George Younghusband owned and had shares in ships from 1850. His partners included William Watson (died 1863); Mary Ann Watson; William Bird Gray; Andrew Smith (Sunderland); Thomas Wilson; John Cockburn; M.A. Watson; Joseph Edward Murrell
Family Histories:
George Younghusband was born on 22 November 1817 and baptised in January 1818 at Newcastle-on-Tyne to parents (married 30 November 1816) Mary (nee Ratcliff) and George Younghusband. He became a grocer and baker and in 1841 was living and working at Bishopwearmouth. George married Jane Wilson in 1842 at Stockton-on-Tees and by 1849 they had moved to Hartlepool with premises at Northgate Street, Hartlepool. His wife, Jane, died aged 63 on 31 May 1883.
George died aged 70 at South Crescent, Hartlepool on 1st June 1888 leaving effects of £891.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Monday 11 June 1888:
‘We regret to have to record the demise of one of the few remaining “old standards” of Hartlepool. Mr George Younghusband died this morning at the residence of his son-in-law Captain J.E. Murrell. Deceased had for some time past been suffering from chronic rheumatism, and it was to this complaint his death is attributed. He was born in 1818, and for many years carried on a successful grocery business in Northgate, from which he retired about ten years ago. He was an active member of the Congregational Church, but took no part in municipal affairs, confining himself to work of a religious and philanthropic nature. He leaves two daughters and one son, viz : Mrs J.E. Murrell, Mrs F. Yeoman and Mr G.T. Younghusband, chief engineer of one of our local steamers.’
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Joseph Edward Murrell was born 1837 at Wivenhoe, Essex to parents William and Eliza. He received his mate’s certificate No. 18784 in 1858. He married Mary Younghusband at Hartlepool in 1863 and by 1881 the couple were living at South Crescent with their two sons and two daughters. By the 1891 census they had two sons and six daughters. By the time of the 1901 census the family were living at Clifton Avenue.
Joseph Edward Murrell died aged 80 at Hartlepool on 21 February 1919 leaving effects of £81,550.
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Mary Ann (possibly nee Wilson) was born at South Shields in 1826. She married William Watson who was born in 1824 at Newcastle-on-Tyne. In 1851 the couple were living at North Terrace, Hartlepool with their daughter and son. By 1861 the couple were living at 13 Albion Terrace with their daughter Mary Ann and five sons, William, Thomas, George, Alfred and Frederick. Mary married Joseph Murreel, William and Thomas both became mariners and George an engine fitter. Frederick Arthur Watson was drowned at sea on 23 July 1875 aged 15. William died on 16 July 1863 leaving effects of under £6,000. He also left his shares in ships to his widow.
Mary died aged 50 on 27 May 1876 at Albion Terrace, Hartlepool leaving effects of under £200. William and Mary were interred at Spion Kop cemetery.
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William Bird Gray was born in 1832 at Scarborough to parents Elizabeth Kennedy (nee Findley) and James Gray (shipowner). William married Esther at Sunderland in 1860 and the couple had six children throughout their marriage. In 1861 the couple were living at Prissick Street, Hartlepool with William’s father and mother. In the early 1880s the family moved to Whitby where he had worked for Barnard & Foxton, the secretaries of the Whitby Mutual Marine Iron Steamship Association. On the death of Mr Foxton he was appointed to co-secretary along with Mr Jefferson Suggit. The firm became Barnard, Gray & Suggit. Due to ill-health William retired and had moved to Manchester by 1901. He had also been the secretary of a sailing club in Hartlepool.
William died aged 73 at Fallowfield, Manchester on 10 July 1905.
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John Cockburn was born in November 1818 at Sunderland to parents Margaret (nee Boudge) and James Cockburn. He became a shipwright. John married Alice Foster in 1851 and in 1853 the couple had a daughter, Ann who died 1862. In the 1871 census the couple were living at Greatham with John listed as a master shipwright and shipowner. By 1881 John had retired.
John died aged 89 at Hartlepool on 5 February 1907 leaving effects of £1,468. His wife, Alice, predeceased him in the same year.
