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Business of National Importance. The Royal Mail Shipping Group, 1902-1937

Details:

  • Author(s) Green, Edwin, & Michael Moss
  • Publication type Monograph
  • Year published 1982
  • Pages 291pp; illus
  • Publisher Methuen
  • Place Published London

Topics:

  • Name Crime & misdemeanour inc fraud, theft & sharp practice
  • Name Business/Industry failure, decline, lack of success, etc: collapse of businesses
  • Name Business/Industry failure, decline, lack of success, etc: decline of businesses

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Notes:

Scholarly account of the Royal Mail Shipping Group from when it passed in to the control of Owen [later Lord Kylsant] and John Philipps in 1902 to its collapse in 1930 and the subsequent rescue of its components in which the Bank of England along with the Treasury, City banks and other shipping businesses were closely involved. In particular explores the rescue and restructuring of the business and the legal issues associated with the issuance of a misleading prospectus by Lord Kylsant. Extensive appendices cover the structure of the group, the extent of the Group's investments, ownership of its ordinary capital and capital history of its leading components, 1929-30. Includes much about the subsidiaries African Steam Ship Co, British & African Steam Navigation Co, Coast Lines Ltd, Elder Dempster & Co Ltd, Glen Line, King Line, Lamport & Holt Ltd, Moss Steam Ship Co, Union Castle Mail Steamship Co. Also, and notably, Harland & Wolff Ltd, builders to the Group, and the Bank of England