The advent of war brought endless difficulties and complications for Irish coal importers and coastal shipping. Quite apart from the risk of attack, there were problems finding satisfactory crews, seemingly infinite amounts of red tape, and Ministry control of all freight rates with figures only a little above the pre-war level though wages and costs were rising. The three Neill steamers mostly continued to import coal to Ulster while many other local colliers were requisitioned for war service. Indirectly, the war caused the sinking of the River Humber on 4 June 1940. On a voyage from Dublin to Preston in ballast, she was in collision off the Skerries, Anglesey, with H.M.S. Folkestone, an Atlantic escort sloop attending a convoy, and four of her crew were lost: J. Cully, J. Gibson, J. McMaster and F. Maginniss. This led Charles Neill Ltd. into a prolonged legal dispute over insurance compensation. The crucial point being whether the ship was lost as a result of marine or war risk. This was a test case which set a precedent for such actions and the ruling eventually was that the Government's War Risks Association was liable, the award being much less than the owners would have received from Lloyd's marine underwriters.
The firm could not afford to buy another vessel, but the Ministry of War Transport allocated them a Dutch motor coaster to manage. The Fredanja, 277 gross tons, had been among many which had escaped the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and in fact had later been among the evacuation fleet at Dunkirk. She was making a voyage from Maryport to Donaghadee on New Year's Day, 1942, when she ran aground on the north-east tip of the Copeland Island; the engines were put astern but on refloating she promptly sank. Today her wreck is a popular site for sub-aqua club divers. Later in the war, Charles Neill Ltd. employed to carry their Bangor coal a very similar-sized vessel to the River Humber, the Rivelin, 365 gross tons, 145 net. She was not often seen in Donaghadee where the war's alteration of normal trading patterns meant that some unusually large two-hatch vessels were sent. (The fixed steam crane at Donaghadee meant that single-hatch steamers were more suitable). One of the largest cargoes ever unloaded at this little port was 464 tons of coal from Silloth, which Charles Neill Ltd. brought in on 9 March 1943 on the Edern of Liverpool, interestingly, one of the sisters of the Whin.
The Whin herself had a narrow escape from destruction in the Mersey on 3 May 1941. Having locked out of Garston docks on the tide, she was passing Herculaneum Dock astern of the Belfast collier Corbet, Captain William Hill, of Annalong, when the Corbet struck a mine and went down. Captain McGrady was subsequently decorated for his part in rescuing survivors.
The Whin traded steadily for Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. during the war, but the Briar was sold on 6 November 1944 to Rose Line Ltd. of Sunderland, who later renamed her Glenside. She was converted to diesel power by Danish owners in the 1950s, and, astonishingly, is still listed in ‘Lloyd's Register' under Italian ownership bearing the name Patimax.
From 1944 until her disposal in 1957, the Whin was the sole Bangor-owned collier and was firmly established as 'part of’ Bangor's seafront. She was supplemented by vessels chartered on the spot market for a cargo at a time, while Charles Neill Ltd. relied on a wide variety of ships to supply them. A look at Bangor shipping records for a sample year, 1948, shows that out of 169 coal cargoes, the Whin brought no fewer than 56. Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. also imported two cargoes of bricks from Irvine in Ayrshire.
With installation of the big new electric grab crane on the Central Pier in 1953 (scrapped in 1978) handling of vessels at the South Pier ceased, and a fresh function as an amusement park took over. The berth began to silt and what originally was known as 'Neill’s Pier' was very rarely used until the opening by a Manx firm of a cargo service to the Isle of Man in 1982. The new Bangor crane also began to handle all Donaghadee's coal for John Neill and Sons. The closure of the Belfast and Co. Down Railway's Donaghadee line in April 1950, the improvement in road transport and the trend to larger vessels combined to rob Donaghadee of its trade, the final coal cargo being unloaded from the steamer Finvoy in October 1955.
1955 was a year that saw Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. venture outside their customary business activities. Amy Neill, the eldest sister of the brothers Jack, William and Sam had married Stewart Christie, who owned a wholesale grocery business in Newtownards. On his death in 1955, a year after his wife, the Neill firm bought the concern, which was thenceforward managed by Arthur Neill, a son of Sam. The business was sold in 1970.
The faithful Whin, last of the 39 vessels the Neill family had owned since the 1830s, arrived in Dublin on 21 June 1957 for breaking up by the Hammond Lane Foundry. Worn out, it was no longer economical to put her through increasingly expensive surveys; in 1954, no less than £11,000 had been spent on repairs. So, whistle sounding in farewell, she steamed out of Bangor Bay for the last time. Photographs of the Whin in the later stages of her career show several alterations from the ship that had emerged in 1920. The third mast, aft of the funnel, was removed, plating at the bows heightened, and, most important, the open bridge enclosed - previously the helmsman had been exposed to all weathers! Like so many other Irish coal importers, Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. did not replace their steamers, but relied on spot charters of a wide selection of steamers and the new motorships until they ceased importing through Bangor in 1970, preferring Belfast.
Coal, in fact, gradually began to be superseded in many homes and businesses by oil, and looked to be a fuel source the heyday of which was passing. Mindful of this, most local firms expanded their interests in oil, and Robert Neill's associate company Kingsberry became authorised distributors for Continental Oil Co. (CONOCO) the. multi-national 'moguls'. John F., 'Jack', Neill died in 1966 and the Bangor business passed into the management of his nephew Roger. By now Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. were based at 137 Main Street, Bangor, with the James Kingsberry Ltd. business being carried on from 22 Arthur Street (since 1974, 28 Arthur Street) Belfast.
