Name/Title
1960/Chalmers: Shipping Federation HouseDescription
Shipping Federation House, 146-150 Minories, London EC3.
From "Joe and Ogus":
"To a young child’s eyes at that time Dad was just wonderful. I went to the office at the Minories at least once, and was hugely impressed by the regality of his big chair and desk. We were shown round the rather dark rooms, and were particularly dazzled by the gleaming highly polished board table with all its chairs ranged around it. Dad, we knew, sat at the head of the table, at either end, and if you looked underneath the table at these positions you could see a little collection of squashed disks of chewing gum, stuck there by him during meetings. His position in the company was like that of a small emperor, and we were the emperor’s children."
Kris's comment on the above: "The emperor’s children were greatly indulged. A secretary spent an entire morning or afternoon typing 'The Story of the Pink Teddy bear, the Blue Teddy bear and the Yellow Teddy bear' from infant lips."
Photograph taken circa 1960 after Andrew Chalmers moved from its previous Minories address, 136-138 Minories. This was the last of Andrew Chalmers' three offices in the Minories. The office was located at Shipping Federation House from 1958-1964 (Kris Johnston's handwriting on the back). It then relocated to Star House, 69-71 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts, of which there is no 1960s picture.
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At the heart of the import/export trade, the Shipping Federation had been founded in 1890 to safeguard the interests of shipowners. This was eventually extended to included the training of seamen and working with their unions to promote good labour relations. There is a collection of records relating to the Shipping Federation at Modern Records, the University of Warwick.
