John Readhead & Sons - Introduction
John Readhead & Sons - History
John Readhead and Sons - the People
Readhead's Ships
Readheads Ships, including photos
The Technical Offices & Head Office
The Engine Works & Drawing Office
Readhead's Timeline
Local Memories
The Steel Trades
The Outfitting Trades
Other trades
Royal Visits
More photo's
Newspaper & website publicity
The West Docks
The Readhead Family Tree
Readhead's Customers
Local Pubs, social scene, sports, Ashley House & Woodies sho
The Readhead Shipping Line
Readhead's Launch Photos
Photos
Photos 2
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2
UNDER CONSTRUCTION 3
UNDER CONSTRUCTION 4
UNDER CONSTRUCTION 5
Message Board
Guestbook
Mail Form
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Newspaper publicity
 | An old advert for Readhead's Yard |
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Shields Gazette; Wednesday August 25th 1965
 | Front page coverage in the Shields Gazette Wednesday August 25th 1965 as an important new order is announced.
Massive sales drive brings centenary 'shot in the arm'
READHEAD'S LAND NEAR £3m. ORDER
20,000-ton bulk carriers mean jobs to 1967
BY OUR SHIPPING REPORTER
Two shipbuilding export orders worth over £2 3/4m. have been won for the Tyne by John Readhead and Sons, South Shields. The company is to build a 21,000 ton deadweight bulk carrier for the Somerston Shipping Company, Bermuda, and a 22,750-ton deadweight bulk carrier for A/S Dansk-Franske Dampskibsselskab of Copenhagen.
These will be the biggest ships ever built at the yard and work is now ensured there until May, 1967. Readhead's have won both contracts against strong competition both from other U.K. as well as overseas yards, including Japanese.
They are the reward for an intensified sales drive which the company has undertaken abroad in recent months and which has seen senior members of the management, including Mr. G. H. R. Towers, chairman and managing director, foraging for orders in several countries.
Said Mr. Towers:"It is wonderful to get these two big ships to build, particularly as this is our centenary year.
It is the first time that we have built for either of these companies and the first time that Danske-Franske have come to this country for a ship."
Keen prices
Mr. Towers said both ships had been taken at keen prices and on "very tight" deliveries.
"The ship for Somerston Shipping Company is for delivery in December next year and that for Danske-Franske in May, 1967," he went on. "We would probably have not got them had we not been able to offer quick delivery.
The delivery times are important. We have assured the owners that we will keep them and it is vital that all concerned work together to see that these dates are held. Future goodwill depends on it."
Credit terms
Mr. Towers said the cheaper credit terms which the Government now proffered to foreign owners to build ships in the U.K. had "helped a lot" in winning the orders.
The bulk carrier for the Somerston Shipping Company will have a length of 530ft and be fitted with a Doxford diesel engine giving a service speed of 14 knots.
The Danish carrier will have a B. and W. Diesel engine to be supplied by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, and giving a speed of 15 knots.
To accommodate this ship, one of the two building berths at the yard will be enlarged.
Expansion
Mr. Towers added: "We have recently been building up and greatly expanding our connections overseas, both through sending our own personnel abroad and also through the company's London-based sales organisation.
The company has broken new ground once more by moving into a size range of 20,000 tons plus. Both ships when completed will also be the largest vessels in their respective fleets." |
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Newcastle Evening Chronicle Feature - Tuesday July 25th, 2006
The Newcastle Evening Chronicle Feature - Tuesday July 25th, 2006
Great days of Tyne shipyard
By Nick Whitten
Industrial Reporter
A website has been set up to remember the good old days at a Tyneside shipyard.
John Bage, 58, of Fellgate in Jarrow, has put together the website in memory of the former John Readhead and Sons shipyard in South Shields which was on the site of what is now McNulty Offshore in Commercial Road.
Mr Bage is looking for people who worked at the yard to contribute by offering their memories, stories and photographs of life at the yard which built more than 600 ships, mostly Merchant Navy vessels, between 1865 and 1984.
Readhead's had a huge social and economic influence in South Shields, employing more than 2,000 people in its hey day during the Second World War.
As with many of the yards along the Tyne, its contribution to the war effort cannot be underestimated despite severe air raid damage in April, 1941.
A total of 35 vessels were built between 1939 and 1945, including 31 cargo ships with a total carrying capacity of almost 307,000 tons.
Mr Bage started as an apprentice at the yard on August 17, 1964, and worked there until the mid-70's.
