Hornby Grange

[Vicki Murphy]

Hi
Just wondered if anybody remembers my father in law Thomas (Tom) Murphy he served on the Hornby Grange sometime in 1948 and went to New Zealand (we have a picture with another member of the crew - just looking for any information we can find re his service - he would have been 44 years old in 1948 - we think he was a bosun on this particular ship
Hope to hear from somebody
Thank you

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Vicki.
Welcome to the site, where old friends are found. Your Father-in law was a year before my time 1949, and there wont be too many old timers who use Computers; but you never know on this site. Did he jump ship in NZ ? if so there are a few Vindicatrix web sites there that could have something. best of luck in your search.
Cheers Des

[Vicki Murphy]

Hi Des
Thanks for your response - no he did not jump ship in New Zealand - he came home again!
Hopefully somebody somewhere will remember him - it will be great to find out a little more information - he also served on the Rimmingham Grange and we think the Warspite
Anyway thanks again for your good wishes
Vicki

[Gulliver]

Hello Vicki,I can’t give you any information about Tom,but I can give some information and photos of his ships.

m.v.HORNBY GRANGE was built in 1946. Scrapped in Spain in 1972.
m.v.RIPPINGHAM (N.B. Not RIMMINGHAM) GRANGE( was built in 1943 Scrapped in Japan 1962.
Both of these ships were owned by the shipping line Houlder Bros & Co.


H.M.S. WARSPITE was a Royal Navy Battleship built 1915. She was decommissioned and sold in 1946,and sank in Mounts Bay 1n 1947 whilst under tow.
Did he serve in the RN on this vessel before joining the Merchant Navy,? Or perhaps he was a member of the towing /salvage crew on this vessel in 1947?

All the Best
Gulliver

[Vicki Murphy]

Hi Gulliver
Thanks so much for the pictures and information - we are not sure about the Warspite we thought he was only in the Merchant Navy but we are told that the Warspite was a Royal Navy ship - Do you know if this is correct? Was it a training ship?
Look forward to your reply
Vicki

[Gulliver]

You're Welcome Vicki.
No,as I have said in my post ,HMS Warspite was a battleship throughout her long career (1915-1947),not a training ship ! - ,so perhaps Tom was in the RN before joining the MN and served aboard her.

All the Best
Gulliver

[Gulliver]

Just thinking-I wonder if you mean the training ship(school/college) WARSASH,which is in Southampton.Primarily for cadets training to become Deck and Engineer Officers,but in the Second World War it was used to train other mariners as well.

Gulliver

[bernard payling]

[QUOTE=Vicki Murphy;66890]Hi
Just wondered if anybody remembers my father in law Thomas (Tom) Murphy he served on the Hornby Grange sometime in 1948 and went to New Zealand (we have a picture with another member of the crew - just looking for any information we can find re his service - he would have been 44 years old in 1948 - we think he was a bosun on this particular ship
Hope to hear from somebody
Thank you[/QUOTE

Hi Vicki as an apprentice deck officer i sailed to new zealand on the hornby grange from liverpool on the 7 sept 1947 and returned to liverpool on the 26 Jan 1948. this may or not be the voyage your father in law sailed on. sorry i cant recall his name

[Tonga]

Vicki

Well done for finding this excellent Site - I am sure you will find some very useful replies - good luck and enjoy the trip.

Kind regards
Mark

[Peter Sutton]

Following an engineering apprenticeship at Doxfords in Sunderland, I joined the Merchant Navy as a 20 year old. For my first trip I joined the Hornby Grange at Liverpool in 1950 as Assistant Engineer C for what was supposed to be a routine trip of 2 months to Buenos Aires for a cargo of meat returning to the UK for Christmas - however, the trip turned out to be highly eventful and lasted 9 months. Would anyone be interested in hearing any more? And is there anyone who was also on this trip or can remember the voyage mentioned? I can remember the following names:

Captain - Mr Bearpark
Chief Engineer - Mr Jones (a Welshman)
Senior Second Engineer - Mr Brodie (a Scot)
Junior Second Engineer - John Harland Coates from Sunderland
Senior Third - Mr Horrabin from Newcastle
Junior Third - Mr Carpenter
Fourth - Paddy ? (Northern irish)
Sixth - Jock McLean (Scottish)
Assistant B - Jock Cunny (Scottish)
Assistant C - Myself (Peter Sutton, Sunderland)
Chief electrician - Jerry Roach (Liverpool)
Chief refrigeration engineer - Mr Braithwaite
Wireless operator - Mr Pennington