Lamport and Holt was a UK merchant shipping line. It was founded as a partnership in 1845, reconstituted as a limited company in 1911 and ceased trading in 1991. From 1845 until 1975 Lamport and Holt was headquartered in Liverpool. The founders of Booth Line and Blue Funnel Line had family links with the original partners in Lamport and Holt, and worked for them before founding their own steamship lines in the 1860s. Lamport and Holt was an independent partnership until 1911, when it became a limited company and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP) took it over. RMSP collapsed as a result of the Royal Mail Case in 1931 but was reconstituted as Royal Mail Lines in 1932. Vestey Group bought Lamport and Holt in 1944 and absorbed it into its Blue Star Line subsidiary in 1991. For much of its history Lamport and Holt traded with the east coast of South America, operating liner services there to and from New York, Britain and mainland Europe. from 1902 to 1928 it operated a significant passenger ocean liner service and from 1932 to 1939 it ran cruise ships. Lamport and Holt carried cargo for the UK government in the Crimean War, World War I, World War II and Falklands War. In each World War it operated troopships and lost numerous ships and personnel to enemy action. From 1932 Liverpool City Council authorised the company to fly the city's civic flag when in port. It is the only shipping company to have been granted this privilege. Founding William James Lamport (1815–1874) was born in Lancaster, Lancashire, the son of a Unitarian minister. In the 1830s he started work in the office of Gibbs, Bright and Company in Liverpool, where he learnt commerce and ship management. His brother Charles Lamport became the proprietor of a shipyard in Workington, Cumberland. George Holt, junior (1824–96) was one of five sons born to George Holt, senior (1790–1861) and his wife Emma. George senior was a cotton broker in Liverpool. George junior was apprenticed to the shipping line of Thomas and John Brocklebank, where he met WJ Lamport. In 1845 the two young men formed a partnership to own and manage merchant ships. WJ Lamport was 30 years old and George Lamport junior was 21. Their original trade was cotton from Egypt to Liverpool to supply Lancashire cotton mills, but they soon expanded their trade