During the past month I’ve been cataloguing the administrative records of Austin & Pickersgill Ltd and its two predecessor companies, S.P. Austin & Son Ltd and William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd. These include an interesting set of personnel records, which may be of interest to family historians whose ancestors worked in the Sunderland shipbuilding industry.
The Archives holds records of many shipyards on the River Tyne and the River Wear but these generally include little in the way of personnel records. Those that survive are often wage books, which contain very few personal details and often just relate to the shipyard’s clerical staff, draughtsmen and foremen. The records of Austin Pickersgill and its predecessors are unusual, though, because they contain information about the shipyard workers whose personal details are rarely found in other collections.
The archives of S.P. Austin & Son include a large quantity of personnel records. Of particular note are nine drawers of index cards (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/9/1-9) containing brief details of men and women employed by the yard from the 1910s to the 1940s. A couple of examples are shown below.
Index card for James Bulmer, 1927-1936 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/9/1)
Index card for Emily Bush, 1943 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/9/9)
The card for Mrs Emily Bush is part of a small but interesting series in the final index card drawer relating to women who worked in the shipyard during the Second World War. Although the information given on these is slim it is relatively rare for any of these details to survive for the catchers, fitters, heaters, holder ups, joiners, labourers, painters, platers, plumbers, rivetters, red leaders and other employees who worked in the shipyards. Helpfully, the cards are arranged in alphabetical order, which makes it easy to search for an ancestor’s name.
The Austin’s records also include six apprentices wage rate books (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/10/1-6), covering the years 1924-1964. These are arranged by trade and the information given for each apprentice includes:
- Name
- Date started
- Date of birth
- Details of wages.
Details of apprentice fitters at S.P. Austin & Son, 1924-1928 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/10/1)
There are fewer surviving personnel records for William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd but these do include some interesting items. For example, there are two registers of starters dating from 1930-1939 and 1948-1956 and these include useful personal details such as:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Date started
- Last employer
- Trade
The information about previous employers is likely to be of particular interest to family historians and also reflects how a significant number of workers moved from one firm to another.
In 1954 S.P. Austin & Son Ltd merged with William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd to create Austin & Pickersgill Ltd. The employee records for the amalgamated company survive pretty well and include details of starters and leavers from the 1950s to the 1980s, although there are some gaps.
Entries from register of new starters at Southwick yard, showing details of previous employers, August 1956 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/16/1)
It’s interesting to note that one of the employees listed above was 67 when he started at the Southwick Yard. We’re approaching a time when many people will have to work longer before retirement but it’s clear that to some of our ancestors this would have been the norm.
There are also twenty yard employees registers (sometimes referred to as ‘hands on books’) for the Southwick Yard. In the yard employees registers the workers are grouped by trade (in order of board number). A separate register was kept each year and these include names and addresses and also give dates of leaving and reasons for leaving, where applicable.
Details of shipwrights at Southwick yard, from a yard employees register for 1956-1957 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/23/2)
Access is restricted to these registers because some entries contain sensitive personal information about dismissals. An example of such an entry is given below.
Note regarding the dismissal of a shipwright, from a yard employees register for 1956-1957 (TWAM ref. DS.AP/2/23/2)
Even though direct access is not available to leavers registers and yard employees registers it is possibly to request searches of them by the Archives staff. These searches are carried out through our paid research service and details of this can be found on our webpages.
Colin and have both recently started working on the records of William Doxford & Sons Ltd and I look forward to reporting more exciting discoveries next month.
Can you advise – info on the Alcock Shipyard, Sunderland?
Many thanks
K.Gunnell
Thanks for your message. I’m afraid that we don’t hold any records of the Alcock shipyard, which is a shame because the Alcock family appear to have been influential in a number of fields. Their shipyard at Low Street was relatively shortlived in comparison with other yards such as Laings and Doxfords.
There should be references, though, to ships built at the yard in the Customs & Excise registers for Sunderland held by the Archives (TWAM ref. EX.SU). There may also be references to members of the Alcock family in the minutes of the Wear Shipbuilders’ Association, which we also hold (TWAM ref. EM.WS). You can see lists of these records by searching our online catalogue http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/archives/catalogue/. You are very welcome to visit us to look at any documents of interest and you can find details of our location and opening times on our website http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/archives/makingavisit/.
