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Attached is a copy of an old postcard of the one of the GCR steamers, S.S. "Nottingham". Published officially by the railway around 100 years ago.

I know HMS Nottingham, but never heard of this one.

Anyone any knowledge of the vessel?

The only reference to the ship on the internet, that I could find...

David Quail was born in 1817 in the north of Ireland, Provence of Ulster, County of Down, Parrish of Glenallen near Warrenpoint. He settled near Earlville, NY about 1850. The rest of David's family were drowned in the sinking of the sailing ship "Governor Fenner" from a collision with the steam ship "Nottingham". The collision information came from a newspaper article in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle dated Monday, March 1, 1841.

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SS 'Nottingham' was one of several Great Central Railway operated vessels which plied between Grimsby and European ports a century ago. The famous Grimsby Dock Tower, of 1852, is in your picture...

The concepts of the Great Central Railway (the last main line to be built, and the first to close....Nottm Vic etc!) were to provide a direct cross country line from Liverpool to Grimsby, with their ships connecting from there to mainland Europe, and a line to London from Manchester, via Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Rugby, to Marylebone.

The bulk of the West-East route remains in fragmented form, but the London axis went 40 years ago.

Other shipping info' I've found, by Googling from the GCR angle, below:

"...What made the GCR so successful was the fact that they operated ships from Grimsby (a port on the East Coast of England) to some important ports in Northern Europe, and also operated trains from Grimsby to Manchester and on to Liverpool, which was one of the main ports from which ships sailed to North America.

And more importantly (for the European Emigrant) a link by ship to the East Coast of England with connections on the GCR directly to Liverpool where they would then journey on to the US.

As operators of both ships and trains, they also offered combined tickets, so that people from, say, Hamburg, could visit the company's agent, and buy one ticket which would see them all the way to Liverpool"

Cheers

Robt P.

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  • 1 year later...

I want to thank “mick2me” and “rob237” for their invaluable discussion of the history of GCR and SS Nottingham. I’m doing genealogical research and my most recent finding is that my great-grandparents sailed from Hamburg to Grimsby aboard SS Nottingham on Aug. 22, 1892. Their destination was the US. I’m attaching a copy of one of the ship’s passenger manifest pages. It corroborates everything you wrote about SS Nottingham and GCR. The manifest comes courtesy of my subscription to Ancestry.Com. In addition, thanks for posting the 100 year old postcard pictures of SS Nottingham and Grimsby Docks. I’ve downloaded them.

You might consider posting the GCR and SS Nottingham information on Wikipedia. I searched “SS Nottingham” in Wikipedia. The result was information about HMS Nottingham but nothing on SS Nottingham. I’m guessing there are now any number of people in the world who are vitally interested in learning some of the history of their ancestors emigration from Northern Europe. Anyhow, thanks again and keep up the good work.

The SS Nottingham manifest file turned out to be too large to upload so I'm trying compression in a zip file. Hope it works.

Manifest.zip

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Ah,very interesting,but is any ship/boat with the name `Nottingham to be given a wide berth?

Six ships of the British Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Nottingham, after the city of Nottingham in the East Midlands, or alternatively after Lord High Admiral Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, who commanded the English fleet against the Armada in 1588.

The first HMS Nottingham (1703-16) was a cruiser that formed part of the fleet that sailed to attack the Rock of Gibraltar in 1704.

The second HMS Nottingham (1719-39) was a rebuild of the first. Slightly larger, she was commissioned on 5 October 1719 under Captain Richard Hughes and later formed part of Norris's fleet in the Baltic. This ship never saw action.

The third HMS Nottingham (1745-73) was a further rebuild. The work was carried out at Sheerness in 1745. Now 1077 tons, the ship gained 6 battle honours and was probably the most notable of all ships to bear the name.

The fourth HMS Nottingham (1796-99) was a 67-ton river barge. Commissioned by the Navy in September 1796, she had been converted into a gunboat by the addition of 2 eighteen pounders and a thirty-two pound carronade. However, this ship never fired a shot in anger.

The fifth HMS Nottingham was a Town class cruiser commissioned in 1914. It served in several naval battles in the First World War and was sunk in 1916.

The sixth and current HMS Nottingham is a batch two Type 42 Destroyer launched on February 18 1980, and commissioned on 8 April 1983.

The captain of the destroyer HMS Nottingham and three of his former officers have been disciplined at a court martial after pleading guilty to their parts in causing the warship to run aground.

Commander Richard Farrington, 43, the captain of the type 42 destroyer, pleaded guilty to failing to delegate the responsibility of command of the ship properly.

Commander Richard Farrington

He was sentenced to a reprimand - one of the lower navy court martial sentences - due to his charge not carrying any responsibility for the actual grounding.

His second in command, executive officer Lieutenant Commander John Lea, 38, and the officer of the watch, Lieutenant James Denney, 28, were both dismissed from their current ships after pleading guilty to negligence.

