Colonel Frank Bustard

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1886 – 22 January 1974) was a British shipping pioneer who established the commercial use of

ro-ro Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

ships using converted tank landing craft. Bustard was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in 1886 the youngest of four sons of John and Alice Bustard. He became an apprentice with the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

and was soon passenger traffic manager. In 1934 when the White Star Line merged with

Cunard The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

he left the company and started his own company. He had intended to run a service offering £10 fares from Liverpool to New York but the idea was abandoned at the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when Bustard re-joined the Army. Bustard had served with the Kings's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

mainly as an embarkation officer and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

four times and was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. Between 1939 and 1945 Bustard worked as part of Movement Control including the D-Day landing, he was mentioned in dispatches twice. He was stationed at

Bank Hall Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres w ...

Bretherton Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 669. Its name suggests pre-c ...

which was used during the Second World War for the north west coast shipping movement control.Rector's Weekly (1945) "Home front news", http://www.heskethbank.com/history/rectorsweekly/450719.html At the end of the war he started the Transport

Ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Service with his two sons and in the next few years they acquired seven former military tank-landing craft to operate one of the first

Roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

drive on ferry services from the United Kingdom to continental Europe. When the ships needed to be replaced he sold the company to the British Transport Commission in 1954 and retired in 1956.

Family life

Bustard married twice, first to Nora Hamilton in 1912, following her death in 1950 he married Margaret Wilkinson Sands in 1952. He had four sons and a daughter from his first marriage and a son from the second. Bustard died aged 87 on 22 January 1974 at his home at

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bustard, Frank 1886 births 1974 deaths British Army colonels King's Own Royal Regiment officers British businesspeople in shipping Officers of the Order of the British Empire Businesspeople from Liverpool 20th-century English businesspeople British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Liverpool