He worked through the big changesof the late 1960's when Swan Hunter took over all the yards on the Tyne under the name Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd.
Mr Bage left in 1975 and the yard was eventually closed in 1984 after a major financial crisis.
He now works at Pearson Engineering in Walker and said: "Putting together this website is kind of like a hobby for me.
It is something that came about through reminiscing about my days working in the shipyards, partly inspired by what has been going on at Swan Hunter in recent months.
The website is still under construction and I am hoping for many more photographs and memories.
A lot of people worked there over the years and a lot of those must still be alive and have stories to tell."
The yard's founder John Readhead spent his early years as a miner at Earsdon Colliery.
At the age of 32 he decided to move across the river to South Shields where, in 1850, he started training as a shipwright.
In 1865 he opened his own shipyard which enjoyed great success over the next 100 years and more.
The website can be seen at www.communigate.co.uk/ne/readhead
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Shields Gazette; 9th May 1940
The following article was printed in the Shields Gazette on the 9th May 1940 under 'A Shieldsman's Diary' by Odd Man Out.
Origin and Development Of Readhead's Shipyard.
The heart of the people of South Shields is sorely touched by the loss of so notable a townsman as Sir James H. Readhead. The suddenness of the call - snatched from us within a few hours, and while seemingly in the best of health - will heighten the sorrow. He was a genuine man, kindly, unpretentious and uniformly courteous in manner and speech, he was one whom to know is not soon to forget. The sad news came first hand to his works, where the hoisting of the flag half mast high and the immediate ordered cessation of work, gave an obvious thrill of dismay and tense grief to everyone, for Sir James was beloved of his men and officials. They left their jobs reluctantly and talked quietly in groups before taking their departure to their homes. They had lost a friend whose place will not be easily filled.
And the town is just as badly hit. Sir James has been a steadfast citizen both in service and benevolence and we shall respect his memory for these and other virtues.
First Iron Ship
It is interesting to recall that the firm of Messrs John Readhead and Sons constitutes a link with the origin of shipbuilding on the Tyne. We know from carefully preserved records that the first iron shipbuilder in South Shields was Mr.T.D.Marshall grandfather of the late Ald.T.D.Marshall, who was Mayor of the borough in 1898. The aforementioned carried on business in what formerly had been Woodhouse's yard at the Lawe, a builder of wooden ships.
It was in 1839 that he launched the pioneer ship of its kind. It was in this same yard that Mr.John Readhead (grandfather of Sir James H.Readhead) began shipbuilding. He had been engineering manager for Marshall Brothers (successor to the pioneer builder). In 1865 he acquired the site, and in partnership with Mr.J.Softley began shipbuilding.
This partnership was dissolved in 1874, and the business was carried on by Mr.John Readhead on his own, afterwards, taking into partnership his sons when they came of age.
Move to West Docks
In 1881, the firm, in the way of development, transferred the whole of their shipbuilding and engineering works to the present situation at West Docks, where they found more extensive space and added shiprepairing works and a graving dock to their business.
In 1909 the old established partnership was converted into a private limited liability company with Sir James Readhead, father of the deceased, acting as chairman and managing director. Only members of the Readhead family possessed interests under the new regime. Thus the traditions of the Readheads were fully maintained of being the only firm of importance on the Tyne that was privately owned in this respect.
84 Ships for One Firm
An outstanding achievement in the firm's history, probably it has no parallel in the whole country, is that they built the whole fleet of steamers owned by the Hain Steamship Co.,St.Ives,Cornwall, consisting of 84 cargo-carrying vessels.The Trewidden was the first ship, the contract for which was signed on May 24, 1878. She was a steamer of 1,700 tons. The last ship which left West Docks for the Cornish firm was one of 8,500 tons deadweight capacity - practically five times larger than the Trewidden.
Friend, Not Foe
There is a singular romance in the circumstances which brought about the business relations of the two firma. I remember the narrative as it was told by the first Sir James at the launch of one of the "Tre" - liners.
It happened in the Lawe yard. Mr Hain himself was doing a little prospecting on Tyneside before placing his first order, and a stroke of good fortune brought him to South Shields. He saw from the bank top in the Lawe yard just the class of ship he desired and proceeded to the gates of the shipyard and passed within. A stranger and a trespasser!
