Cap badge.
Glen Line Ltd was formed in 1910. The name 'Glen line' had been previously informally associated with the long-established firm of McGregor, Gow & Co, all of whose ships had names with the prefix 'Glen'. Elder, Dempster & Co acquired all the shares in the company the following year but McGregor, Gow & Co remained as managers. Throughout most of the twentieth century, it ran cargo services between London and the Far East via the Mediterranean. In 1917 Charles Holland became managing director of the handling agents now known as McGregor, Gow & Holland Ltd. The company was one of the first to order motor ships, the first being 'Genartney' of 1915, torpedoed in the Atlantic in 1917. 1920 saw an amalgamation of the Glen and Shire lines. Although all their ships sailed under the Glen livery, they retained their original owners. In 1931 the group became bankrupt and Glen & Shire was sold to Alfred Holt & Co in 1935. The newly replaced Glen vessels were taken over for national service in the Second World War. The fleet was replaced after the war - the Blue Funnel ships of the Holt group operating from Liverpool and the West Coast, Glen Line from London and the East Coast. The company profitability was hit by the closure of the Suez Canal and the impact of containerisation. By 1978 Glen Line Ltd, by then operated by Ben Ocean Services was no longer involved in ship owning. The name and corporate assets were bought by Curnow Shipping Ltd in 1990 but currently remains unused.