Hull Dock Company
(History of Hull Dock Company)
www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/east/vol1/pp215-286
See also Hull Dock Co. Ann. Rep. 1879–80 (in B.T.D.B. (Hull) Office).
(Hull Dock Company's directors)
catalogue.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/catalogue/C-WM-128-4-5
"[Lt] Col. Gerard Smith1, 2 of the banking family ..... was a member of the corporation and a director of the Dock Company, but resigned from the board in 1879 without giving his colleagues warning of his intentions. Charles Wilson also resigned from the company at the same time."
The British Newspaper Archive's search procedure is quite hard work, but I've been able to find the following references in the Hull Packet to significant members of the Board of Directors of the Hull Dock Company at about the time that Findlay was editor:
Fri 23 Jan 1880 (p 4, cols 4-5), Lt Col J W Pease is Chairman of the Board
Fri 6 Feb 1880 (p 4, col 3), Lt Col J Saner has replaced Col G Smith as a Director
Fri 26 May 1882 (p 5, col 2), Lt Col J Saner is Chairman of the Board