Page 20
...Alexander Elder was born in Glasgow in 1834 and was the son of David Elder, who for many years was manager of Robert Napier and Sons, the engine and ship-builders.  One of his older brothers, John ELDER, served an apprenticeship with Napier and became his chief draughtsman when only twenty-four years of age.  Four years later he formed a partnership with Charles Randolph and founded a firm at Govan which was first known as Randolph, Elder and Company, then as John Elder and Company and, eventually, as the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.  In 1853 Randolph and Elder took out a patent for a compound engine and the following year they fitted the first practical machinery of this type to the Brandon, an iron, screw vessel of 764 tons.  Brandon was built for the American trade and when she completed her maiden voyage in 1854 she was the first ship fitted with compound engines to cross the Atlantic.  Newspaper reports say that Alexander Elder was the chief
Page 21
engineer on this trip, but if this were the
case one can only assume that it was largely because of his brother's influence, because he was only twenty at the time.  On the other hand, marine engineering was still in its infancy and, as men specifically trained for this work were hard to find, locomotive engineers, millwrights and many other craftsmen were frequently employed.  It also seems probable that Alexander Elder would have gained extensive knowledge of this particular engine during his apprenticeship, and this experience would naturally have strengthened his claims for the job.  Alexander Elder then served as chief engineer of Columbian, an iron barque of 2189 tons fitted with a 400 horse-power auxiliary engine.  This vessel, built for the Australian run, was chartered by the French in 1855 and saw service in the Crimean War--Elder spending some hours in Sebastopol on the day of its fall.
    John Dempster was born in 1837 in Penport, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire where his father, William Dempster, was builder to the Duke of Buccleuch.  The Dempster family moved to Birkenhead in the 1840's and John joined W. and H. Laird as a clerk in 1851 when he was aged fourteen.
 In 1856 Alexander Elder also became a member of Laird's staff.  This was in order to act as superintendent engineer for the African Steam Ship Company which, as previously noted, had transferred their sailings to the Mersey at that time.  Elder's position in the firm was very much superior to that of Dempster who was still a junior clerk, but the smallness of the office and the nearness of their ages -- Elder being twenty-two and Dempster nineteen -- helped to ensure a growing friendship.  The fact that both originated in Scotland provided a further bond, but there is no evidence to suggest that in the early years of their acquaintanceship they ever envisaged the common future which fate had in store for them.
  John Holt was another of the staff of the Liverpool agents who was to make his
mark in West Africa.  The son of an inn-keepers, he was born in 1841 in the village of Garthorpe, Lincolnshire.  After leaving the local school at the age of fourteen, Holt took a job on the Thomas Holt, a coastal schooner owned by his grandfather.  He soon realised the limitations of this occupation, however, and with the assistance of his father obtained an apprenticeship with William Laird in Liverpool.  This was for a five-year period beginning in July 1857...
Page 22:
  ...Alfred Lewis Jones...
  Thus this tiny office contained four men who were to play a major role in shaping the economic future of British West Africa.  Much of the present work is therefore concerned with their lives and with their impact on the British West African shipping trade in general and on Elder Dempster in particular.

Page 24:
 ELDER DEMPSTER and Company began its commercial activities on 1 October 1868, when John Dempster made it his business to circularise all potential customers:
  " I beg to inform you that this Company intend to dispatch, early in January next, the first of their line of Steamers, at present being constructed on the Clyde for trading between Glasgow, Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa."
  "The Steamers are to sail monthly, and the ports which it is intended shall be called at are Sierra Leone, Cape Palmas, Cape Coast Castle, Accra, Lagos, Benin Bonny, Old Calabar and Fernando Po, but should sufficient inducement offer,
Page 25:
 arrangements will be made for their calling at other ports, either on the outward or homeward voyages.
  The Steamers are being specially built for the African Trade and, besides being comfortably fitted up for passengers, they will have extensive cargo space, which will enable them to carry rough goods at moderate rates."
...The first sailing was undertaken by BONNY which had been built for the new line by JOHN ELDER and Company at Glasgow..."

