Thomas Sturge

Thomas Sturge (1787–1866) was a British oil merchant, shipowner, cement manufacturer, railway company director, social reformer and philanthropist.

Thomas the younger joined his father's business early in the 19th century, as did at least three of his brothers, Nathan, George and Samuel.

Thomas Sturge & Sons, oil merchants and spermaceti processors operated from premises near Elephant and Castle, Newington Butts, until 1840.

He tried to choose committed Christians to command his whale ships and in his sailing instructions gave his captains detailed advice on how to treat their crewmen.

[10] His firm donated £15 15 shillings in 1821 toward the cost of a suitable vessel to serve as a floating hospital for the “assistance and relief of sick and helpless seamen.”[11] The Seamen's Hospital Society was established that year, with William Wilberforce as one of the many vice presidents; Sturge was one of a couple of dozen men on its management committee, along with Zachary Macaulay and Captain William Young.

Robert Moffat and his wife left their children in the care of Sturge and his invalid sister when they were in South Africa in the 1860s.

These were sent to the Antarctic, under the overall command of Captain John Balleny, to search for undiscovered offshore islands that might host seal colonies that could be harvested.

Hunting the sperm whale
The Balleny Islands from a NASA satellite, December 2007. Sturge Island is the lower of the three main islands.
The Knight, Bevan and Sturge Cement works in the second half of the 19th century.