Claxton Technical Specification

Lives lost December 1885; Boyd, William Henry, able seaman, Whitby St, W Hartlepool; Ferguson, James, donkeyman, Wood St, W Hartlepool; Hood/Hird, Walter, mate, Temperance St, W Hartlepool

Illingworth, Benjamin, fireman, Northgate St, Hartlepool; Newton, Thomas, steward, Thornton-le-Dale, Yorks; Young, William, able seaman, Reed St, W Hartlepool.

Survivors December 1885; Blake, Edward Robert, master, Church St, W Hartlepool; Bain, George, chief officer; Clark, Joseph, fireman, Stranton Steelworks; Conner, William, able seaman, Frederick St, W Hartlepool; Ferguson, Robert R, chief engineer, Bell St, Hartlepool; Newton, F, able seaman, Thornton-le-dale, Yorks; Porrit, J, fireman, George St, W Hartlepool; Rimington, Richard, 1st mate; Robbins, George, able seaman, Tower St, W Hartlepool; Robinson, T, cook, London; Towney, William, 2nd mate, Grosvenor St, W Hartlepool; Webster, F, 2nd engineer, Waverley Hotel, Seaton Carew.

Thomas Hewitt, a West Hartlepool man, 2nd engineer, left the steamer before this voyage to spend Christmas at home. John Borden, brother-in-law to James Ferguson, one of those drowned, had also left the vessel previous to the present voyage.

The three Glover Brothers became ship owners in 1865 when they purchased the barque W. E. Gladstone. S.J. Glover purchased his first steamer in 1872 and registered it and another four in West Hartlepool. He also had shares in other ships. Septimus joined his brothers and the company became Glover Brothers and Co. The business was transferred to London and continued until 1936 when their last two ships were sold.

Family History:

Septimus Jonathan Glover was born on 21 February 1834 at South Shields. He married Elizabeth Ann Briggs in April 1858 at Stockton-on-Tees.  By 1861 the couple were living at Seaton Carew with their two daughters. Septimus was listed in the census as a bookkeeper to a coal company.  By 1871 they were living at Stranton with their three daughters and four sons. By 1881 the family had moved to Aberdeen Park, Highbury, Middlesex with Septimus now a shipbroker. He died on 2 August 1908 at Aberdeen Park aged 74 leaving effects of £118,630.

C.S. Todd went into business with John Coverdale under the company name Coverdale, Todd & Co. On 30 June 1882 the partnership was dissolved and Charles continued a business of steamship owners, brokers and commission agents under C.S. Todd & Co., with his premises at 74 Church Street, West Hartlepool. In 1887 Charles went bankrupt. At the time he owed, amongst other debts, around £13,000 to the shipbuilders William Gray & Co.

Family History:

Charles Scotson Todd was born in 1837 at Hartlepool to parents John and Mary (nee Scotson) Todd. He was indentured on the vessel Briton's Pride at the age of 17 in 1854. He gained his second mate's certificate  in January 1859, his first mate's certificate in January 1862 and his master's certificate in January 1864, all at Hartlepool. (Certificate No. 19833). Charles married Mary Grace Kearlsey at Hartlepool in January 1866 and they had three sons and a daughter. Charles had shares in ships from 1871. By the late 1870s the family were living at Greatham.

Charles died aged 66 in July 1903 at Stockton-on-Tees.

William Gray established a woollen & linen drapery business in Hartlepool in 1843. Also having an interest in shipping he acquired shares in sailing vessels from 1844.

Some of the other shareholders included: Robert (draper) & John Gray (Blyth); Matthew Gray (North Blyth); James Robson (Newcastle-on-Tyne); Henry Taylor (Liverpool); James Monks (Durham); Alexander Robertson (solicitor, Peterhead.

Henry Taylor Purvis; John Callender (draper); Phillip Howard (master mariner); James McBeath (master mariner); James Smith (master mariner); Jane Hall; John Fothergill; Jens Christian Nielsen; William Coward; William Horner; Frederick & Joseph Edward Murrell; all of Hartlepool.

William also had shares in sailing vessels along with John Punshon Denton. Eventually the two formed a partnership in shipbuilding with their first ship, Dalhousie, laid down on 4 July 1863. In December 1871 John Denton died. A dispute arose over the company’s profits which was eventually resolved in 1874 with the firm becoming William Gray & Company. In August 1874 the company’s first ship, Sexta, was launched.

William Gray was born on 18 January 1823 at Blyth, Northumberland to parents Anne Jane (nee Bryham) & Matthew Gray. He married Dorothy Wilson Hall on 15 May 1849 at St. Mary, Lewisham, Kent. In the 1851 census the couple were living at 2 Marine Terrace, Hartlepool. By 1861 the census recorded William as being a linen & woollen draper & shipowner & by 1871 as a shipbuilder. The couple had five daughters and two sons. Their eldest son, Matthew, died suddenly of pneumonia in June 1896 aged just 41.

William died aged 76 on 12 September 1898 leaving effects of £1500422. His widow, Dorothy died aged 81 on 7 September 1906.

William Cresswell Gray was born in 1867 at Tunstall Manor to parents Dorothy (nee Hall) & William Gray. He married Kate Casebourne in 1891 and they had four daughters and one son.

William took over as chairman of the company after the death of his father. He was created a baronet in 1917 and was given the freedom of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool in 1920.

William died aged 57 on 1 November 1924 at Bedale, Yorkshire leaving effects of £417347.

William Gray (3^rd generation) was born on 18 August 1895 at Hartlepool to parents Kate (nee Casebourne) & William Cresswell Gray. He was educated at Loretto School in Scotland, and passed direct from the school in 1914 to the Green Howards, where he rose to the rank of captain. He was several times mentioned in despatches, but was subsequently wounded and taken prisoner in 1915. He returned safely in 1918 following the Armistice. He married Mary Leigh at London in 1929.

Following the death of his father William took over the company in 1925. The recession and interest on money borrowed for development had left the company in financial difficulties but this was overcome and shipbuilding continued. The company made a substantial contribution to the war effort during WW2. After the war the company held its own with shipbuilding and repair work. In 1956 William Talbot Gray, the third William Gray’s son, became a joint managing director. He was killed in a car accident in 1971 aged 40. The company went into voluntary liquidation in 1962 and closed completely in 1963. William retired to Orchard Cottage, The Drive, Egglestone, Barnard Castle.

William died aged 82 on 28 January 1978 at Barnard Castle leaving effects of £116121.

Ships owned by William Gray & Co. that were not built in Hartlepool are recorded below under 'a general history'.