*****
Page 63(a) (Plate 5)
Rates of Freight by the African Steam Ship Company's Mail Steamers - 1855
Homewards bound

Arrowroot and coffee
Copper Ore, Camwood and Palm Oil
Cotton
Ginger, Pepper
Gum, Bees Wax, Ivory, India rubber
Fruit
Plants or trees
Turtle
Gold Dust and Specie (note 1)
Cochineal  (note 2)
Small Animals, owner to provide cage and food
Small birds,  same
Wine
***

1.   (specie noun. 1. Money in the form of coins as opposed to notes)

2.cochineal (k?ch?n?l', k?ch'?n?l) , natural dye obtained from an extract of the bodies of the
females of the cochineal bug (Dactylopius confusus) found on certain species of cactus,
especially Nopalea coccinellifera, native to Mexico and Central America.
The insects' bodies contain the pigment called carminic acid, which is obtained by
subjecting a mass of the crushed insects to steam or dry heat; such large numbers of the
insects are needed to produce a small amount of dye that the cost is high.
Once commonly used as a scarlet-red mordant dye for wool and as a food color,
cochineal has been largely replaced by synthetic products.
It is used chiefly now as a biological stain.
***
Note- references:
OBITUARY: SIR GEOFFREY ELLERTON
Independent, The (London),  Aug 22, 2005  by Ronald Porter
Geoffrey Ellerton had a distinguished career in the Colonial Civil Service..
...Born in London in 1920, he was the son of Sir Cecil Ellerton, a banker
who had a string of blue chip company directorships with such banks as Barclays,
the Yorkshire and Banque de Commerce."
***
Magazine Article: An Inside View, by Sir  Lindsay Alexander, in BP Shield:
Management  strategies (Winter, 1991)
***
*****
page 381
All investment decisions after 1976 were made by an Executive committee, which
made recommendations to the Board.  Although (Sir) Geoffrey Ellerton, the
former Chairman of Elder Dempster, was a member of this key body,
he always maintained that he did not solely represent West African concerns..."
47. Author's Interview with Sir G. Ellerton, 31 March 1998
*****
Page 382
48. Author's interview with Sir Lindsay Alexander, 22 July 1998.
*****
Page vii. Foreword
On my final business visit to Nigeria in 1993, over forty-two years after
my first voyage to sea with ELDER on the Sherbro, I was reminded yet
again that in spite of extremely difficult problems and an
often hostile atmosphere, my management involvement with E.D. Lines
 (the title by which the company is still fondly remembered in West Africa)
over the past two decades invariably ensured that positive solutions were found in a friendly atmosphere..."
K. H. Birch, Managing Director, 1984-1989.
(First voyage 1951)
***
British National Archives - Search shiplists
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-4423700&CATLN=7&accessmethod=5
1951
Liverpool: MV Sherbro (Elder Dempster Lines Ltd) travelling from Takoradi to Liverpool.
Embarking at Takoradi, Bathurst and Madeira.
Official Number: 181103.
List of passengers disembarking at Liverpool.
Covering dates  1951 Apr 16
Availability  Open Document, Open Description, Open Immediately
Held by
The National Archives, Kew

**
http://www.findmypast.com/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action

ELDER   David Stewart   1908   M   1951   Liverpool   Ghana (Gold Coast)   Sekondi-Takoradi    VIEW   VIEW
ELDER  Elspeth Morris  1903  F      1951   Liverpool   Ghana (Gold Coast)  Sekondi-Takoradi      VIEW  VIEW

ALEXANDER   Christine Moira   1946   F   1951   Liverpool   Ghana (Gold Coast)   Sekondi-Takoradi    VIEW      VIEW
ALEXANDER  Moira Glaister      1918    F  1951   Liverpool    Ghana (Gold Coast)   Sekondi-Takoradi

Search Google for "ELSPETH MORRIS ELDER"
found
http://www.africabib.org/book/NAMES_INDEX.htm
Elder, Elspeth Morris (Beveridge)  See: Dalton, Heather.  The Gold Coast: The Wives Experience...

OCLC (Yale library, Stanford and others)
The Gold Coast : the wives' experience : based on the personal accounts of 25 contributors
Author:  Heather Dalton
Publisher:  Oxford : Rhodes House Library, 1985.
Series:  Report / Oxford Development Records Project, 15
Description:  67p ; 30cm.
 

