36-412: (Redirected from Sir John Ellerman ) John Ellerman may refer to: Sir John Ellerman, 1st Baronet (1862–1933), English shipowner and investor Sir John Ellerman, 2nd Baronet (1909–1973), English shipowner, natural historian and philanthropist [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with
72-666: A baronet with a fortune of £37 million in 1933. By 1939 and the outbreak of the Second World War the fleet had been successfully rebuilt and expanded, to the extent that the Ellerman groups owned a total 105 ships with a combined capacity of 920,000 tons. This made Ellerman's one of the biggest fleets in the World. Its ships were in four classes: mixed cargo and passenger ships; cargo ships with limited passenger accommodation; pure cargo ships; and short sea traders for service in
108-649: A major shipping firm meant that a large portion of its fleet was requisitioned by the British Government on the outbreak of the First World War , for use as troop ships , munitions carriers, or for conversion into armed merchant cruisers to augment the Royal Navy . Ellerman continued to operate a skeletal service with its remaining ships, and in 1916 Ellerman personally bought Wilson Line of Hull , bringing 67 short-sea vessels into service with
144-505: A total cargo capacity of 600,000 to 750,000 tons, were destroyed. These included the liner City of Athens mined off Cape Town in Aug. 1917. City of Winchester (1914) was the first merchant vessel to be destroyed in the war, being captured by the German cruiser Königsberg , while homeward bound from India with a very valuable cargo of produce. Another liner belonging to the Ellerman fleets
180-565: Is that from the early 1890s he lived with a woman called Hannah Glover, and had a daughter by her in 1894, but did not marry her until 1908, the year before the birth of his only son, who was also called John Ellerman . Ellerman was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 1921 New Year Honours . He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery . Ellerman's daughter Annie Winifred Glover , later Annie Winifred Ellerman,
216-738: The Financial Times , the Daily Mail , The Times , the Illustrated London News , Tatler , The Sphere and other publications at various times. He sold most of his press interests in the 1920s. Another field in which Ellerman was a major player was coal. In the 1920s he held shares in at least 22 collieries. After the First World War he also became a major owner of property in London. Aristocrats such as
252-479: The Boer War , but he could readily have obtained a higher honour if he had wanted one. His lifestyle was not ostentatious. In 1916, he stated that he was worth £55 million (equivalent to £4,710,340,000 in 2023). This may well have been correct, as he had no reputation for self-aggrandisement. The following year, a journalist estimated that his shipping interests alone were worth £35 million. At this time,
288-577: The Duke of Bedford , Lord Howard de Walden and Earl Cadogan were increasingly selling off slices of the freehold West End estates which had been in their families for centuries and Ellerman was often the buyer. Ellerman had little interest in public recognition. He was created a baronet of Connaught Square in the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington on 11 December 1905 in appreciation of his contribution to British shipping needs during
324-542: The Duke of Westminster was generally reckoned to be the second-richest man in the United Kingdom, with a fortune of around £14 million. When Ellerman died in 1933, his estate was assessed for probate in 1936 at £36,684,994 13s. 5d . (equivalent to £3,148,460,000 in 2023). The previous record was £13.5 million left by Lord Iveagh of the Guinness Brewery in 1927. Ellerman had negotiated
360-583: The Great Depression skillfully, but his wealth at death must have been well below its 1920s peak. Ellerman lived a secretive life in Mayfair and Eastbourne . Although he did purchase New Slains Castle in Scotland in 1916, he subsequently dismantled it and removed its roof to avoid roof tax, leaving it a ruin by 1925. He made no attempt to join high society or enter politics. One possible reason
396-610: The International Mercantile Marine Co. Ellerman, however, immediately began to buy other shipping lines, and in 1902 he combined his interests into Ellerman Lines . He continued to expand the business, making inroads into the South African, Atlantic and Indian routes while buying rival lines on a regular basis. In 1916 he paid £4.1 million (equivalent to £351,130,000 in 2023) for Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. of Hull, which had once been
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#1732782864725432-616: The near East and North America , which in 1914 was renamed Ellerman & Bucknall Steamship Co. The Ellerman group of companies now occupied a dominating position in the Mediterranean and Near East. By 1914, the Ellerman group controlled four subsidiary companies: Ellerman City Line; Ellerman and Bucknall Steamship Company; Ellerman and Papayanni Lines; and Hall Line (though the City and Hall line were often referred to as one — Ellerman City & Hall Lines ). Ellerman's position as
