James Perry senior owned and managed ships from the 1850s. By 1860 he was advertising the buying and selling of ships, mainly for the timber trade.

James Perry senior formed the company of J. Perry & Sons which went into liquidation. In December 1875 the London Gazette printed bankruptcy proceedings for J. Perry & Sons, Merchants, Brokers and Commission Agents at West Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. The partners were; James Perry the elder, Matthew Forrest Perry and James Perry the younger.

In May 1884 the partnership as steamship owners between James Perry senior, James Perry junior and Walter Raimes was dissolved. Around this time James Perry junior would have taken over the company’s reigns and the company became James Perry & Co., of West Hartlepool & London.

At the Board of Trade Inquiry into the loss of the steamer William Hartmann in August of 1883 near the Hook of Holland James Perry junior was given as the owner. In a statement he said that his name did not appear on the register ‘as he believed, it was not originally his property’.

Family History:

James Perry was born in 1820 at Southwick, Durham to parents James and Alice (Hewison) Perry. In November 1844 at South Shields he married Mary Forrest Shotton whose uncle, Matthew Forrest, was a shipowner. James was listed in the 1851 census as living at Wallsend and working as a grocer. By 1861 he and his wife were at Seaton Carew and James was listed as a shipowner. By 1881 the couple were living at The Square, Stockton. Mary died aged 63 on 31^st March 1886 at Glaisdale. She was interred at Seaton Carew. In 1891 James was living as a boarder at 15 Durham Street, Bishop Auckland.

James died aged 81 at Bishop Auckland in 1901.

James Perry junior was born in 1849 at Newcastle-on-Tyne to parents James and Mary (nee Shotton) Perry. By 1871 he was living with his parents and five siblings at Raglan Place, Stranton, West Hartlepool. He married Margaret Allison (daughter of Jacob Allison, shipowner) in September 1873 at Hartlepool. The couple had two sons and three daughters during their marriage. On the 1881 census the couple were living at Moor Terrace, Hartlepool with their two sons and a daughter with James working as a shipbroker. By 1891 they had moved to Lewisham and by 1901 to West Ham, Essex with James as an insurance agent for Prudential. Margaret died aged 65 in 1916.

Matthew Forrest Perry was born in 1847 to parents James and Mary (Shotton) Perry at Newcastle-on-Tyne. In 1871 he was living with his parents at Stranton, West Hartlepool and was working as a commercial clerk. Matthew married Jane Rickinson in August 1873 at Norton.  They had three children during their marriage. By 1881 the couple were living at Stowmarket, Suffolk with Matthew working as an engineer’s clerk.

Matthew died aged 43 in the first quarter of 1891 at Lewisham.

Walter Raimes was born in 1855 at Acaster Malbis, Yorkshire to parents John (farmer) and Isabella (Cundall) Raimes.  He began his working life as a grocer’s assistant. By 1881 he was a boarder with the Perry family at Stockton and working as a grocer’s assistant

Walter died aged 75 at Stockton in 1930.