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British shipping companies (M)

Midland Railway Co.
Milburn, Lund & Co.
Milford Haven Steam Trawling Co., Ltd.
W.S. Miller & Company
Miller & Richards
John Milligen & Co., Ltd.
George Milne and Co. (Inver Line)
James Mitchell & Sons

See also:

Midland Railway Co.

Heysham Steamers

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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. (Inver Line)

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

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

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

British Shipping lines: continued