Mr James Readhead (Sir James afterwards) picked up the transgressor from his ofice window, and hastened to enquire the trepidity of the stranger and his object. It was just too delightful for anything, of course, when explanations were given and under friendly escort the great founder of the St.Ives firm was soon seated in the best chair of the office as it were, partaking of the shipbuilder's best hospitality.
That was the forging of the first link in a chain of lucrative business which extended over a period of 40 years. |
Shields Gazette; Wednesday July 19th 2006
Cookson Country with Janis Blower
Readhead's dominant in prime
It seems a lifetime now since we built ships in Shields, although Aker McNulty continue to fly the flag for marine fabrication.
Indeed a generation has grown-up that will have no memory of gala events such as launch days, or of riverside streets into which shipyard hooters decanted hundreds of racing men at the end of the working day.
And when you talk of shipbuilding in the town, of course, then you are talking of Readhead's.
For more than a century, until its demise in the 1980's, the yard's name was known and respected around the world; while, locally, members of the Readhead family played an active role in public life.
But what are your memories?
John Bage in Jarrow would love to know.
John has started a website dedicated to Readhead's and its workforce.
"I'd like to encourage ex-workers to get in touch with their memories and stories," he says.
There's a lot on the site to enjoy, including a history of the company which was started in a small way by John Readhead in a yard below the Lawe in the 1860's.
On expanding, it moved to the West Docks where it remained for more than a century and which is now occupied by McNulty's.
Of course, its presence had a big impact on that end of the town.
Perhaps ex-Readhead's men remember drinking in the two locals, the Neptune pub, since demolished, and the Commercial which is still there.
Perhaps you also remember visiting Woodie's, the nearby shop, for sweets, cigarettes and sandwiches.
You can read the memories of a draughtsman who started at the yard as an office boy and who was there during the Second World War, when even bombing could not stop the yard's production.
And there are some smashing notes on Readhead's built ships.
Find it at www.communigate.co.uk/ne/readhead/index.phtml
The accompanying photographs (in the actual article) are all the Gazette's own.
Unfortunately the people in them were not identified at the time, though I'm sure folk can put names to faces. |
BBC Website - Tyne
From the BBC Tyne website;-http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2007/03/01/john_bage_shipyard_memories_feature.shtml
General features
Proud to be a Shipbuilder
(photo)A ship on the berth in the 1960s
Proud to be a Shipbuilder
By Contributor John Bage
John Bage looks back with fondness to the days when he worked at John Readhead and Sons...
Lasting memories
My years at Readhead's were a pleasure and I met some very fine people who became a source of encouragement for me for the rest of my life.
I will never forget the sights and sounds of the shipyard, the flashing of the welding torches and the cascades of sparks as the burners trimmed the plates, or the sight of the towering cranes busily lifting the sections of the ship into place on the berth.
(photo)John's photo of a ship being launched
Launch day was something special as the visitors gathered. A band would play as the blocks on the launch ways were hammered out.
After a short speech by the person doing the ceremony the champagne bottle would be smashed on the stem and then the ship would gradually pick up speed and plunge into the river, quickly followed by a huge pile of drag chains sliding along the ground and preventing her from going too far out.
The tugs would be standing by and would sound their horns and hooters and the crowds would cheer. It was an amazing experience.
Special people
We were so proud of every one of those ships. We had worked on them perhaps for 12 months or more and would know them inside out.
(photo)Swan Hunter cranes across the river from Readheads
Working in the shipyard community created a special kind of person. They were proud of what they did and most of them were happy to do the job for the rest of their working lives - and to do it well.
The loss of shipbuilding on the Tyne was a massive blow to this area. Not only were thousands of skilled jobs lost but the structure of this unique community was destroyed forever.
Shipbuilding was a main employer on this river for centuries but the government favoured 'high-tech' companies such as Siemens - and how long did they last, and at what cost to the tax-payer?
The yards also provided hundreds of apprenticeships for school leavers and as far as learning the trade goes these were second to none. The youngsters also learned discipline and respect for older people as well as gaining self-respect.
(photo)John Bage in 2007 with Swans in the distance
The people in the North-East shipyards were unique, and this has been said many times by many people.
I can confirm that they were very special from my years working with so many of them in and around the shipyards of the Tyne and Wear.
Find out more about Readhead's shipyards on John Bage's website:
Visit the website about John Readhead and Sons
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
John Bage was born in South Shields and lived there for 28 years before moving to Jarrow.
He worked in the shipbuilding industry from 1964 to 1989 and now works for a local engineering company
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