Richard Irvin & Sons - Photograph of Trawlers at Aberdeen Harbour
A recently catalogued collection in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archive’s holdings are the records of Richard Irvin & Sons Limited, a company of trawler owners and fish sellers founded in North Shields with business sites across the North East of Scotland, including Aberdeen (Albert Quay) and Peterhead.
Richard Irvin - Founder of Trawler Industry
The company was founded by Richard Irvin (1853-1920) of North Shields. In 1872, Richard bought his first sailing smack the "Zenith". By 1877, he had found a gap in the fishing market for steam trawling, and thus the company was founded. In 1907, the company became a Limited Company operating under the name Richard Irvin & Sons Limited. In one of the first meetings, Richard Irvin (as Chairman) details a motion of amalgamation of the North British Steam Fishing Co Ltd., the Irvin Steam Fishing Co Ltd., The Castle Trawl and Lime Fishing Co Ltd., The East Coast Drifters Ltd., the African Fishing and Trading Co Ltd., and the whole of the businesses of Messrs R Irvine & Sons (Fish salesmen). At this stage, Richard's sons were heavily involved, with his eldest son John H. Irvin being Joint Managing Director (joined in 1887), and the secretary recorded as Mr R. Irvin Junior (joined in 1889).
Richard Irvin & Sons - letterhead
The collection (reference DD2865) includes minutes of directors, financial journals, ledgers and balance books, staff and marketing records. It also includes records for subsidiaries and associated companies such as The Ships' Stores and Repairing Co. Ltd., and Hugh Twaddle & Son Ltd. (plumbers, Glasgow). In Scotland, Richard Irvin & Sons bought and constructed many of their vessels from local shipbuilders like Hall Russell and John Lewis, of which we also have records.
Richard's significance to the sector is such that he is described as the ‘Founder of the Trawler Industry’. However, by the 1970s and 1980s, the firm had begun moving in a different direction - mechanical and electrical installation and maintenance. Boxes of negatives in the collection include many visual examples of this type of work. The company went into administration in December 2018.
