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British shipping companies (M)

Last modified: 2016-03-05 by rob raeside
Keywords: mountwood shipping | mullion & co. | monks j s | john s monks | montgomery | morgan | monroe brothers | morel ltd | moss h.e. | moss hutchinson | h e moss | jm | jrm | mh |
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Mogul Steamship Company, Limited

Gellatly, Hankey & Co.

[Mogul Steamship Company, Limited
 houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

Mogul Steamship Company, Limited (Gellatly, Hankey & Co), London - white flag, blue cross with in the center red diamond.
Jarig Bakker, 24 January 2005

In St Boniface Anglican Church in Antwerp some flags may be seen in the cloth but also in windows, one of which was donated by a shipping company from the UK. See text on West Window here, rather down the page: http://www.boniface.be/PDF/history2.pdf “The West window, donated by an English shipping company in Antwerp, Gellatly, Hankey in 1921, commemorates the casualties of the Great War. (…) Underneath the window are two plaques with details of the dedication of the window.” The second plaque, under the West Window picture, (click to enlarge, new ‘window’) shows the house flag of this firm, white with a blue cross throughout and a red diamond placed in the centre.

I’ve not discovered very much on this firm, other than that it was founded in 1862 and that for some time it was known as Gellatly, Hankey and Sewell; seat: London; now engaged in ‘Marine Services’ under the name Gellatly Hankey International about which I have found nothing substantial.
Jan Mertens, 22 May 2005


Monarch Steamship Co.

[Monarch Steamship Co. houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker

From Scott, R.M., The Caltex book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).

Monarch Steamship Co., Glasgow - red swallowtail, blue cross, with blue disk in center, all outlined white; white "M".
Jarig Bakker, 2 January 2005

[Monarch Steamship Co. houseflag] image by Rob Raeside

Monarch Steamship Co. A British trampship company originating from Raeburn & Vérel Ltd. who commenced steamship operations out of Glasgow in 1880 with Monarch Steamship Co. Ltd. appearing to date from 1902. The original flag, shown by early sources and some later ones only under Raeburn & Vérel Ltd., was a red swallowtail with a black cross surmounted by an undefined black circle and this was used until around the mid-1950s when the NMM version was adopted. The company seems to have gone into abeyance in the late 1960s and was finally acquired by European Ferries Ltd. in 1973 and then the name resurfaced as ship owners of ferries and it finally ended up part of P&O for the name to then slide into oblivion. I doubt if the flag ever flew again after the 1960s with thereafter it flying the flag of its then owner.
Neale Rosanoski, 18 April 2005


John S. Monks

[John S. Monks houseflag] image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 14 October 2003


W. Montgomery & Co., Ltd.

[W.Montgomery & Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache

W. Montgomery & Co., Ltd., London. The flag is blue with a M (white) in the middle.
Based on The Mystic Seaport Foundation
Ivan Sache, 1 February 2004


Monroe Brothers

[Monroe Brothers houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Monroe Brothers, Liverpool. A white flag with a blue saltire and a red diamond in the centre bearing a white letter 'M'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 21 August 2004


Moore & Co.

[Moore & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache

Moore & Co., established in 1925 in Wroxham, Norfolk, operates "the finest motor cruisers on the Norfolk Broads". The Broads are presented as follows in the booklet released by the Norwich City Council:
"The Norfolk Broads is one of the most popular inland waterway in Europe, with 200 km of lock-free boating. It is Britain's largest protected wetland with status equivalent to a National Park, made of navigable rivers, shallow lakes, woodland, fens and grazing marshes. It is also home to some of the rarest plants and wildlife in the United Kingdom.[...] The Broads were formed in the Middle Ages when peat was dug for fuel. Over the centuries, water level rose and the peat diggings flooded, forming the Broads. For many centuries the rivers were vital trading passages. The famous Norfolk Wherries, designed especially to negotiate the shallow waterways of the Broads, carried cargo around inland communities and to and from the coast.[...] Wroxham is the starting point for many boating holidays on the Broads for over a century. Its broad is one of the largest and most beautiful."

The house flag of Moore & Co. is a triangular blue flag with a big yellow M letter.
Company website: http://www.boatingholidays.co.uk

Ivan Sache, 11 September 2004


Morel, Ltd.

[Morel, Ltd. houseflag] image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 9 October 2003

Brown 317: Morel, Ltd., Cardiff
Funnel: Black, on a wide white band bordered red bordered white a red disk.
Flag: 2:3; white, along the fly-wise edges offset red stripes, and in the center a red disk of approximately 1/3rd of the flag's height.

James' disk is slightly larger (3/8?) which makes for a better flag.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003


Evan Morgan & Co.

[Evan Morgan & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 16 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Evan Morgan & Co." (#34, p. 38), a company based in London, as red with a blue oval charged with the white letters "EM&Co".
Ivan Sache, 16 March 2008 


Morgan & Cadogan Limited

[Morgan & Cadogan Limited houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

Morgan & Cadogan Limited, Cardiff - white flag with blue saltire; over all letters M & C L in blue - small "TD" in black.
Jarig Bakker, 15 January 2005


T.B. Morton & Co.

