Empire Hurst

Owners: 1941 MOWT (managed by Smith, Hogg & Co) West Hartlepool

Masters: 1941 Malcolm Joseph Grieves.

Bound from Aguilas for Barrow with a cargo of iron-ore & a total complement of 35 including 5 gunners the Empire Hurst was bombed by German aircraft south of Cape St Vincent on 11 August 1941. 26 lives lost.

Lives lost August 1941:

Birch, James Henry, chief engineer, 59

Bond, Sydney Arthur, able seaman (Royal Navy) aged 27, Feltham, Middlesex

Chafer, Arthur Havercroft, chief officer, 42, Grimsby, Lincs.

Esplin, James Taylor, deckhand, 23

Gilmore, Joseph William, fireman/trimmer, 19, Easington Colliery, Co. Durham

Grieves, Malcolm Joseph, master, 42, Harton, South Shields

Johnstone, Gordon, 2^nd radio officer, 28

Johnstone, Mark McAlister, able seaman, 49, Oban

Keeys, Richard, 2^nd engineer, 35, West Hartlepool

Kirkman, Albert, 1^st radio officer, 39, Blackpool, Lancs.

Mather, Henry John Riddle, 3^rd engineer, 48

McCabe, William Walter, ordinary seaman, 34

McKay, Robert, fireman/trimmer, 35

Monaghan, James Douglas, 3^rd officer, 23, South Shields

Olsson, Hjalmar Wilhelm Anton, donkeyman, 52

Thompson, Peter Atkinson, boy, 18

Profir, James Weir, fireman/trimmer, 36, South Shields

Sharp, Ernest William, steward, 32, South Shields

Simpson, Frederick, able seaman, 24, Darlington

Sleightholme, Thomas, 2^nd officer, 26, South Shields

Wallace, Edward, boy, 17

The Company was founded on May 2nd 1904 by Thomas Graham Smith of Newcastle and Herbert Lawrence Hogg of West Hartlepool who were initally shipbrokers and managers. The following month they purchased their first ship, the Constantinos Stathatos, for £10,500 and re-named her Beechburn. 

Smith, Hogg & Co. entered the Second World War with three ships; Arkleside, Roseburn and Magdalena, all three of which were sadly lost through enemy action before the end of 1940. The company then managed a number of ships for the British Government until 1947, including Empire Knoll, Empire Hurst and Empire Sedley, after which it reverted to shipbroking and port agency. Its activities were taken over in 2005 by its associate firm Cockfield, Knight & Co. Ltd., now part of Middlesbrough-based A. V. Dawson Ltd.

Family History:

Thomas Graham Smith of Newcastle was born in 1878 to parents George Forster (druggist) and Mary Jane (nee Dunford). He was married at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1908 to Annie Gibson Davidson. By 1911 they were living at Wilton Avenue and later moved to ‘Long Fens’ Park Avenue. Thomas  was branch manager at West Hartlepool of Dunford & Elliott, a Newcastle-on-Tyne firm.

Thomas died on 28 July 1960 leaving effects of £44,709.

Herbert Lawrence Hogg was born on 6 August 1879 at Howden le Wear to parents William Lambert and Jane Thornton (nee French). The family moved to Hartlepool in December 1888. William was a first engineer on the S.S. Hartlepools and drowned at sea in 1888, at about the same time the move was taking place. Herbert’s mother, left with six young children, secured an appointment as headmistress of Lynnfield School. In 1894 Herbert was with John Coverdale & Sons, and then Maclean, Doughty & Co., before becoming secretary of Fawcett & Garnett of West Hartlepool. By 1901 Herbert and his family were living at 38 York Road, West Hartlepool. He married Constance Rowe in 1911 and they lived at The Grove. Herbert was elected to the town council in 1826. In 1934 he became mayor and held that position for two years.

Herbert died at Hartlepool on 21 July 1971.