John Ellerker Boulcott (1784–1855) was a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

merchant and

shipowner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...

. He was a director of the London and Dublin Bank and also a director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

and he served as the sheriff of

Merioneth , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

in Wales. He owned considerable land and buildings in London and other property just outside the city by the time of his death in 1855.

Early life and family

John Ellerker Boulcott was born on 28 December 1784 at

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, to John Boulcott (1761-1833) and his wife Mary Boulcott (née Crew). His father, John Boulcott senior, was a timber merchant in London by 1794. John senior was in partnership with his son Joseph Crew Boulcott (1788-1850) with a yard in Narrow St,

Ratcliff Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse (to the east), and Shadwell (to the west). The place name is no longer commonly used. History Etymolog ...

, London, by June 1810. That business continued to operate till 1834 under the name of John Boulcott & Son. The John Boulcott who was a director of the Commercial Dock Company between 1814 and 1825 was probably John senior as the dock specialised in timber imports. John senior was also described as a Russia Merchant by 1800, indicating that some of the lumber he sold was imported from the Baltic States, then under the control of Russia.

Work

Shipbroker

The first certain reference to his son, John Ellerker Boulcott, comes in 1821 when he was operating as a

shipbroker Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers an ...

from premises at 21 Water Lane, London. He was in partnership with William Cannon and this arrangement continued till at least 1834. Shipbrokers were maritime middlemen, intermediaries who brought together sellers and buyers of shipping in return for a commission payment from each. Some also functioned as shipping agents or vessel managers, finding crews, cargoes and passengers, supplying provisions and equipment and arranging insurance and handling port clearance documents for departing ships. For arriving vessels they would supervise the payment of crews, oversee the discharge of passengers and cargo, pay any customs duties due and arrange necessary maintenance and repair on the vessel. Boulcott seems to have specialised in providing these services to

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

and sealing vessels based in London.

Oil merchant

John Boulcott & Co were also listed as oil merchants at St Paul's Wharf by 1834 and later, as merchants and shipowners at 80 Wapping Wall, London. He also seems to have had a sideline as a ship biscuit maker by 1823 in partnership with other members of the Boulcott and Hill families and this continued till at least 1842. left, Mary Boulcott (née Hill)

Shipowner

Boulcott was the principal owner of at least thirteen vessels between 1818 and 1853. These were ''Atlas'' (1814–18), ''L’Aigle'' (from 1818-29), ''Mary'' (1824-1847), ''Harriet'' (1834-1839), ''Hopewell'' (1818-1825), ''Rochester'' (1818-1821), ''Vittoria'' (1829-1830), ''Albion'' (1829-1832), ''Grant'' (1843-1853), ''Governor'' (1843-1849), ''Rover'' (1844-1848) ''William'' (1850-1851) and ''Brougham'' (1843-1853). At least one of these vessels he owned in partnership with his in-laws, James and Almon Hill, shipbuilders of

West India Docks The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follow ...

. As well as managing his own vessels, he was the agent on the docks for many other owners of whaling and sealing ships based in London. The captain of one of his four South Sea whaling ships named an atoll in the Pacific Mary Boulcott Island. He was a director and shareholder in the

. The company began the organised systematic colonization of New Zealand after it was annexed by Britain in 1840. He was also a director of the London and Dublin Bank (1843-1847). He held the office of the

High Sheriff of Merionethshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Merionethshire (or Sheriffs of Meirionnydd). The historic county of Merioneth was originally created in 1284. The administrative county of Merioneth was created from the historic county under the Local Government Act ...

in Wales for 1836-37.

Private life

He married Mary Hill on 10 October 1818 at St Anne’s Church,

, London. The couple had 11 children, all born at Stratford House, Stratford, West Ham, Essex. Two of his sons, Joseph (1809-1849) and Almon (1814–1880), later settled in New Zealand. Boulcott is the name of a suburb in Lower Hutt City on the North Island. The family also gave its name to Boulcott Street in the centre of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. In 1840 John Boulcott had to vacate his home, Stratford House, Essex, on account of the construction of the Eastern Counties Railway. Among the household furnishings offered for sale were “curiosities from the South Seas.” By 1852 he was living at 8 Hyde Park Square. John Ellerker Boulcott was 70 years of age when he died on 9 June 1855 at 8 Onslow Square,

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a suburban area with a village centre in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, approximately south of central London and northeast of Epsom. In the 2011 Census, the settlement had a population of 34,872, a majority of wh ...

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, Surrey, England. His estate included a 75-acre farm near Bishop Stortford, 13 shops and three cottages in the village. He also owned the Waggon and Horses public house in Saffron Waldon. His London assets included warehouses, a wharf and land on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Wapping Wall Wapping Wall is a street located in the East End of London at Wapping. It runs parallel to the northern bank of the River Thames, with many converted warehouses facing the river. On this street is the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, built in ...

.''The Times'', 2 February 1856, p.16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulcott, John Ellerker Ship owners 1784 births 1855 deaths British merchants Shipbroking companies Whaling in the United Kingdom High Sheriffs of Merionethshire 19th-century British businesspeople