I hope this helps.
Many thanks for your information about the Alcock Shipyard. Apologies for the delay in replying but missed your message in May
Karen Gunnell
My fathers aunt Henriette MONCEAU, born Amsterdam/Holland, Mar 15, 1827 married Dec. 7, 1859 or Jan. 7, 1860 Michael SOFTLEY, bom Sunderland Nov. 8, 1819. She followed her husband to Sunderland.
Her stepbrother Johannes Jacobus SPAMER emigrated also to Sunderland and became the ancestor of the Sunderland Spamer-families.
Michael Softley got acquainted with Henriette Monceau in Amsterdam, as has been shown by her letters to the family.
I would like to know what kind of connections could have existed between Sunderland and Holland about 1855-1860. Is it possible that it had something to do with shipbuilding?
My grandfather, who visited his brother and stepsister in Sunderland many times, was confidential clerk and secretary of Anthony van Hoboken, a big shipowner in those years in Rotterdam.
It is very unlikely that Michael Softley visited Amsterdam only accidentally. There were 2 regular shipping connections between Rotterdam and Newcastle: the Tyne Steam Shipping Company and the Goole Steam Shipping Company, but (as far as I know) not between Sunderland and Amsterdam.
If Softley did not come via Rotterdam, what could have been a reasonable motive for an inhabitant of Sunderland, not being capable of writing, to travel to Amsterdam? What could have been a reasonable motive for Johan Jacob Spamer to emigrate with wife and little daughter to Sunderland?
The Hoboken Company in Rotterdam had 2 ships built in 1874 in Glasgow by Robert Napier & Sons, the Scholten and the P. Caland, the first two ships of the Nederlandsch-Amerikaanse Stoomvaart Maatschappij, later transformed into Holland America Line. In my possession is a painting of the P. Caland, inherited from my grandfather. Hoboken & Sons was already an important shipping company long before 1865. Were there connections between Hoboken and Sunderland about 1860? That could explain a lot.
I hope it will be possible for you to give some clarifying answers. I would be very grateful.
Sincerely yours,
Anton Spamer MA
Zaan 34
5751 XH DEURNE / Netherlands
a.spamer@spamer-dewit.nl
Dear Mr Spamer,
Thank you very much for your e-mail about your family history research. I have forwarded your message to our enquiry service (archives@twmuseums.org.uk) and I’m sure that they will reply to you in the very near future. I hope that we can offer you some useful advice.
Best wishes,
Alan
Do you have records and photographs for Austin & Pickersgill apprentice intake for 1984?
Thanks for your question. You can see a full list of the Austin & Pickersgill personnel records we have by searching our online catalogue http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/tyne-and-wear-archives/catalogue-amp-user-guides/catalogue.html, entering DS.AP/2 in the RefNo field.
We do have a register of starters, leavers and transfers for the years 1984-1985 and a file of ‘movement of labour lists’ covering the period 1980-1987. I’m afraid that direct access to these documents isn’t possible because they contain some sensitive personal information about people who are still alive. If you’re looking for details of a particular person then we can search the records for you through our paid research service http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/tyne-and-wear-archives/services/research-service.html. If you’re interested in using this service but have questions please feel free to give us a ring on 0191 2772248 or e-mail us (archives@twmuseums.org.uk).
Hi, are there any photos of Samuel Peter Austin and William Pickersgill I can view. Any help would be very greatful
Kind Regards
Hi,
I’m afraid that our collections don’t seem to include any images of Samuel Peter Austin or William Pickersgill. If you haven’t already done so then it might be worth contacting Sunderland Local Studies Library in case they can help you. Contact details can be found on their webpages http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1092.
Best of luck with your search.
Alan
I had an uncle Joseph Lawson. I know worked in the shipyards in Sunderland I would say Late 1940′s onward, is there any record of him?
Hi Denise,
Thanks for your question. We might have some records of your uncle – it depend on which shipyards he worked in and what his job was. Do you happen to have those details so that I can advise you better?
Best wishes,
Alan