained to the forefront of Glasgow Shipping and Ship Management Companies well into the 1960s. In 1965 Ocean Steamship Co acquired control of the companies. During the Six Day War the Suez Canal was closed which subsequenly led to the Burmese route stopping. By 1970 all stock had been transferred to Elder Dempster and the Henderson name vanished from the shipping industry.

ee also

* Irrawaddy Flotilla Company

References

* [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/burma.htm The Ships List]
* [http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=AAA0251 P. Henderson & Co House Flag]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=B11425 National Archives Listing]