E.J.Schollick, Ulverston Shipbuilder

This article on the Ulverston shipbuilder E.J.Schollick was researched and written by Mr. Peter Sandbach, 31 Romney Park, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA15 8BL.

Edward Jones Schollick, Ulverston shipbuilder, 1824 - 1908

  In Aldingham church, to the left of the altar there is a stone commemorating the life of the Rev John Stonard.  He was born in Surrey in 1769, ordained 1794, became rector of Aldingham in 1814 and died in 1849.  The Rev Stonard began  building Aldingham Hall in 1849, a house fit for an ironmaster, with an ample supply of turrets and gargoyles.  It is now the Risedale nursing home.  He had a reputation for charity and scholarship, having published several books on theology and spent money freely on his church.  In the last year of his life, he was awarded the North Lonsdale Agricultural Society’s prize for the best field of mangold wurzels, (again), he was painted in oils by Edward J Schollick, and he saw EJS married to Margaret Jackson of Waterhead, Ambleside.

  The story goes that the butler, Edward Jones Schollick had saved his master’s life when they were crossing the sands, but in the court case of 1861, EJS said that he was adopted by John Stonard.  The estate passed to E J Schollick, then aged 24.  The estate included Aldingham Hall, land at Scales, Newbiggin and at North Scale on Walney.  The Scales estate was rough grazing on the edge of Birkrigg Common.  It included a limestone quarry, which was leased to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests from 1869 to 1902.

  EJS subscribed to many public appeals in the next decade.  He gave to the Hoad monument, Walney church, Pennington parsonage, Lindal school and other appeals, but that did not prevent him from falling out with the churchwardens.  He wanted five pews in Aldingham church, to see that his household was all present, but the churchwardens would only allow him three pews, seating eighteen.  EJS took it to Carlisle court and lost.

  Soulby’s Ulverston Advertiser reported a burglary in January 1851:  “…a small detached room at Tarn Cottage, Urswick, the residence of E J Schollick esq was burgulariously entered and a quantity of fine apples taken away.  It is supposed that the thieves had been attracted to the premises in the hope of obtaining something better than apples.  Mr Schollick had slaughtered two pigs the previous day…”.  In June, Tarn Cottage was up for sale.  The butler, artist and butcher had moved to Aldingham Hall.

  In February 1851, Samuel Schollick began shipbuilding at Greenodd in a shipyard previously owned by the Ashburners.  The only new vessel from the yard was the Edward and Margaret, a 90 ton schooner, delivered to E J Schollick the same year.  8 shares were sold, EJS held on to the other 56.  Samuel Schollick opened a second shipyard at Canal Foot, Ulverston, in partnership with his brother.  Thrifty, a 45 ton schooner, was launched on August 3rd 1854.  When EJS advertised that a few shares in the Thrifty were still available, he was not telling the whole truth.  8 shares had been sold, and they went to her master, William Tyson.  E J Schollick sold his 56 shares to William Blaycock in 1859.

  The partners fell out in 1855.  Edward paid Samuel £200 and advertised that the Canal Foot shipyard was now under his sole control.  Bills signed by his brother would not be paid, and the yard was to be sold, along with the unfinished schooner.  That did not happen.  Instead, Mr Schollick employed John Wilson as foreman shipbuilder and set about building himself a small fleet.  Mr Schollick had eleven children.  They all had the middle name of Stonard and the first six had ships named for them.  The yard turned out eight vessels under his ownership:
 

• John Stonard, an 86 ton schooner in 1856,
• Edward Stonard, a 97 ton schooner in 1857,
• William Stonard, a 109 ton schooner in 1858,
• James Stonard, a 146 ton brigantine in 1859,
• Alfred Stonard, a 159 ton brigantine in 1860,
• Frederick Stonard, a 123 ton schooner in 1861,
• Ulverston, a 61 ton schooner in August 1862.  The only vessel built for other owners, the Ulverston survived until 1926.  Her career is recorded in a separate article on this site.
• Margaret, a 124 ton schooner in November 1862, she was named for Mrs Wilson.  John Wilson was now the yard manager and about to buy the shipyard.  32 shares in the Margaret were sold.

  After the Margaret, the yard was sold, and remained in use until 1870.  Edward Schollick bought 16 shares in the next vessel, Annie Ripley, a 205 ton brigantine, and that holding continued after 1875 when James Fisher became managing owner.

