Fred Parkes
| Sir Fred Parkes | |
|---|---|
|
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Sir Fred Parkes | |
| Born |
14 January 1881 Sleaford, Lincolnshire |
| Died |
22 June 1962 (aged 81) Preston, Lancashire |
| Education | Boston Grammar School |
| Occupation | Fishing fleet owner |
| Children | Basil Parkes |
Sir Fred Parkes was educated at Boston Grammar School.
Fred Parkes had started a salt cod business about 1910, bought a small farm on the outskirts of Boston in 1911 and before WW1 had acquired his first steam trawler, which was subsequently sunk in the early part of the war. By 1924, he had acquired The Boston Deep Sea Fishing and Ice Company which had been founded in 1885.
Fred Parkes' opportunity to restart in the fishing industry came after the end of the First World War. During the war, in addition to requisitioning several hundred trawlers, the Admiralty had built over a thousand new fishing vessels.
The Admiralty sold off some of their trawlers soon after hostilities ended, disposing of over 500 to the British fishing industry over a three-year period.
Recognising a bargain when he saw one Fred sold his farm and used the proceeds to become a trawler owner. He bought four brand new vessels that the Admiralty was still having built, two by William Scarr at Hessle and two in Aberdeen.
The Parkes' fleet began to operate from Boston where the vessels were ultra modern by comparison with other trawlers. They were the first in the port to be lit by electricity. Older vessels were lit by paraffin lamps; even newer ones still used gas lighting.
Fred soon found himself in direct competition with the Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Company. Despite, or perhaps because he was treading on the older established business' toes, Fred found himself elected to its Board in May 1919 and his four trawlers were transferred to the Boston fleet.
The Boston company was not in as good financial shape as one might have expected; and much investment was needed which its directors were reluctant to agree to.
Fred faced two choices: quit the company or do something about its problems. He chose the latter option.
Quietly Fred began buying up shares in the company. Backed by the bank, within a short time, just two or three months, Fred was owner of 51% of the company.
On 24 June, 1924, Fred became Chairman and the old directors left the company. He continued to invest in new vessels and now had his son Basil onboard. In 1936, the Boston Company acquired what was to become one of their most important subsidiaries – The St Andrew's Steam Fishing Company.
In 1922 the Steam Ship 'Lockwood' went aground in the River Haven and blocked the way into Boston Dock. The vessel was salvaged by the Boston Deep Sea Fishing and Ice Co., but because the company had trouble obtaining payment from Boston Corporation for this work, the owner, Fred Parkes, decided to move the business to Fleetwood and Grimsby and this marked the end of Boston as a major fishing port.
When, in 1939, war broke out again the firm successfully saved six of its vessels and their crews from Poland. Later 14 of the firm's trawlers were sent to help with the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.
Skipper Arthur Lewis was directed onto the breakwater at Dunkirk, which was already on fire at both ends, with many soldiers trapped in the central portion. He saved some 600 men but by this time his ship, repeatedly strafed by machine gun fire from enemy planes, was leaking like a sieve. Luckily, no one was killed. Mainly thanks to fine weather Lewis managed to keep the vessel upright and beached her on the Kent coast. To get there all the hand and mechanical pumps were operated continuously, and chains of the rescued soldiers used their helmets as buckets to get the inrushing water from the fish room.
By the end of the war the company had 35 French-owned fishing vessels operating out of Fleetwood, mainly small wooden craft from Brittany and Normandy, manned by crews of between four and seven men. Most had made their own way to Britain, several bringing with them Allied servicemen who had escaped through France, usually with the help of the Resistance movement.
After the war the Boston Group grew and grew and at its height it was the largest privately owned fishing group in the UK and Europe with over 4,800 people on the payroll.
External links
- Bostonair - The Sky's the Limit
- Boston Deep Sea Fishing - Old Boston (Billy Thorn)