Cicero 1849-1886
Sunderland: Official No. 16268: Code Letters LWRK: one deck; two masts; wood snow sheathed in yellow metal; 270g; 94.5 x 26.0 x 16.5; male bust figurehead-removed by 1865; some repairs 1857 & 1867; 1885 roundhouse removed.
Owners: 1849 John Tully & John Tully junior, Sunderland; 1865 George Younghusband (Northgate Street) Hartlepool; March 1865 George Younghusband, Joseph Edward Murrell, Mary Ann Watson & William Bird Gray, Hartlepool; March 1874-83 Benjamin Ralph Huntley, Hartlepool; by 1885 H.W. Smith, Hartlepool; by 1886 H.W. Smith, St Sampsons, Guernsey.
Masters: 1850 Thompson; 1853 John Anderson; 1857 Thompson; 1858-60 Emerson; 1861-73 C Kirton; 1873 Thompson; 1874-85 William Fountain (b. 1839 Norfolk); 1886 J Joynt.
Voyages: October 1865 Cronstadt for London; from the Baltic for Hartlepool in July 1870 a boy, Thomas Carr Watson, fell overboard & drowned; 8 November 1880 she was ashore near Dunkirk & was damaged.
On a voyage from St Sampsons, Guernsey to London with a cargo of broken granite & a crew of 10 Cicero foundered in heavy weather in West Bay near Portland on 9 March 1886. The lifeboat from the SS Triton saved the crew.
Board of Trade Humanity Medal was awarded to Richard Care, master of the SS Triton of Hartlepool, Gallantry medal to TW Rank, mate & financial rewards to four of the crew for their services to the shipwrecked crew of the Cicero.
More detail »Elf 1846-1882
Arbroath: Official No. 25922: Code Letters PJBD: wood brigantine sheathed in yellow metal; keel 15; 211g; 91.2 x 23.6 x 14.4.
Owners: 1846 T & A Lyell, Arbroath; 1856-70 Scrafton Stonehouse (Middlesbrough) Roger & Elizabeth Stonehouse (Skinningrove) Nathaniel Stonehouse (Skelton Mill) Stockton-on-Tees; by 1874-82 George Younghusband (Northgate Street) John Cockburn & MA Watson, Hartlepool.
Masters: 1848-54 T Lyell; 1880-81 J Shaol; 1881 Dennis.
1 July 1882 an auction was held for the hull & stores of Elf. She was lying at Dring & Pattison’s gridiron at Hartlepool.
More detail »Niobe 1840-1863
Sunderland: Official No. 14345: Code Letters LMSG: one deck; two & trysail masts; square stern; carvel built wood snow sheathed in zinc; 264g; 252nt; 87.6 x 23.0 x 15.8; some repairs 1848, 1851 & 1853.
Owners: 1840 William, Thomas Bell & Robert Ord, Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland; 1851 John Punshon Denton (Hartlepool) William, Thomas Bell & Robert Ord (Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland) Hartlepool; 1853-62 Thomas Wilson, William Watson, George Younghusband & Andrew Smith (Sunderland) Hartlepool.
Masters: 1842-47 J Glen; 1848-50 Tullock; 1851-53 George Bravey; December 1853 John Work (C.N. 1229 South Shields 1848); 1854-62 Andrew Smith; 1862 McCarthy; 1863 Musgrove.
Niobe went ashore at Kurgola on 20 May 1863. Because she was lying on a rock she sprang a leak & filled with water.
More detail »William & Ann 1837-1878
Thomas Metcalfe & Son, South Shields: Official No. 5164: Code Letters JGNF: two decks; two & trysail masts; square stern; carvel built wood snow; 232g; 86.9 x 23.6 x 15.8; repairs to damage 1850.
Owners: October 1837 William Watson (died 1850 South Shields) Newcastle-on-Tyne; June 1850 William Watson, Hartlepool; July 1850 George Younghusband, Hartlepool.
