Mr Angus Campbell

[tozzin]

Angus Campbell Lloyds Register Surveyor of 90 Southgrove Road

 

The decorative roundel on the facia board can be seen on 90 Southgrove Road, in 1900 it was the home of Lloyds Register Surveyor Mr Angus Campbell, a Scot through and through, all my searches on this particular chap came to nothing so I emailed Lloyd`s Register and below is the answer I received from them.
“We have very limited details of this particular former employee but I can confirm that he joined Lloyd’s Register in our Sheffield office on the 23 August 1900 as Ship & Engineer Surveyor and worked there until 1905 before being transferred to our Swansea office. The only other personal information we have is that he was born on the 3rd January 1869 and when he joined our staff was married. We have no details about what exactly he did whilst being based in Sheffield, but most likely he was involved in the inspection and certification of the steel which would be used for shipbuilding. The steel had to be of a very good quality for it to be used for in the construction of ships so would need to be tested and then approved before being sent to the various shipbuilders across the country.
He was moved around by Lloyd’s Register in the 32 years he worked for us. After Swansea he was transferred to our Manchester office in 1913 and during World War I his services were lent by Lloyd’s Register to the Ministry of Munitions and later to The Controller of Shipping before returning to work for us again at the end of the war in Greenock and Glasgow. He was promoted to Senior Engineer Surveyor in February 1924 and finally retired in December 1932. I am afraid that is as much as we can tell you about him. Lloyd’s Register Surveyors were exempt from joining the services as their work was of national importance, particularly in the shipbuilding industry which had to continue so that also explains why he was seconded to other places during the war. I am sorry that we have so little to tell you, but it is slightly better than nothing“.
A very interesting answer Im sure you will agree, I was surprised they had kept his records after 118 years, Lloyd's Register of Shipping is well known, but is often confused with Lloyd's of London. Both came out of the same 18th Century coffee shop in London that was frequented by merchants, marine underwriters, and others, all men associated with shipping, while Lloyd's Of London is an international insurance market, Lloyd's Register of Shipping is a classification society that surveys vessels in service and under construction. During the 19th Century its surveyors drew up rules to ensure that ships were built to certain standards and, if they wanted to maintain their classification rating, maintained to set standards. It is from Lloyd's Register that we get the expression "A1 at Lloyd's" and "100A1". The organisation was named after a 17th-century coffee house owner, Edward Lloyd, he helped them to exchange information by circulating a printed sheet of all the news he heard. Between 1800 and 1833, a dispute between ship owners and underwriters resulted in each group publishing a list, the "Red Book" and the "Green Book". Both parties came to the verge of bankruptcy. They reached agreement in 1834 to unite and form Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping, The Society printed the first Register of Ships in 1764 in order to give both underwriters and merchants an idea of the condition of the vessels they insured and chartered, ship hulls were graded by a lettered scale A being the best, and ship's fittings, masts, rigging, and other equipment were graded by number 1 being the best. A vessel remains registered with Lloyd's Register until she is sunk, wrecked, hulked, or scrapped. 
I think we have all heard of Lloyds Lutine Bell, the Lutine was a frigate which served in both the French Navy and the Royal Navy, she was launched by the French in 1779. The ship passed to British control in 1793, she sank during a storm at Vlieland in the West Frisian Islands on 9 October 1799, whilst carrying a large shipment of gold. Shifting sandbanks disrupted salvage attempts, and the majority of the cargo has never been recovered. Lloyd's of London has preserved her salvaged bell, the Lutine Bell,  which is now used for ceremonial purposes at their headquarters in London. 
The ship's bell engraved, "ST. JEAN - 1779", was recovered on 17 July 1858. The bell was found entangled in the chains originally running from the ship's wheel to the rudder, and was originally left in this state before being separated and re-hung from the rostrum of the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's. It remains a mystery why the name on the bell does not correspond with that of the ship. The bell was traditionally struck when news of an overdue ship arrived - once for the loss of a ship, bad news and twice for her return good news. The bell was sounded to ensure that all brokers and underwriters were made aware of the news simultaneously. The bell has developed a crack and the traditional practice of ringing news has ended: the last time it was rung to tell of a lost ship was in 1979 and the last time it was rung to herald the return of an overdue ship was in 1989.
During World War II, the Nazi radio propagandist Lord Haw-Haw asserted that the bell was being rung continuously because of Allied shipping losses during the Battle of the Atlantic. In fact, the bell was rung once, with one ring, during the war, when the Bismarck was sunk. 
 
 

[Michael W]

I was interested in seeing your post as i was born on Southgrove road, i notice however you head the post as Southbourne road!! A typo?

[tozzin]

On 17/03/2023 at 09:49, Michael W said:

I was interested in seeing your post as i was born on Southgrove road, i notice however you head the post as Southbourne road!! A typo?

Amended thanks.