Taikoo Dockyard Managers – Kenneth Edward Grieg, 1926 -1937

IDJ has sent a series of articles about managers at Taikoo Dockyard: “Kenneth Edward Grieg, was born in Perth in 1882 and went to school at Perth Academy.

At sixteen he entered on an engineering apprenticeship in the Caledonian Railway locomotive shops at Perth but went to the North Eastern Marine Engineering Co. at Wallsend-on-Tyne in 1900 to complete his apprenticeship, attending Armstrong College of Engineering. Through the influence of Mr Summers Hunter, to whom he was related, he got experience of all departments, including the Engine Drawing Office, during this apprenticeship.

To enlarge his experience and see something of the world he went to sea, obtaining his Chief’s ticket before returning to the N.E.M. in 1905, where he was subsequently appointed Assistant Manager in the Yard, in charge of fitting out and repairs.

In 1909 he was appointed Assistant Manager at Taikoo Dockyard, serving principally in the Engine Works, and in the following year was promoted at the early age of 27 to be Engineering Manager and First Assistant.

He succeeded as Manager in 1926. His subsequent story is reflected in the account of the progress of the Dockyard between the wars which is told in these pages.

He retired in 1937, but the outbreak of war recalled him to active duty and Sir James Lithgow, Bt., then a member of the Board of Admiralty and Controller of Merchant Shipbuilding, appointed him to the Department of Merchant Shipbuilding & Repairs, of which Sir Amos Ayre was then Director. Here his task was to foster the training and employmen of unskilled labour, including women, in skilled and semi-skilled trades in the shipbuilding industry.

For eight months he devoted his tact, resource and acknowledged experience to this essential operation in the wartime deployment of the nation’s manpower and then, feeling that he would be more usefully employed in production, he obtained his release in order to take up an appointment as Managing Director of Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd., where he devoted himself to the direction of this Company’s notable war effort in the building of naval and merchant ships.

During this period he also participated in the planning of the postwar reconstruction of Taikoo Dockyard, then in enemy hands. With the help of his detailed knowledge of the subject this preparatory work was brought to a state of readiness which made it possible to go into action almost from the moment of liberation.

He retired again after the war and now lives quietly in Sussex.”

Source: Fifty Years of Shipbuilding and Repairing in the Far East: The Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Company of Hong Kong Ltd, Technical Advertising Services, 1954

Related Indhhk articles Taikoo Dockyard Managers:

1. Taikoo Dockyard – D MacDonald – responsible for preparatory construction work pre-1907
2. Taikoo Dockyard Managers – Philip Forster Nicholson, 1907-1910
3. Taikoo Dockyard Managers – James Reid, 1910-1926

Related Indhhk articles:

1. Tai Koo Dockyard – 1911 detailed technical article covering its construction
2. Tai Koo Dockyard
3. Taikoo Dockyard during the Occupation 1942-1945 – new information and photo
4. World War Two – BAAG, Mateys and Allied attempts to disrupt HK Dockyards
5. Taikoo Dockyard – photos of staff and workers’ facilities – c1954
6. Facebook: ‘Photos of Taikoo and Kowloon Dock Families’ group
7. James Thirlwell – Tai Koo Dockyard, Master Mariner and captain of the tug “Tai Koo”
8. Tai Koo Dockyard Tug 2 – captained by James Thirwell when sunk by a mine 1941