Lieutenant Andrew Ingham, 27, Nottingham's navigator, was sentenced to a severe reprimand after also pleading guilty to negligence.

The charges all related to allowing HMS Nottingham to be stranded off Lord Howe Island, Queensland, Australia, on July 7, 2002.

It seems the SS Nottingham was also a little accident prone!

The rest of David's family were drowned in the sinking of the sailing ship "Governor Fenner" from a collision with the steam ship "Nottingham". The collision information came from a newspaper article in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle dated Monday, March 1, 1841

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I want to thank “mick2me” and “rob237” for their invaluable discussion of the history of GCR and SS Nottingham. I’m doing genealogical research and my most recent finding is that my great-grandparents sailed from Hamburg to Grimsby aboard SS Nottingham on Aug. 22, 1892...

Thanks for your interesting post...

Might I suggest, that for more background on the GCR/SS Nottingham connection, you get sight of George Dow's definitive three volume work Great Central, specifically Volume Two: Dominion of Watkin 1864-1899. These tomes are long out of print and, consequently, sell for silly prices.

I've often seen them on shelves in many libraries in both City and County, reckon it would be worth ordering them by their reservation system [merely 25p per title], if your local branch doesn't have them...

Additionally, Dow also published Great Central Album: a pictorial supplement to the series.

I formerly owned this book and my addled brain seems to recall that there are a set of GC shipping photo's within.

Should also be available via the excellent library reservation system.

Cheers

Robt P,

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...The charges all related to allowing HMS Nottingham to be stranded off Lord Howe Island, Queensland, Australia, on July 7, 2002...

As I have posted before - many moons ago - the HMS Nottingham incident was full of amazing local coincidences.

1) Admiral Earl Howe, after whom the Aussie island -- struck by HMS Nottingham - was named, remains the highest ever ranking Notttingham born sailor in the Royal Navy's history.

2) He lived at Langar, Notts, his residence being Langar Hall...now a rather pricey hotel and function venue, primarily used for wedding receptions and business conferences.

3) The parents of the Officer of the Watch lived in Langar

4) The Navigator was a native of Barnstone, Notts, the next village to Langar...just a mile down the road.

Coincidences, or what?

Cheers

Robt P.

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  • 2 years later...

I am new to the site reason being as well as an ex Nottingham person the SS Nottingham post caught my eye. My Great Grandfather possibly was a Captain on one of the Great Central Railway Steamships out of Hamburg, his son, my Grandfather certainly was the Chief Engineer on board the Nottingham as I have a photograph to show for it. I am researching my Great Grandfathers career on these Steamships and any help will be greatfully received.

Ron Howell

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Facinating post Ron , see if you can scan the picture and post it on here!

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  • 5 months later...

My great-grandfather was a fireman on board the SS Nottingham around 1902. He sailed mostly to Hamburg. On one return voyage in thick fog, the ship ran aground at Dimlington just north of Spurn Head. The passengers all alighted but the crew stayed on board until the next high tide re-floated her.

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  • 10 months later...

Found this forum when searching for GCR. My grandfather, Charles William Hide, sailed as mate on the Nottingham twice in 1912. He also sailed on many of the other GCR steamers which were named after GCR stations.

Have basic info about the Nottingham if still interested.

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This is what I have, taken from "Merchant Fleets, Britain's Railway Steamers" by Duncan Haws

Nottingham

B 1891 C. S. Swan and Hunter Ltd, Newcastle

T 1,033g, 492n

D 240.7/73.21 x 32/9.75 x 15.2/4.63

E Sgl scr, tpl exp. 248 nhp, 2 sgl blrs, 170psi. 15 kts. By Wallsend Slipway and Eng’g Co.

H Iron. 2 dks. F32/9.75. B67/20.42. P 55/16.76

1891 May: Delivered to M. S. & L. R. and to be followed by her sisters at monthly intervals. The four introduced a daily service to Hamburg. They were strange in that iron hulls were specified – the last ships for M. S. & L. R. G.C.R. introduced steel but they were to build no new ships until 1903.

1897 Aug 1: To the G.C.R.. Transferred to the Grimsby-Rotterdam service.

1915-18 R/n H.M.S. Notts during war service as a naval supply vessel.

1919 Jan: after refurbishing reverted to Nottingham

1923 Jan 1: To L. & N.E.R.

1935 Broken up.

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  • 10 months later...

Don't encourage him!

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  • 5 years later...
On 7/12/2010 at 5:37 PM, RonHowell said:

OK I will try and post the crew of the Nottingham with my Grandfather as the Chief Engineer

Ron

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This is wonderful! My 3X great-grandfather was a passenger on the SS nottingham in December of 1891 from Liverpool to Philadelphia, US. Do you know what year this was taken? Would love to know if this is the ship he was on. 

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