Shaw Savill Line

P Henderson & Company, also known as Paddy Henderson, was a ship owning and management company based in Glasgow, Scotland and operating to Burma. Patrick Henderson started business in Glasgow as a merchant at the age of 25 in 1834. He had three brothers. Two were merchants working for an agent in the Italian port of Leghorn; the third, George, was a sea captain with his own ship

The brothers together invested in their first ship, the Peter Senn, and the business grew from there. Patrick died in 1841, and the business was taken over by his brother, Captain George Henderson. In 1848 George took into partnership a young man of outstanding ability, James Galbraith, who expanded the business from merchants, to ship owners and ship managers.

The Company started trading to New Zealand in 1854 with sailing ships carrying Scottish emigrants, and the Royal Mail.

In 1860, there being little cargo from New Zealand to Scotland, P Henderson & Co started to call at Burma with a regular service. This trade grew so quickly that in order to raise further capital, several new partners came in to form the Albion Shipping Company Ltd as ship owners. The vessels were managed by P. Henderson & Co.

The Albion Shipping Company became the dominant British company in the New Zealand trade, and holders of the mail contract.

In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened, making steamships more economic on the Glasgow – Burma route, so in 1870 P. Henderson & Co. started a steamship service between Glasgow, Liverpool and Burma. No mail contract was available on this route as all mail went via India.

In 1874 the British and Burmese Steam Navigation Company Ltd (BBSN) was formed to increase the capital and spread the risk of the Burmese side of the business as it grew from the era of sailing ships into more expensive and much larger steamships. BBSN took over the fleet of steamships on the Burma route, and appointed P Henderson and Co as managing agents. Most of the shares in the new company were taken up by P Henderson partners and their associates. Ships' Masters were encouraged to take shares. Peter Denny took about a fifth of the capital.

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Wikipedia