****
ELDER DEMPSTER MAGAZINE

Elders review of West African affairs
by Elder Dempster Lines.
Type: Microform
Language: English
Publisher: Liverpool : Elder Dempster, [1929-1931]
OCLC: 30577283
Related Subjects:  Elder Dempster Lines -- Periodicals. | Africa, West -- Commerce -- Periodicals.

Northwestern University Libraries
 Elder Dempster Lines.
Title:  Elder Dempster magazine [microform].
Extent of publication:  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Mar. 1922)-v. 7, no. 29 (Apr. 1929).
Publisher:  Liverpool : Elder Dempster,
Date:  [1922-1929]
Frequency:  Quarterly.
Description:  7 v. : ill.
 Microfilm. London : British Library Reference Division, Reprographic Section, [1976?].
2 microfilm reels : negative ; 35 mm.
Notes:  Title from cover.
 House organ of Elder Dempster steamship company.
Later title:  Elder Dempster Lines. Elders review of West African affairs.
Library of Congress subject headings:  Elder Dempster Lines --Periodicals.
 Africa, West --Commerce --Periodicals.
Location:  MAIN Periodical/Newspaper Reading Room (paged collection)
Call number:  Film A2469
Library has:  v.1,no.1-v.7,no.29(1922,mar-1929apr)
Persistent link to this record:  http://nucat.library.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1660791
***
Author, etc.:   Elder Dempster Lines.
Title:  Elders review of West African affairs [microform].
Extent of publication:  Vol. 8, no. 30 (July 1929)-v. 10, no. 44 (May 1931).
Publisher:  Liverpool : Elder Dempster,
Date:  [1929-1931]
Frequency:  Monthly, July 1930-
 Quarterly, July 1929-Apr. 1930.
Description:  2 v. : ill.
 Microfilm. London : British Library Reference Division, Reprographic Section, [1976?].
2 microfilm reels : negative ; 35 mm.

Notes:  Title from cover.
Running title:  Elders review.
 Elders West African review.
Earlier title:  Elder Dempster Lines. Elder Dempster magazine.
Later title:  Elder Dempster Lines. Elders West African review.
Library of Congress subject headings:  Elder Dempster Lines --Periodicals.
 Africa, West --Commerce --Periodicals.
Location:  MAIN Periodical/Newspaper Reading Room (paged collection)
Call number:  Film A2469
Library has:  v.8,no.30-v.10,no.44(1929,july-1931,may)
Persistent link to this record:  http://nucat.library.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1660796

***
The Elder Dempster : fleet history 1852-1985 / James E. Cowden, John O.C....
Author, etc.:  Cowden, James E.
Title:  The Elder Dempster : fleet history 1852-1985 / James E. Cowden, John O.C. Duffy.
Publisher:  [Cottishall] : [Mallett and Bell],
Date:  c1986.
Description:  xvi, 528 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, facsims., plans, ports. ; 31 cm.
Notes:  Includes index.
 Map on lining papers.
 Bibliography: p. 518.
Library of Congress subject headings:  Elder Dempster Lines.
 Steamboat lines --Great Britain --History.
Other authors, titles, etc.:  Duffy, John O. C.
ISBN:  0950945315 :
Location:  AFRICANA (Large items)
Call number:  L 387.2 E37Zc
Status:  Not checked out
Persistent link to this record:  http://nucat.library.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1020070

*****
ELDERS & FYFFES SHIPPING
at
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/eldersfyffes.html
    In 1901 the Imperial Direct West India Mail Service Company was formed to run passenger
and banana cargo services from the UK to Jamaica.
(see ELDER Dempster & Co).
Elders & Fyffes Shipping, Limited, was founded in 1902 as a separate company,
but only catered for a handful of passengers. In 1910 E&F came under the control
of the American United Fruit Company, but retained their own identity.
The Imperial Direct Line closed in 1911 and their ships either sold or returned to
ELDER Dempster & Company, causing E&F to enter the passenger market..."