468-520: The Ellerman Group lost 60 ships out of its fleet of 105. As with the period after the losses of the First World War, a new building programme was undertaken. A new policy meant the building of fast steam cargo liners that carried no more than a dozen passengers in considerable comfort. Crew accommodation was likewise improved. The focus was on re-building their international trade routes and to this end they purchased outright 12 cargo ships from
504-569: The Government which they had managed in the war. By 1952, 25 of these new style 12-passenger ships had entered service, making for a total of 45 new vessels since the war, and with a further 14 for use on the Portuguese trade routes and Mediterranean services. By 1953 Ellerman's fleet had been almost completely rebuilt, consisting of a total of 94 ships with a carrying capacity of 900,000 tons. In 1967, as containerisation began to rationalise
540-530: The Mediterranean. Many of these ships were subsequently requisition by the UK Government, whilst others were kept as cargo vessels to transport supplies to the United Kingdom. Losses in the war were heavy, particularly to Germany's U-boat fleet. 41 ships were sunk by submarines including the loss of City of Benares , seven by air attacks, three by mines and one by a surface raider . In total,
576-580: The World's shipping services, Ellerman Lines (excluding the Wilson operation) controlled 59 oceangoing vessels. Trading was however becoming more difficult with newly independent nations, such as India , setting up their own shipping companies. The nature of shipping was also changing, with the advent of containerisation . In 1966 Ellerman Lines joined the Associated Container Transportation (ACT) Group consortium and started
612-462: The age of fourteen, when he was articled to a Birmingham chartered accountant . After passing his articles he moved to London, where he turned down a partnership in one of the leading firms of the day to found his own practice, J. Ellerman & Co, in the City of London in 1886. He was one of the first important British businessmen with a professional qualification in accountancy. He was also one of
648-473: The chairman, but Ellerman had taken on the role of chairman himself by 1893. The company expanded in 1900 by acquiring 20 ships from the West India and Pacific Steamship Company. The firm was then reorganised as Frederick Leyland (1900), and operated with a capital of £2,800,000. In 1901 the company was bought by J. P. Morgan 's International Marine Mercantile Company, but Ellerman remained as chairman, and
684-475: The company. The Wilson operation was renamed Ellerman's Wilson Line and traded as a separate entity with its own distinctive livery of red funnel with a black top and most of the vessels had dark green hulls. This was a complete contrast to the buff funnels with a black top and white dividing line used by the grey hulled Ellerman Lines' vessels. "Heavy losses were suffered by the various companies controlled by Sir John Ellerman. In all, 103 ocean vessels, with
720-399: The crippled vessel could reach Bombay under her own steam. The passengers reembarked and the vessel safely arrived in port." Ellerman Lines sought to restore a pre-war level of service after the end of the war. This involved obtaining several German liners as well as placing orders for new ships. Before long the old networks of passenger and cargo services had been restored. John Ellerman died
756-421: The entire French merchant navy . Ellerman far surpassed his rivals in shipping; through his shrewd decision-making, assets flourished under his management. At the same time Ellerman expanded his brewing interests and by 1918 he held shares in more than seventy breweries. In many cases he improved the financial performance of these businesses rapidly. From around 1904 he also invested in newspapers, owning stakes in
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#1732782864725792-504: The first businessmen to use modern accounting methods to identify under-priced companies that should be well suited for takeover. From 1890, Ellerman began to create major business groups by buying up established businesses, typically ones which had a good product but were in managerial decline after the death of the founder. Most of these businesses flourished under his management. He raised funds from other investors where necessary, but held large stakes personally. The first of these groups
828-407: The largest privately owned shipping line in the world . The newly acquired company was renamed Ellerman's Wilson Line and it operated as a separate entity from the other Ellerman Lines, maintaining the red funnels with black tops of Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. with most of their vessels having very distinctive dark green hulls. By 1917, Ellerman owned 1.5 million tons of shipping, equivalent to
864-473: The late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late 19th century, and continued to expand by acquiring smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping firms in the World. Setbacks occurred through heavy losses to its merchant fleet in the First and Second World Wars but were overcome in each case. The company suffered from competition and modernising trends in