  Until 1867, EJS still owned 7½ ships but after the loss of Alfred Stonard they were soon sold.  Frederick Stonard was sold to Thomas Morgan of Cardiff in March 1870.

  John Wignall of Fleetwood bought William Stonard and Edward and Margaret in August 1871 followed by James Stonard in January 1872 and Edward Stonard  in February 1872.  William Stonard was sold. to Thomas Smith in 1883 and to James Hellen in 1888. Edward and Margaret was sold to Thomas Fisher and others in 1880, then to Harriet Williams of Appledore in 1885.  The same Thomas Fisher of Fleetwood became managing owner of James Stonard in 1887.  She was sold to James Waldie of Glasgow in 1888 and to Charles Niell, a Bangor coal merchant, in 1889.

William Postlethwaite of Barrow bought John Stonard and E J Schollick’s half of the Margaret in 1871.  John Stonard was sold to James Morgan for £250 in 1888.

  Edward Schollick was not entirely concerned with shipowning during this period.  The services of his pedigree bull, Cambridge Barrington 1st  were advertised at a guinea a time, and he backed a wrong horse in the iron industry.  The Low Furness Iron and Steel Co Ltd was set up in April 1857 to expand and modernise James Davis’s ironworks at Canal Head.  E J Schollick was a director, but the company was short-lived.  They stopped advertising their iron and brass castings the following year.

Edward & Margaret  foundered 40 miles Northwest of the Longships on Christmas eve, 1895.
Thrifty was lost with all hands off Liverpool Bank in November 1861.
John Stonard was wrecked on a voyage from Aberdovey to Limerick with slate.  She struck the Lea Rock, near Dursey Head because James Morgan was using a small scale chart which did not show the rock.  The crew were saved, but her master never recovered from the expense of the inquiry.
Edward Stonard was lost at sea, she was last seen on 21st January 1875.
William Stonard was driven ashore near Puffin Island Co. Kerry in October 1889 with the loss of all hands.
James Stonard was carrying coal from Garstang to Belfast on 7th November 1890when she was blown on to the West Hoyle Bank in a force 9 gale.  Three of her crew of five were lost.
Alfred Stonard left Cardiff on 3rd January 1867 with a cargo of small coal.  She was not seen again.
Frederick Stonard left Newcastle with a cargo of coal and bricks for Ballinacurra.  She was abandoned in a force 10 gale off Milford Haven on 26th October 1890.
Ulverston sailed until 1926 and then served as a breakwater at Dremore.
Margaret was lost on 20th April 1878 carrying coal from Bretton Ferry to Belfast.  She was caught by the tide with no wind and drifted onto the rocks on Stockholm Island.
Annie Ripley was stranded and wrecked on the coast of Holland in January 1881.

  From this account, it might seem that ships from the Schollick yards were dangerous or unseaworthy.  One person qualified to judge was James Morgan, the last owner and master of the John Stonard.  In “Brief Glory” his son gives an account which is full of praise of the sailing qualities of the schooner.

  After shipbuilding, shipowning, and ironworking, EJS turned to mining.  The Mineral Statistics record Scales mine, owned and managed by E J Schollick in 1872 and 1873.  No ore was produced, but Aldingham mine, owned by the Aldingham Iron Ore Co. produced 400 tons in 1873, and filed an abandonment plan in August 1874.  The rest is speculation.  The dates suggest that Aldingham mine and Scales mine are the same.  EJS might have built the engine house and headframe and sold out in 1873, or he might have been a partner in the Aldingham Mining Co.  Either way, the engine house has survived as a barn for 130 years after it’s brief working life.

  Edward Jones Schollick emigrated to Australia about 1876 and died at South Yarra on 10th April 1908 at the age of 83.

Sources:

1. The Parish Church of Saint Cuthbert, Aldingham.  (Leaflet from Aldingham Church)
2. Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1867
3. Lancaster shipping registers on microfilm (at Cumbria Record Office, Barrow)
4. Schollick estate papers at CRO, Barrow, BD/HJ
5. Email correspondence with the late David Bain
6. The Mineral Statistics, R Burt et al.
7. Soulby’s Ulverston Advertiser
8. Fleetwood shipping registers at LRO, Preston.
9. "Brief Glory", D W Morgan
10. Shipwreck Index of The British Isles, Richard and Bridget Larn