We talk a lot about shipbuilding, and for the past 4 months I've specifically been diving into Wearside and its global influence over the industry. However, there was a huge supply chain along the river that supplied the works with everything they needed - ropes, engines and even ventilators.
Dr John Towner has spent some time diving in on the latter, and a local Hendon firm ran by John Robson. I'm privileged to share with you some of his research.
The shipbuilding industry on the River Wear consisted of not only the great firms like Thompsons, Laings, Pickersgills and Austins, but the many small firms supplying equipment to fit on their vessels. Records have survived for the large yards but when the small firms closed little material was kept. John Robson (Sunderland) Ltd was one of these. When the works closed in the mid-1970s, virtually all material was destroyed with no thought of their historical value.
What follows is, then, only a very sketchy account of the firm. But it was thought worth recording something before all memory of the enterprise vanished.
Most of what is known about the founder of the firm, John Robson (JR), and his enterprise comes from the census and trade directories. Other sources include Ordnance Survey maps, The Victoria County History of Sunderland (VCH), and Smith and Holden’s Where Ships are Born (1946). Most of the other information comes from the recollections of family members, as well as some family photographs.
The work of John Robson's
The founder of the firm was John Robson (1847-1906) (JR). He was born in Charles Street, Gateshead in 1847. By the 1871 census he had moved to Sunderland and become a tinsmith. Wards Directory for 1879-80 records him working as a “tinner” in west side, South Dock.
The works were at Back Parade, or Back Rock Terrace, Hendon, close to the railway along the coast and featured in the photographs below. JR lived close to the works, in Old Mill Road. Back Parade remained the premises until the firm closed in 1976. John Robson, the eldest son of JR, ran the office. The other two brothers, Robert and Tom, ran the works. One daughter, Ellen, married the famous Sunderland footballer, Charles Buchan, who later joined the board of the firm. Image 6 shows “John Robson, Ship Ventilator Works, Back Rock Terrace, Back Parade, Sunderland”. The figure in a suit on the far left is John Robson. Next but one, moving right, is Thomas Robson and next to him Robert Robson, “with arms like tree trunks”. It would be good if any readers were able to identify the other people in these photographs.
The firm initially made ships lamps (Kelly’s 1890 Directory for Durham) and later other metal works but eventually specialised in ship’s ventilators. They also made tanks and coaming for ships. The Ordnance Survey map for 1914 shows the works labelled as “Tank, Ventilator and Coaming Works”.
John Robson’s became a limited company in 1922. The firm’s fortunes were very much geared to the fortunes of Sunderland’s shipbuilders, waxing and waning over the years. Both world wars were important for the firm, with simple standardised merchant ships forming a market for their ventilators. Work was also found on the Clyde and elsewhere but no details have survived. Lack of investment meant the work was still largely metal-bashing with few new machines.
We do not know how many men were employed. There are no surviving records but the early photos referred to above show up to 11 men. Another, shows 14 men. The image below dates from the 1960s and shows one of the largest ventilators that the firm built.
The twilight years
Eventually, the fortunes of the firm declined. The third John Robson, the managing director, (my uncle), kept the firm going in its later stages. He was always the first at the works in the morning, opening the gates for the men. One development which helped the firm considerably was the design of SD14 cargo ships by Austin Pickersgill. These were built from 1967 and their simple design used the cowl ventilators which John Robsons built. As some of these ships survive in various parts of the world, we can hope that some John Robson ventilators continue to work in the twenty first century. John Robson died in 1972. His widow, Edna, and Anice, the daughter of Robert Robson, became directors and kept things going for a time. The Sunderland Echo had an item (shown below) dated 17th April 1973, showing Edna and Anice presenting gold watches to the longest serving employees of John Robson (Sunderland) ltd. They were: Thomas Grieves 51 years, John Telford 49 years, George Cranmer 47 years, Dominic Leonard 32 years, Walter Senior 35 years, Harry Senior 35 years, George Charlton 25 years. Again, are there any relatives of these men who remember this? The firm was liquidated in 1976.
The site today
Google Earth (2012), showed a rather dilapidated set of buildings of red brick and other assorted materials in Back Parade. Google Earth (2024) shows only the odd brick remnant, probably the sole survivor of the works. John Robson’s house in Old Mill Road is long gone.
John is a former senior lecturer at Northumbria University
References:
VCH – Victoria County History, A History of the County of Durham, vol v, Sunderland, ed G Cookson, 2015.
Smith, JW and Holden, TS, Where Ships are Born, Sunderland 1346-1946. Sunderland 1946.
Minute book – The firm’s minute book – family possession
Kelly’s Directory for Durham, 1890
Ward’s Directory of Newcastle and Sunderland, 1907-8.
Ordnance Survey 25inch Durham sheet viii.15 1914
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