Thomas Sturge junior | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 July 1787 |
| Died | 14 April 1866 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Oil merchant, whaler, ship owner, cement manufacturer |
| Years active | 1800-1866 |
| Notable work | philanthropist and social reformer |
Thomas Sturge (1787–1866) was a Britishoil merchant,shipowner, cement manufacturer, railway company director, social reformer andphilanthropist.
Thomas Sturge was born in 1787, one of at least ten children ofThomas Sturge the elder (1749–1825),tallow chandler and oil merchant ofNewington Butts, about a mile south ofLondon Bridge. Thomas the younger joined his father's business early in the 19th century, as did at least three of his brothers, Nathan, George and Samuel. Thomas Sturge & Sons, oil merchants andspermaceti processors operated from premises nearElephant and Castle, Newington Butts, until 1840.[1]
He was a first cousin of social reformer and philanthropistJoseph Sturge.
Thomas Sturge junior had become the senior partner in the business by 1816, when he began to buy ships and send them to theSouthern Whale Fishery to obtainwhale oil, seal oil andspermaceti for processing and sale in London.[2] He became the principal owner of at least 23 vessels, most of themSouth Sea whalers.[3]
HisQuaker faith and values were reflected in his business dealings. He tried to choose committed Christians to command hiswhale ships and in his sailing instructions gave his captains detailed advice on how to treat their crewmen.[4] His vessels each seem to have been supplied with a small library and at least five of his vessels carried a "surgeon" or ship's doctor.[5] One of these was Dr Thomas Beale who later wrote,The Natural History of the Sperm Whale (1839), which he dedicated to his employer.[6] Herman Melville drew on the book for his novelMoby Dick (1851).[7] The book also inspired three paintings of whaling scenes byJ. M. W. Turner, exhibited at theRoyal Academy in 1845 and 1846.[8] Turner tried to sell them to his patron, oil merchant, shipowner and art collectorElhanan Bicknell. Bicknell was an associate and friend of Sturge at Newington Butts.[9]
Sturge was a member of a committee to assist “distressed seaman” by 1818.[10] His firm donated £15 15 shillings in 1821 toward the cost of a suitable vessel to serve as afloating hospital for the “assistance and relief of sick and helpless seamen.”[11] TheSeamen's Hospital Society was established that year, withWilliam Wilberforce as one of the many vice presidents; Sturge was one of a couple of dozen men on its management committee, along withZachary Macaulay andCaptain William Young.[12]
He was a member of theAnti-Slavery Society and substantial financial contributor to the cause.[13] Another member of the society was the historian and politicianThomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) who became friends with Sturge. There were manyQuakers in the abolition movement. Among these was his cousin the prominentanti-slavery abolitionist and philanthropistJoseph Sturge (1793–1859).
Thomas also made regular donations to a range of other charitable causes.[14] He provided transport to missionaries going to theSouth Seas on his whaling ships.Robert Moffat and his wife left their children in the care of Sturge and his invalid sister when they were in South Africa in the 1860s.[15] Thomas or his father, Thomas senior, was supporting theeducation of the deaf by May 1821.[16]
In 1838 Sturge joined a group of London shipowners to purchase two vessels, the schoonerEliza Scott (154 tons) and the cutterSabrina (54 tons). These were sent to theAntarctic, under the overall command of CaptainJohn Balleny, to search for undiscovered offshore islands that might host seal colonies that could be harvested.[17] Among the discoveries made was a cluster of five previously unknown islands. They were given the collective name of theBalleny Islands with individual islands named after those who had funded the expedition.Sturge Island is 23 miles long and 6 miles wide and permanently covered in a mantle of snow and ice.
In 1837 and 1838 he purchased two adjacent blocks of land on the Thames nearNorthfleet at a cost of £9,313.[18] On that 74-acre plot he built acement works to makePortland cement. Construction of thecement kilns started in 1851 and production began in 1853.[19]
He was interested in the building of new railways and in 1842 he spoke at a public meeting in favour of the construction of the Dean Forest and Gloucester railway line.[20] He became a significant shareholder in theEastern Union Railway Company and a major shareholder and director of theWest Hartlepool Harbour and Railway Company.[21]
In 1842 he left London and moved downriver toNorthfleet, where he had purchased Northfleet House, a mansion under construction, for £3,900.[22] Thomas Sturge the younger died there on 14 April 1866.[23] He never married and most of his estate, valued at about £180,000 (£17,729,000 in 2023 values[24]), was left to his brother and business partner, George.[25]