Masters: October 1837 William Watson; July 1838 John Warden; July 1839 George Cram; March 1843 Thomas Robinson; 1843 Watson; February 1844 John Warden; March 1844 William Watson; July 1850 Richard Sharp; January 1852 Andrew Smith (C.N. 226); 1852-53 Richard Sharp; October 1853-57 John Hunter; 1860-65 JE Murrell; 1867 Morris; 1878 John Ferry.
Voyages: April 1850 onshore south of the jetty at Hartlepool; 23 October 1857 onshore at the Naze, Harwich; from Hartlepool for London she was going out of Hewitts Gateway near Galleon’s Reach on 3 April 1860 when one of the crew, Alfred Hibbs aged 18 of Wivenhoe, fell overboard & was drowned.
On a voyage from Seaham for Medway with a cargo of coal & a crew of seven William & Ann foundered after a collision with the steamer Tabor off the Middle Swin lightship in the Thames on 25 January 1878. Four lives lost.
The master of the Tabor, Kardel Mankin, had his certificate suspended for six months for negligence.
Lives lost January 1878:
Adamson, George, cook
Ferry, John, master
Lewis, John, mate
seaman
More detail »Newcastle Journal, May 4th, 1870:
TOTAL WRECK OF A HARTLEPOOL COLLIER BRIG. Yesterday, a telegram reached Hartlepool, conveying intelligence of the total loss of the brig William Watson, Captain Wilson, of that port, on the 28th ult., on the coast of the island of Aland, in the Gulf of Finland. The ship, which belonged to Mrs. Allen, of Hartlepool, was a vessel of 23 keels, and left Hartlepool on the 26th March, with coals for Swinemunde. Having discharged her cargo,, she was proceeding to Gefle, to load timber, when she fell in with this mishap. Very providentially the crew were all saved; but the vessel herself, which is insured in the Alliance and Mutual clubs, at Hartlepool, will be a total loss.
William Watson 1836-1870
Joseph Halmsley, Southwick, Sunderland: Official No. 26105: Code Letters PJSG: one deck; two & trysail masts; square stern; carvel built wood snow; 259g; 83.3 x 21. 9 x 16.5; lengthened to 99.6 x 25.0, new deck, repairs to damage & other repairs at Hartlepool in 1855.
Owners: February 1836 William Watson (South Shields) Newcastle-on-Tyne; by 1855 William Watson, Hartlepool; 1860 William Watson (died 1863) & George Younghusband, Hartlepool; by 1866 George Younghusband, Mary Ann Watson & William Bird Gray, Hartlepool.
Masters: 1836-37 Watson; April 1838 Thomas Harrison; October 1838 John Hunter; December 1838 Henry Weatherston; March 1841 William Bousfield; March 1845 Robert Wilson; 1850 John Hunter; July 1853 Thomas Nellis; December 1853 George Potter; January 1854 George Storrow; April 1854 John Turpin; July 1854 Porpin; August 1854 William Walker; 1857 George Storrow; 1858-60 G Potter; 1860 Jones; 1860 Ash; 1861 Green; 1862-65 George Potter; December 1865 J Green; 1866-69 George Potter; 1870 A Wilson.
Voyages: 29 May 1854 from Hartlepool arriving at Montreal with a cargo of coal & tar on 25 July 1854; 18 October 1854 from Quebec for Hartlepool with timber she stranded during squally weather near Tetney Haven. She drove from her anchors, bilged & became embedded in the sand. Her cargo was discharged & she was got off on 22 October very much damaged; 27 January 1860 stranded at Robin Hood’s Bay during a storm & re-floated; from Swinemunde for Gefle in ballast & with a crew of eight she went ashore at Aalund Island on 20 March 1870. No lives lost. The vessel was re-floated in June & taken to Mariham in the Gulf of Bothnia where she was found to have little hull damage.
On a voyage from Swinemunde for Gefle William Watson was stranded at Lagskar, Aland Islands on 28 March 1870. At the time she was reported to be totally wrecked & the loss was recorded on the Hartlepool Customs House Register. She was fully insured in local clubs. A further report stated that in June 1870 she was got off & taken to Mariham in the Gulf of Bothnia where she was found to be not too badly damaged. She may have been broken up or sold & renamed.
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