Evan Thomas, Radcliffe and Company was one of the more prosperous and better-known of Cardiff-based shipowning companies, established in 1882 by a Ceredigion sea captain, Evan Thomas, and a Merthyr Tydfil businessman, Henry Radcliffe. Until 1939 one of the main trades of the company was to carry Welsh steam coal, which reached its peak in the years immediately before World War I. The company was ceased trading in the 1980s.
History
Origins
In 1881, Evan Thomas, a Master Mariner from Aberporth in Ceredigion who had served with Jones Bros. of Newport an JH Anning of Cardiff, went into partnership with Henry Radcliffe, a Merthyr Tydfil businessman and they bought their first ship together. The combination of master mariner and businessman as partners was not uncommon at this time in Cardiff.
It was not hard for the partners to raise money to buy their first ship, with most of the capital being raised in Wales. The partners risked very little of their own money, instead buying the ship on mortgage. The capital being raised as shares in a single ship company.
Evan Thomas
Captain Evan Thomas was a master mariner from the West Wales village of Aberporth in Ceredigion. His family lived at Dolwen, a substantial house overlooking the beach. He was the son of Hezekiah Thomas (1805–1869) who owned a 47-ton ketch, Pheasant, and part-owner of a number of other vessels. From Aberporth coal and limestone was imported by coastal vessels from South Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay. Evan Thomas's brother, Thomas Thomas (1836–1911) was a part-time sailor, part-time farmer, and became secretary of the Aberporth Mutual Ship Insurance Society.
Capt. Evan Thomas obtained his master's certificate and after eight years as Master in Steam in the tramps of the Baltic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, and United States of America proposed the setting up of a new ship-owning company in Cardiff, the booming coal metropolis.
Evan Thomas commanded Gwenllian Thomas, the first ship bought by Evan Thomas, Radcliffe. By 1884 Evan Thomas gave up the sea, and on his death at the age of 59 on 14 November 1891 the company he had established less than ten years previously owned 15 tramp steamships.
Evan Thomas had a son and four daughters.
Henry Radcliffe
Henry Radcliffe (1857–1921) was a businessman from Merthyr Tydfil, an important Welsh industrial town. On the death of Evan Thomas in 1891, Henry Radcliffe took into partnership his younger brother Daniel. Henry Radcliffe died in 1921 at the age of 66 at his home in Druidstone, St Mellons. He left a son, Wyndham Ivor Radcliffe and two daughters, Clarissa Gwendoline Gwynne Maitland and Sarah Ethel Radcliffe.
He was an extensive owned of land in the Vale of Glamorgan and held shares in a large number of companies in South Wales including the Taff Vale Railway, Barry Railway Co., Vale of Glamorgan Railway Co., Tempus Shipping Co., Cardiff Port Iron & Coal Storage Co., North's Navigation Collieries Ltd., Great Western Colliery Co. Ltd., P. & A. Campbell Ltd., Cambrian Railways, Alexandra Docks Newport and Guest Keen & Nettlefolds.
On the death of Henry Radcliffe, chairmanship of the company passed on to his younger brother Daniel.
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe of Tal-y-werydd, Penylan, Cardiff, joined the company at the age of 24 in 1892 having previously worked for Cardiff shipowners JH Anning and the Turnbull Brothers. On joining the company he promoted rapid growth with the result that in 1900 the business owned a total of 24 ships.
Daniel Radcliffe died on 29 March 1933.
Early years
As Evan Thomas, Radcliffe's business succeeded, more and more ships were added to the fleet. As many as 31 single-ship companies were registered in the company's name. Gwenllian Thomas went to sea under the command of Evan Thomas, his partner taking charge of the office at 4 Dock Chambers and all the chartering arrangements. In 1882, a second ship, Iolo Morganwg (1,292 tons) was bought from Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company of Jarrow who has already built Gwenllian Thomas. In 1883 came Kate Thomas (1,588 tons) and Anne Thomas (1,419 tons) followed by Wynnstay (1,542 tons) in 1884. Around this time Evan Thomas gave up the sea.