Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Acts and disputes . . .

A matter 'de-railed' in 1866 and only finally resolved in 1908. You may recall in volume 1 that the contractors appointed by the Penarth Harbour Dock & Railway Company to build the docks in 1859 were Messrs. Smith & Knight. However, the relationship between them and the Directors of the Penarth Co. deteriorated shortly after work began, the problems festered and ultimately resulted in Chancery Action being taken against them to "restrain the Company from finishing the partially completed works."

The London Gazette [100] of the 11th December 1866 reported: "At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders held at the London Tavern on the 14th November 1866 it was resolved:- That Smith, Knight, and Co. (Limited) be voluntarily dissolved under the Companies Act, 1862, subject to the supervision of the Court of Chancery. - Thos. Cave, Chairman."

The major contractor for the Penarth dock scheme was declared bankrupt as this record from the Daily News [199] of London dated the 10th July 1868 illustrates: "Mr. Smith, of Smith, Knight, and Co., contractors of Great George-street, Westminister, applied to the Court of Bankruptcy yesterday for an order of discharge. The liabilities exceeded (£) 490,000l., and the assets consisted of bills receivable, "considered good," 4,000l. ; land at Hornsey, 407l. ; and "a doubtful claim of 118,000l. on the Penarth Harbour, Dock, and Railway Company, not yet realised." No objection was offered, and the order of discharge was granted."

The 'doubtful claim' on the Penarth Co., was indeed, very doubtful and never realised; the fate of Mr. Knight is yet to be discovered. Following the completion of the docks and its formal opening in June 1865, during August 1866 the Leeds Mercury, [195] in common with other newspapers, advertised the sale of the plant and equipment used to build the dock: "Messrs. Watkins and Stephenson are instructed by the Directors of the Penarth Harbour, Dock and Railway Company to Sell by Auction, at the Dock Works, Penarth, near Cardiff, on Tuesday . . "

Fast forward forty years and a letter dated 9th September 1906 from the Hon. G. H. W. Windsor Clive to Mr. L. G. Williams, Company Secretary to the TVR explains the difficulties initiated by the sale of a quantity of rails i.e. a particular 'lot' sold within the auction of Smith & Knight's plant in 1866:- "The Penarth Harbour dock & Rly Co lent some Rails of their own to Messrs Smith & Knight (Contractors for the original Dock) to lay down to make the approach to the Bridge over the Ely, to supplement, precisely similar Rails which they were employing for this purpose.