Archives IdentifierFO001Date RangeLate 19th Century-20th CenturyDescriptionThis is a series of records received from members of the Holm family. These are business records of the Holm Shipping Company and personal records of various members of the Holm family, with Ferdinand Holm and John Holm featured prominently. The series also includes records related to the Lankshear family, which merged with the Holm family when John Holm and Ellen (Nell) Lankshear married.
Pehr Ferdinand Holm was from Sweden, born in 1844. He gained his first mate's certificate in 1867, and in 1868 he arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, as an able seaman. Ferdinand Holm began work as a pilot in 1870, living in the pilot house at Worser Bay.
In 1870 Ferdinand Holm married Mary Alexander Callan and they had five daughters and four sons. All of Ferdinand and Mary's sons became engaged in seafaring. Sydney and Mariner became master mariners, and Ferdinand and John Herman trained as marine engineers. Sydney also ran the business both before and after his father's death, and was responsible for its being registered as the Holm Shipping Company. Three of Ferdinand and Mary's daughters became primary school teachers.
Mary Holm died in 1908 and Ferdinand Holm died in 1917.
The Holm Shipping Company was founded by Ferdinand Holm in the early 1900s and was managed by members of the Holm Family until it was disestablished in 1973. The Holm Shipping Company was also referred to as the Green Funnel Line due to the bright green funnel which signified a Holm boat. Captain John F Holm was manager of the Holm Shipping Company from 1952. In 1930 the Union Steam Ship Company acquired a controlling interest in the company, purchasing it completely in 1968 and running it as a subsidiary under the management of Captain J F Holm until his retirement in 1972.
The Lankshear's became part of the Holm family when Ellen (Nell) Lankshear married John Holm in 1919. Ellen (born 1894) was the youngest child and only daughter of William and Lydia Lankshear; she had four brothers: Frederick (born 1885), Charles (born 1887), Alfred (born 1889), and Bernard (born 1893). John and Ellen (Nell) Holm's children were Jean, Margaret, Barbara, and Jocelyn.
Many of these records were transferred by Barbara Mountier nee Holm, some of which came to the Wellington City Council Archives via Museums Wellington.MediumLoose papersSystem of ArrangementThere is no clear system of arrangement, where possible they have been grouped roughly by subject or family with the other records received in each transfer.Collection TypeCommunity archives
