2509, 2016

200 years of Swire: The China Navigation Company

By Special Collections, SOAS Library|25th September 2016|Collections & Research|4 comments

In celebration of World Maritime Day, this latest post in the series commemorating the 200th anniversary of John Swire & Sons focuses on The China Navigation Company [CNCo]. Established in 1872, today CNCo is the wholly owned, deep-sea shipping and operating arm of the Swire Group, operating a a global network of multi purpose liner services, drybulk,  and bulk logistics services. By the early 1870s John Samuel Swire was convinced

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1608, 2016

200 years of Swire: John Samuel Swire, 1825-1898

By Special Collections, SOAS Library|16th August 2016|Collections & Research|0 comments

John Swire may have established the firm of John Swire & Sons, but it was his son, John Samuel Swire, known as ‘the Senior’ who can be credited with laying the foundations of the business we know today. He was just twenty one when he took control of his father’s company, but it was clear that he had inherited his father’s work ethic and shrewdness along with a great sense

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