Arthur George Maltravers 'Jo' Dashwood-Howard was born in Middlesex in 1911. He entered the Nautical College, Pangbourne in Berkshire in 1925 before going on to join Liverpool shipping company T and J Brocklebank as a cadet in 1929.
Jo left the sea in 1936 to pursue a career ashore, but continued his interest in seafarers' crafts by collecting and making ships in bottles. He had started the hobby in his teens and pursued it for the rest of his life. As well as ships in bottles, he mastered many crafts including wool pictures, decorative rope work and scrimshaw work.
Besides building his own models, he bought models from Liverpool public houses (pubs) while serving as a deck officer with Tho. & Jno. Brocklebank. In 1928 he bought a ship in a bottle in Great Yarmouth made by Bert Kennett, a lightshipman. In 1933 he bought a St Nicholas light vessel from Kennett on the Cockle light ships for 5 shillings.
Dashwood-Howard amassed a large collection of over 70 ships in bottles by the time of his death in 1998. His descendants donated his collection to Merseyside Maritime Museum in 2001.