Jack's son James Brian and the latter's cousin Guy Beresford Campbell, 'Berry,' Neill,. were involved running the Kingsberry firm. Brian Neill, born in 1921 into the fourth generation in the family home, 7 Queen's Parade, and educated at Portora Royal School, served in the Royal Tank Regiment in World War Two before joining Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. and James Kingsberry Ltd. in 1946. Beresford Neill is a son of William Neill, who farmed Tyrella, and followed his father into Kingsberrys in 1952, following education at Haileybury College and a commission in the Rifle Brigade in 1945.
Roger Neill, who died in 1979, was a son of Samuel Neill, who, it will be remembered, took most to do with the family's farming interests. Also educated at Portora, and subsequently Trinity College, Dublin, Roger Neill joined Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. in 1950, following a year in Canada. In 1961, two years after Sam Neill's death, Fonthill Farm was sold, the valuable herd of Friesian cattle being auctioned on 13 September of that year. Now the Bangor ring road cuts through the fields of the old Fonthill farm, last of the family's farming ventures.
Of the underlying movements affecting traditional local coal businesses, the trend to oil was but one, others being the disappearance or contraction of shipping fleets and the centralisation of importing in the larger ports. As well, large groups began to absorb local companies: John Kelly Ltd., who in their time had taken over a number of smaller Irish concerns, were themselves taken over by Powell Duffryn Ltd. and Wm. Cory and Sons Ltd. in 1948, and in 1951 a then little-known Yorkshire firm, Cawood Holdings Ltd., first appeared in Ulster through their absorption of Hugh Craig Ltd., old- established Belfast coal importers. The Cawood name gradually became more prominent and in 1963 Charles Neill Ltd. was taken over. Two important moves in the 1950s had seen the sale of the old family home and offices in Quay Place to Mr. Woodman of the Marine Bar and the firm's base was now 54 Main Street, the position it occupies today. Another familiar landmark today, the firm's extensive storage depot off the Newtownards Road, dates from a couple of years later, 1953.
As with the Robert Neill rivals, cargoes were unloaded at Bangor from a variety of ships with the familiar Irish Sea coaster owners such as Kelly, Coe and Robertson being represented. However, in 1965, the Glasgow company J. and A. Gardner and Co. Ltd. gained a virtual monopoly of the Bangor trade and this continues today, even though there has never been a written contract between Charles Neill Ltd., the only present importers at Bangor, and the firm.
Thus vessels like the Saint Aidan, Saint Colman and Saint William have become almost as well known in Bangor as the Whin or River Humber ever were. Cawood's own vessel Olive was used for Bangor cargoes five times between 1977 and 1981, being the last of the former fleet of another Cawood-controlled company, Joseph Fisher and Sons Ltd., Newry. John Neill and Sons, the Donaghadee coal importers, came back into association with Charles Neill Ltd. in 1965, with their takeover by Cawoods (though Roy Neill, son of John, runs his estate agency in Manor Street, Donaghadee, as a separate concern). Charles Neill Ltd., too, are strongly involved in oil fuel, being authorised distributors for Texaco.
J. R. Watt and Son Ltd., coal importers at Coleraine, also belong to the stable of Cawood Holdings Ltd., which now has diverse interests throughout the British Isles. The group management company is Cawood, Wharton and Co. Ltd., of which Charles Neill is a director; he also holds the position of managing director of the Northern Ireland Division of Cawood Holdings Ltd. Much of our story here has been to do with ships, and still the Neill association with the sea continues, as Cawoods Fuels (N.I.) Ltd. are the registered owners of the modern diesel colliers Pinewood and Craigmore. In addition, both Brian and Charles Neill serve as Belfast Harbour Commissioners, a body which Brian joined in 1958; he is thus the longest-serving member. Charles Neill joined the Commission in 1970.
Coal was the foundation of the Neill business, and coal, once thought to be a fading force, is more in demand in the 1980s than it has been for decades. The red coal lorries of Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. and the blue of Charles Neill Ltd. are busier than ever in Bangor and North Down, Neill territory through the generations. Cousins Brian and Berry and their second cousin Charles Neill carry on the story outlined here, great-grandsons of the Robert Neill who initiated the coal business.
Indeed, in Robert Neill and Sons Ltd. there is now involved a member of the fifth generation, Maxine Neill, a daughter of Roger Neill, grand-daughter of Sam, great-grand-daughter of James and great-great-grand-daughter of the original Robert!
In the era of cotton mills and tiny wooden ships the Neill business had its genesis. Since then the family tree has branched widely, much too widely to do complete justice to in this history; many of the best-known Bangor families can point to links with the Neills - Brice, Balmer, Hunter, Nicholson, Campbell, Moore, Reid, Christie, Gilmore - but there is one pleasing piece of symmetry between the root of the tree and one of its main branches: Charles and Elizabeth were the parents of Robert, and, 200 years later, Charles Neill is married to Elizabeth, his second cousin. Both are great-grand-children of Robert and Agnes, whose portraits, mentioned at the outset, Charles and Elizabeth gave to another great-grand-child, Roger Neill.
So, a story that has taken us to a shipwreck on the Russian coast, to men disappearing in San Francisco, to fog off Cape Horn, to U- boats marauding in the North Channel, and, always, through the gales of the Irish Sea winter, ends, for the moment, with the names which began it all.
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