Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899)
J.P., D.L., Shipowner, of Dawpool Hall, Cheshire; President of the White Star Line
He was a shipping merchant who purchased the bankrupt White Star Line in 1868. In the following year, during a game of billiards, Gustav Christian Schwabe and his nephew, shipbuilder Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, agreed to finance Ismay’s new venture on the condition that its ships were built by Wolff’s company, Harland & Wolff, of Belfast. Ismay agreed, as long as Harland & Wolff didn’t build any vessels for competing lines. Harland & Wolff were paid more than £7-million to build six Oceanic ships and by 1871 the White Star Line was operating a regular service between Liverpool and New York. On his death, he left an estate worth £1.3-million. He lived at Dawpool Hall near Birkenhead, and in 1859 he married Margaret, the eldest daughter of Luke Bruce, Master Mariner & Shipowner, of Liverpool. They had 7-children (listed).
