(Sir) Edward Hain, Dec. 26th 1851 – Sept. 20th, 1917
On this day in 1917, Sir Edward Hain, whose shipping company funded the purchase of the Edward Hain Memorial Hospital in the name of his son, died at the age of 65.
Edward Sr. was the fourth generation of Edward Hains to carry on the family business, started by his great-grandfather with one fishing boat in the early 1800s. Over the next 2 generations the company grew into a fleet of several sailing ships which traded in the far east. Edward IV took over the business on the condition that he could convert it to steam. His father, at first reluctant, agreed. The company became a huge success, with a substantial fleet of steamships.
The photo above, c. 1889, shows the familiar bearded (not-yet Sir) Edward Hain, top right. His father, Edward III, sits left, and infant (not-yet Captain) ‘Teddy’ is on his knee. Standing between them is Teddy’s eldest sister Grace, aged about 6, who died 9 years later. Kate, aged 4, sitting, would be the family’s only surviving child.
Knighted
Edward Hain IV – the fourth generation of Hains to carry on the family business – was also a politician, serving as Mayor of St. Ives no fewer than 6 times in the late 1800s, a Justice of the Peace, and MP for St. Ives: first as a Liberal Unionist from 1900-1904, then as a Liberal from 1904-1906. According to Wikipedia, he was a devout Methodist and teetotaler, and also known as an ‘ardent nonconformist.’ An intriguing label!
He was knighted in 1910 for his services to the shipping industry.
Distant view of Hain Line ships laid up off Woodbury Point, Kea, Cornwall, early 1900s.
The Beginning of the End. . .
WWI was the beginning of the end for the Hain company: over half of its fleet was lost. But even more devastating was the loss of Edward’s son, Captain Edward ‘Teddy’ Hain, who was killed at Gallipoli by shellfire just hours before he was due to ship home. He would have been the 5th generation of Edward Hains to take over the shipping business.
18 months later, in early 1917, Sir Edward suffered a breakdown during air raids over London. It was said he died of a broken heart. His eldest child Grace had died in 1898 at the age of 15; then Teddy in 1915; and, as a result, his long-nurtured business. He went home to Treloyhan Manor, the house he’d had built in 1897, and died there on Sept. 20th, 1917.
…And the Beginning of a Legacy
Sir Edward was a significant benefactor to St. Ives, donating land to the town, as well as the war memorial. The initials ‘EH’ can be seen on many houses he had built for his tenant farmers. His name would not be forgotten. But it is his son Teddy’s name that was memorialised in the former hospital, and now carries on in the Edward Hain Centre. I like to think that both of them would be proud and amazed that their family’s tragedy, which they turned into a gift for the town they loved, would still be remembered, and the legacy continued, over 100 years later.
~ Kit Hain Grindstaff