*******
1861 Scotland
Name:   David Elder Jr.
Age:  38
Estimated birth year:  abt 1823
Relationship:  Son
Father's name:  David
Mother's name: Grace
Gender:  Male
Where born:  Glasgow, Lanarkshire
Registration Number:  644/9
Registration district:  Tradeston
Civil parish:  Glasgow Govan
County:  Lanarkshire
Address:  19 Paterson St
Occupation:  Engineer
ED:  71
Household schedule number:  11
Line:  24
Roll:  CSSCT1861_111
Household Members:
Name  Age
David Elder  76
Grace Elder  69
David Elder Jr.  38
Ann P Wilson  22
Catherine Dingwall  29

**
1901
Name:   Alexander Elder
Age:  67
Estimated birth year: abt 1834
Relation:  Head
Spouse's name: Mary
Gender:  Male
Where born:  Glasgow, Scotland
Civil parish:  Southport
Ecclesiastical parish:  All Saints
County/Island:  Lancashire
Country:  England
Registration district:  Ormskirk
Sub-registration district:  North Meols
ED, institution, or vessel:  8
Household schedule number:  179
Household Members:
Name  Age
Alexander Elder 67 b. Glasgow, Scotland
Mary Elder  57   b. Northwich, Lancashire, England
Mary Hayes  32   Servant
Harriet Jones  25   Servant
Adulane Taylor 14   Servant
Ellen Taylor  27   Servant
Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 3536; Folio: 125; Page: 47.
 

********

1891
Name:   Alexander Elder
Age:  56
Estimated birth year: abt 1835
Relation:  Head
Spouse's name:  Mary
Gender:  Male
Where born:  Glasgow, Scotland
Civil parish:  Leamington
Ecclesiastical parish:  All Saints
Town:  Leamington
County/Island:  Warwickshire
Country:  England
Registration district:  Warwick
Sub-registration district:  Leamington
ED, institution, or vessel:  10
Neighbors:  View others on page
Household Members:
Name  Age
Alexander Elder 56  b. Glasgow, Scotland
Mary Elder          47  b.  Ilderton, Cheshire, England
Ethel Blythe        25  Visitor b.  Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Source Citation: Class: RG12; Piece: 2471; Folio 93; Page 14; GSU roll: 6097581.

******

ELDER Coat of Arms and Crest  (Is the "STEAMSHIP  ELDER" family Crest)
Elder Newsletter, Vol. 2 #2, 1994, page 11, Article by Sharon Huffman
at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancyelder/news/ElderCrest2211.jpg

"#4 Coat of Arms, Fairfield, County Lanark, Scotland, 1869"
        "Argent, a fess wreathed gules and vert between 2 mullets of the second in chief
         and a dolphin hautriant azure in base of the third for difference."

Picture of "ELDER Coat of Arms"  -- 2 stars and Dolphin with figure like the letter S (backwards).
From: Coat of Arms Store, 7607 N. WALL, Spokane, Wa. 99208
Clicking on Surname Index, for picture of crest:
at
http://www.4crests.com/elder-family-crest-coat-arms.html

For the description, they wrote at the end:
" The arms were registered at Fairfield, County Lanark in 1869."

More notes about Elder Crests:
at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancyelder/ed/ElderCrests.htm

*****
Possible John J. Elder on ships to Africa in 1951
1901 Ancestry.com census
Name:   John J Elder
Age:  3
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1898
Relation:  Son
Father's Name:  Henry
Mother's Name:  Mary A
Gender:  Male
Where born:  Whitby, Yorkshire, England (near Sleights on the coast)
Civil parish:  Whitby
Ecclesiastical parish:  Whitby St Mary and St Peter
County/Island:  Yorkshire
Country:  England
Registration district:  Whitby
Sub-registration district:  Whitby
ED, institution, or vessel:  6
Household schedule number:  63
Household Members:
Name  Age
Henry Elder  50  b. Whitby, Yorkshire  (Occ. Mariner - Oyston's Yard)
Mary A Elder  42
Richard Elder  18
Wilfred Elder  14
Henry Elder  5
John J Elder  3
Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 4559; Folio: 107; Page: 10.

***
Search Google.com for "OYSTON'S" Yorkshire
found ELDER:
Death Notices in Yorkshire Newspapers
at
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/YDE.html