[T.B. Morton & Co. houseflag] image located by Jan Martens, 29 May 2007

T.B. Morton & Co. was a British company active in Romania but established in Constantinople (current Istanbul). Founded in 1855 to carry mail from Constantinople to Romanian and Black Sea ports, rightly considered a private post, Morton issued rudimentary stamps from 1869 on. The second issue for instance showed a steamer flying the (presumably) Red Ensign. Direct link: http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/immagini/danblu2%20.jpg. Quoting from an article by A.H. Godden, location:
“For journals, a special stamp was issued in 1872, in sheets of 72, with a value of 10 paras (ie ¼ piastre: 40 paras = 1 piastre (…)”

Besides the company name appeared the initials for ‘Danube and Black Sea Line of Steamers’ or D.& B.S.L.S. Direct link to such journal stamps, showing the house flag, followed by link to article in Italian (I understand “When the Danube was still blue…”): http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/immagini/danblu3.jpg, http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/danblu.htm. A pennant bears the initials ‘T.B.M. & Co.’ I have no idea what colours were used – perhaps the stamps faithfully reproduce a white pennant bearing red initials?

Another (very rich philatelic) source, largely French, offers some additional information: http://www.ozocaz.fr/Postes-locales/Articles/constantinople.html, in that Morton’s on-demand service gradually widened from coastal traffic to, eventually, runs to Malta, Marseilles, etc. The stamps are said to be very rare and expensive.  I wonder when this company stopped activities (the Danube service seems to have ended in 1880), but the more important question – to us, at least – is: what were the house flag’s colours?
Jan Mertens, 29 May 2007


H.E. Moss & Co.

[H.E. Moss Co. houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of H. E. Moss & Co., Liverpool. A dark blue flag with a white diamond in the centre bearing the red letter 'M'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 14 August 2004


Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd.

[Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd. houseflag]image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Moss Hutchison Ltd, London. A red pennant bearing the white letters 'MH' with a cross pattée in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached. This design dates from the merger of James Moss & Co Ltd with J & P. Hutchison & Co. in 1934 and is based on Moss's pennant."
Jarig Bakker, 21 August 2004

Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd. had a blue-white-red vertical tricolor with what appears to be the thistle in the white stripe [derived from the J & P. Hutchison & Co. house flag]. They had 2 fleets - the Spanish Peninsula fleet flew that flag in combination with a red pennant (possibly bordered in blue or white, but unclear) with a white Maltese cross and white letters M & H on either side of the cross; their Mediterranean fleet flew only the pennant.
Source: Stewart (1953)
Ned Smith, 1 July 2003

[Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Co. Ltd. houseflag] image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 October 2010

Moss Hutchison Line Ltd.
It is a French tricolour with a thistle in natural colour in the middle of the white stripe. According to http://theshipslist.com/ships/lines/mossH.htm this flag was only hoisted in French harbours.
Source: Campbell and Evans (1953); plate V, flag no.8
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 25 October 2010


Mountwood Shipping Company, Ltd.

[Mountwood Shipping Company, Ltd. houseflag] image by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963


R.A. Mudie & Sons

[R.A. Mudie & Sons houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 2 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "R.A. Mudie & Sons" (#148, p. 44), a company based in Dundee
(Scotland), as blue with a white cross.

James and Robert Mudie are listed as the joint owners of the "Gloamin", registered in Dundee, that wrecked on 24 January 1881. (Board of Trade Wreck Report for "Gloamin", 1881).
Ivan Sache
, 2 April 2008 


R.A. & J.H. Mudie

[R.A. & J.H. Mudie houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "R.A. & J.H. Mudie" (#178, p. 45), a company based in Dundee (Scotland), as blue with a white disk charged with a blue saltire.
Ivan Sache
, 3 April 2008 


Mullion & Co., Ltd

[Mullion & Co., Ltd houseflag] image by Phil Nelson, 7 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963


Murray, McNab & Co.

[Mullion & Co., Ltd houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 31 May 2006

Lloyds (1911) shows the house flag of Murray, McNab & Co., Glasgow, as white with a red M. The flag can also be seen at http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/ImPage.cfm?PageNum=30&BibId=11061&ChapterId=8.
Ivan Sache
, 31 May 2006


Joseph E. Murrell & Son

[Joseph E. Murrell & Son houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Joseph Murrell & Son" (#137, p. 43), a company based in West Hartlepool, as white with a red saltire and a blue rectangle in the middle.

The previous flag (#136) in Lloyd's is similar, but with a blue saltire and a red rectangle, as the house flag of "F. Yeoman", also registered in West Hartlepool. There is indeed a "Murrell and Yeoman" company mentioned in West Hartlepool.
Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008 


British Shipping lines: continued