From Dock Company to Humber Ports

Robert in our map room looking at a Humber Conservancy plan

This week marks the beginning of a project which will see the records of the Humber Ports of the British Transport Docks Board, later known as Associated British Ports, fully catalogued and made available to the public for the first time.

To enable us to catalogue the collection we have secured funding from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives which has allowed us to employ a Project Archivist for 15 months to work on the collection. 

On Monday we welcomed Robert to our team and he will be keeping you up to date on how the project is progressing.

The importance of these records
After the creation of the Hull Dock Board in 1774 Hull’s dock network expanded rapidly and these records allow us to build a comprehensive picture of the workings of the various organisations at work in the Humber region during this period and how they combined to make the area a maritime success. 

Important for the understanding of the history and development of Hull and the wider Humber region, this collection, which covers the period 1772-1982, includes records relating to:

• The Hull Dock Company
• The Humber Conservancy Commissioners and Board
• The ports of Goole, Grimsby and Immingham
• The Aire and Calder Navigation
• The Dock and Harbour Authorities Association
• Hull and Barnsley Railway
• Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
• North Eastern Railway/London & North Eastern Railway/Waterways and Ports

Carol Tanner
Access and Collections Manager