900-474: The name was changed to Ellerman Lines. The company had its head offices in Liverpool and Glasgow , with a subsidiary office in London. Further acquisitions followed. In 1904–05 the company bought McGregor, Gow and Co of Liverpool, which was known as Glen Line. In 1908 the company bought the financially troubled Bucknall Steamship Lines who operated on numerous routes between the United Kingdom, South Africa ,
936-620: The owner of 20 ships. He later acquired the Papayanni Steamship Company and eight of its ships. He used these assets to form the London, Liverpool and Ocean Shipping Company, based at Moorgate in London . The London, Liverpool and Ocean Shipping Company then went on to buy 50 per cent of George Smith and Sons' City Line, Glasgow , and 50 per cent of the Hall Line Ltd in 1903. Its capital was further increased, and
972-550: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Ellerman&oldid=1097525017 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Sir John Ellerman, 1st Baronet Sir John Reeves Ellerman, 1st Baronet , CH (15 May 1862 – 16 July 1933)
1008-612: The shipping business was bought by its management , then sold to the Trafalgar House conglomerate, which merged it with its ownership of the Cunard Line to form Cunard-Ellerman in 1987. In 1991 they passed it to the Andrew Weir Shipping Group, who sold it to Hamburg Süd in 2003. In 2004 the name was dropped and Ellerman Lines ceased to exist. Ellerman City Liners, a subsidiary of UniOcean Lines,
1044-464: The shipping industry that occurred in the second half of the 20th century. Its shipping assets were subsequently sold off to larger companies until the name was dropped in 2004, and Ellerman finally ceased its long association with shipping. However, as of 2021, the Ellerman name was revived in the form of Ellerman City Liners, to provide a new container shipping service between the UK and China. The company
1080-466: The successful containerisation of its Mediterranean services. By the early 1970s the Ellerman group had expanded its commercial interests into other areas, including hotels, brewing and printing. In 1973 it merged all its shipping companies into one division. Ten years later its profitability had plummeted and it was making heavy losses. The whole business was then sold to the Barclay brothers . In 1985
1116-486: Was incorporated in 1892, by the businessmen John Ellerman , Christopher Furness and Henry O'Hagan, who bought the assets of the Liverpool based shipping firm Frederick Leyland and Co Ltd. The company started with an initial capital of £800,000 to buy the fleet of 22 vessels from the executors of Frederick Leyland , the former head of Frederick Leyland and Co. Ellerman was initially the managing director, and Furness
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1152-476: Was a published writer under the pen name Bryher. Her autobiography, The Heart to Artemis (1963), gives an account of her father. On his death in July 1933, Ellerman left about £900,000 to Bryher, but the majority of his wealth – around £20 million after death duties – was inherited by his only son John . Ellerman Lines Ellerman Lines was a UK cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from
1188-491: Was an English shipowner and investor, believed to be the richest man in England. An accountant by training, he learned to identify underpriced companies and acquired them, often as sole stakeholder. His shipping interests were combined into the giant Ellerman Lines, and he also invested in newspapers, breweries, coal, and prestige London property. Despite his huge wealth, his personal life was notably modest and private. Ellerman
1224-620: Was born in Kingston upon Hull , the only son of a Lutheran ship broker and corn merchant who had emigrated to England from Hamburg , Germany in 1850, and an English mother. His father died when he was nine, leaving an estate of £600 (equivalent to £70,000 in 2023). Ellerman spent part of his childhood in France and briefly attended King Edward VI School in Birmingham . Ellerman did not get on with his mother and lived independently from
1260-463: Was mined far from Europe. The City of Exeter, a fine passenger ship, struck a mine in the Indian Ocean, about 400 m. from Bombay . Number 1 hold filled at once, and the master gave orders for the passengers and crew to leave the ship. Then the master and chief engineer returned and, at grave risk, made a thorough examination of the ship. They decided that, with the exercise of the greatest care,
1296-612: Was the Brewery and Commercial Investment Trust which appreciated by 1,300% in nine years. In 1892, Ellerman made his first move into shipping by leading a consortium which purchased the Leyland Line from the late Frederick Richards Leyland , one of the largest shipowners in Britain. In 1901 Ellerman sold this business to J. P. Morgan for £1.2 million (equivalent to £164,560,000 in 2023), who immediately folded it into
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