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Admin History:

Charles D Holmes and Co, Hull were shipbuilders, marine engineers and boiler makers based on Alfred Street, English Street, and Alexandra Dock, Hull. They were the direct descendants of the shipbuilders Brownlow, Pearson and Company which had been founded by William Brownlow and William Hunt Pearson in 1838, although the former had been building ships with a Mr Weddle for some years earlier. Brownlow, & Pearson were also managers of the Hull Packet Company. In 1860, Brownlow entered in partnership with a Mr Lumsden and took on Charles Denton Holmes (1843-1938) in the same year. Holmes had been an apprenticed engineer at Earles engineers and assistant manager at the Junction Foundry. After Brownlow's death in 1864 Lumsden tried unsuccessfully to recruit others in to the business, such as James Down and Christina Rose. The situation was resolved in 1869 when Holmes became a partner and the company was styled C.D. Holmes. Lumsden died in 1876. Between 1910 and 1913, Harold D. Sheardown, another marine engineer joined Holmes. In 1926 severe economic difficulties saw Holmes acquire a financial stake in Cook, Wilson & Gemmell of Beverley, a company which made many of the ships Holmes engineered. Holmes finally took over Cook, Wilson & Gemmell in 1963, where the new Tradesman class of trawlers was produced, before selling the yard to the Drypool Group in 1973. In 1979 the engineering works of Holmes closed, due to factors such as the collapse of the Hull fishing industry, a decline in engineering generally and a nationwide strike by engineering workers.

Description:

Financial and administrative records, correspondence and records relating to engineering work