John Willis & Sons of London, also called the Jock Willis Shipping Line, was a nineteenth-century

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based ship-owning firm. It owned a number of

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

s including the

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

tea clipper ''

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of ...

''.

Company history and its people

The company was founded in London by John 'Jock' Willis (1791–1862), a ship captain (nicknamed 'Old Stormy Willis'). Jock Willis had joined ships sailing along the British coast after having run away from his home at

Eyemouth Eyemouth ( sco, Heymooth) is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name comes from its location at the ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

, when he was 14 years old. During one of his sailing voyages to London, he found employment at a pub frequented by seafarers in the New India Dock (now

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lo ...

). He saved the money earned there, supplemented by money earned by repairing seafarers'

sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...

musical instruments. He returned to sail on the West Indiamen as a second and

Chief Mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...

. Willis married Janet Dunbar on 23 July 1815, and the couple had nine children – six sons and three daughters – of whom the eldest was also named John. In 1826, he started his own ship owning company, registered in London. The younger Jock Willis (1817–1899), himself a ship

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, took over his father's firm of ship owners. Also known as 'White Hat Willis', it was during his time that the company built and owned

s like ''

''. The other sons, too, joined the company in various capacities – either sailing on their ships or working in their offices.

Trade

Their

ships A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

focused on the tea trade between

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the far east and United Kingdom and the

wool trade Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Ships

Willis Tea Line Clipper, by Frederick Tudgay

The first vessel purchased by John Willis was the 253-ton

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

-built

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

''Demarara Planter'' in 1830, which sailed to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. Many of the ships later built by the firm were named after places in Willis' native county of Berwickshire. Company ships included: * ''Demerara Planter'' (1830) * ''Janet Willis'' (1835) * ''John Willis'' (1839) * ''Whampoa'' (1842) * ''Borderer'' (1845) * ''Saint Abbs'' (1848) * ''Janet Willis'' (1850) * ''Merse'' (1853) * ''Berwickshire'' (1855) * ''

Lammermuir The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lamme ...

'' (1856) * ''Lauderdale'' (1858) * ''Laurel'' (1861) * ''Albuera'' (1862) * ''Whiteadder'' (1862) * '' The Tweed'' (acquired 1863; launched 1854 as the ''Punjaub'') * ''

'' (1864) * ''Zenobia'' (1867) * ''Borderer'' (1868) * ''Dharwar'' (1868) * ''Coldinghame'' (1869) * ''

'' (1869) * ''

Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...

'' (1870) * ''

Hallowe'en Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

'' (1872) * ''Coldstream'' (1875) * ''Jumna'' (1875) * ''Fantasie'' (1877) * ''Sumatra'' (1878) * ''Taitsing'' (1880)

Motto

The company's motto, 'Where there's a will is a way', was a pun on the family name, and was displayed on the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

of all Willis ships.

1899 – the end

The company was dissolved in 1899, with the sale of the ''Cutty Sark''.

References

{{reflist 1826 establishments in England Transport companies established in 1826 Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1826