Bowring

Description

Few companies in Canada can claim as rich and long a history as Bowring. Established in Newfoundland in 1811, Bowring is one of the oldest and most respected names in Canadian retailing. Bowring was started by Benjamin Bowring, an English watch and clock maker, who in 1811 came to St. John's, Newfoundland and set up shop. His wife also opened a shop which dealt in laces and general dry goods. This later evolved into a thriving general department store business and clock-making was eventually phased out. Benjamin Bowring and his wife had five sons who followed them into the family business. Over the next century, five generations of Bowrings built the enterprise into a vast global empire. In the so-called Golden Age of sailing, between the 1850's and 1870's, Bowring ships were seen on every ocean. Between 1885 and 1940, Bowring was best known for oil tankers, its cargo fleet; for marine insurance; for its famous Red Cross trans-Atlantic passenger line, for shipping dried salt cod fish to Europe and South America; for seal fishing and for its coastal mail service down the east coast of North America. Between the 1920's and 1930's, the company expanded its insurance business. This, in turn led to the company branching out in various directions, obtaining substantial interests in ores, coffee, fertilizers, food stuffs, petroleum products, chemicals and many other commodities. Two world wars wiped out a large share of the Bowring shipping fleet...

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