Our history dates back to 1890.
Harry Dougan Cotterell * 1866 in Liverpool, † 1920 in Liverpool)
When H. D. Cotterell was founded in Hamburg in 1890, times were good. Customs union had just been established in Hamburg’s free port, allowing Hamburg to overtake Antwerp and Amsterdam. Hamburg was second only to London as an export port for industrial products and an import port for colonial goods. The company stored and inspected cocoa, rubber and wood, laying the foundations for its current business. Harry Dougan Cotterell married Ida Kranstöver from Hamburg and had five children with her. The Cotterell family has been based in Hamburg ever since. Although he was married to a German woman, he was interned as an enemy alien during the First World War. His wife moved with their five children from Hamburg to Liverpool to live with her parents. The HDC company was continued by loyal employees. However, Harry Dougan Cotterell had suffered so much during his internment that he was unable to cope with life after his release and took his own life in Liverpool in 1920.
Harry Charles Cotterell * 1886 in Hamburg, † 1968 in Hamburg
When this tragedy struck the family in 1920, his eldest son, Harry Charles Cotterell, was only 24 years old. He initially took over the company in Liverpool, while Hamburg was managed by an authorised signatory. In 1925, he moved to Hamburg with his English wife and his first son, Harry Douglas, and took over the company there. His grandfather Harry, who also had shares in the company, acted as his advisor. Despite inflation and the global economic crisis, the company flourished and he was soon able to bring his mother and four younger siblings back to Hamburg. Branches were established in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which were taken over in the late 1930s by his brother Wilfred Max Cotterell, who was 16 years his junior. Although the branches became financially independent from the Hamburg parent company, the cooperation remained close and friendly to this day. The Second World War brought another turning point. Once again, his English origins proved problematic. Harry Charles Cotterell decided to become a German citizen so that he could continue running the company in Hamburg, while his brother Wilfred Max Cotterell, who always considered himself English, was forced to go into hiding in Holland to escape the Germans. Naturally, this difference in national identity led to discord between the brothers, which developed into an ugly inheritance dispute after the war, severely hampering the company’s development for years. During the war, the company was bombed out and continued to operate from Harry Charles Cotterell’s private home in Wentorf. As foreign connections to London or West Africa were not possible during the war, the company exported to Sweden. During the reconstruction after 1945, Harry Charles Cotterell was assisted by Paul Sahlmann, who became a co-owner, and his 22-year-old son Harry Douglas Cotterell also joined the company. While his father retired from the quartermaster business and became more interested in export business, his son Harry Douglas Cotterell and Paul Sahlmann, in collaboration with Wilfred Max Cotterell in Amsterdam, developed the cocoa control business.
Harry Douglas Cotterell * 1925 in Wallasy, England , † 1989 Hamburg
After Harry Charles Cotterell passed away, his son Harry Douglas Cotterell took over the company in 1968. The inheritance debts of the previous generation had not yet been fully paid off when another unfortunate inheritance agreement was drawn up, which weighed heavily on the company and family for as long as it remained in force – 26 years. Under Harry Douglas Cotterell, the company enjoyed almost 20 years of stable, solid development. In collaboration with his uncle Wilfred Max Cotterell, who did the same work in Amsterdam, the cocoa control business flourished. The collaboration with Amsterdam was very close and culminated in 1986 with the joint establishment of a branch in London, which has been managed by Christopher Rogers ever since. In 1987, Harry Douglas Cotterell suffered a serious car accident from which he never recovered and died in 1989. Thanks to the dedication of a well-coordinated team of employees, his wife, Margreth Cotterell, was able to continue running the company.
Margreth Cotterell * 1936 in Hamburg
In 1987, following the accident involving Harry Douglas Cotterell, his wife Margreth Cotterell, née Jencquel, took over the management of the company. New goods were added to the cocoa control and storage business, such as rubber, spices, dried fruit and harmless chemicals. With the acquisition of storage space at Ellerholzdamm in 1995 and 1998, the company finally moved out of the Speicherstadt.
Thomas Douglas Cotterell * 1973 in Hamburg
Thomas Cotterell is the youngest son of Harry Douglas and Margreth Cotterell. After graduating from high school in 1994, he worked at H. D. Cotterell in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Hull to gain practical experience as a marine cargo surveyor. He then studied economics in Hamburg. After successfully completing his studies in 2000, he initially worked for a logistics consulting firm in Berlin. In 2002, Thomas Cotterell joined the management of his parents’ company and took over as sole owner from his mother in 2004.