Sir Sven Wohlford Hansen, 1st Baronet
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(1 April 1876 – 9 October 1958) was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
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 ...
and
shipbuilder.
Hansen was born in
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
, the son of Carl Frederick Hansen, a shipowner of
Scandinavian extraction. He initially joined his father's business, but later branched out on his own. His Cardiff Hall Steamship Line became one of the largest operating out of the
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...
ports and was especially successful during the
First World War.
He also revived the shipbuilding industry in the
Devon town of
Bideford after a lapse of fifty years, establishing the Hansen Shipbuilding and Ship-repairing Co Ltd.
Hansen was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours for his services to shipping and created a
baronet in the 1921
New Year Honours for his services to Bideford.
For many years he was commemorated annually in the town.
Footnotes
References
*Obituary, ''
The Times'', 16 October 1958
1876 births
1958 deaths
Welsh shipbuilders
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
British businesspeople in shipping
Welsh businesspeople in shipping
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