Pike, Joseph (1851–1929), company director and parliamentary candidate, was born 30 December 1851 in Cork, eldest son of Ebenezer Pike (qv) and his wife, Lydia Clibborn, daughter of Jonathan Pike, of Beechgrove, Co. Tyrone, and his wife Sarah, daughter of James Nicholson. Educated at the Society of Friends School in Tottenham, England, he later joined the family shipping company. After his father's death in 1883 he became chairman and managing director of the Cork Steamship Company Ltd. Despite the quaker background of his family he identified strongly with the ruling establishment and in 1885 joined the newly formed Irish Loyal & Patriotic Union. In November that year he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Cork city in the general election as a conservative unionist candidate in opposition to Charles Stewart Parnell (qv) and the home rule party. Six years later (1891) he became high sheriff for Co. Cork.
As a trustee and member of the Cork County Club he often played cards there, and on one occasion in 1893 another member believed that he had been cheating. The rumour spread among the Irish gentry, and another trustee of the club, Richard Pigott Beamish, insisted on having the matter investigated by the club committee. Pike sued Beamish for libel and the case, a major social event, came before the court in Dublin 8 May 1894. On 23 May the jury found that the allegations were untrue and Pike was vindicated. In 1898 he was made high sheriff for the city of Cork. Under his chairmanship the Cork Steamship Co. Ltd prospered and expanded until it lost eleven ships during the first world war. The business never recovered from the losses and on 14 December 1922 it was decided that the company would cease trading because it could not meet its liabilities.
Apart from his main role as chairman and managing director of the Cork Steamship Co., Pike was also a director of the City of Cork Steam Packet Co., chairman of the Irish Steam Association, chairman of the Cork, Bandon & South Coast Railway, a member of Cork Harbour Board, and a member of Cork Chamber of Commerce & Shipping. He was a JP and DL for Cork. Having moved away from the Religious Society of Friends to the Church of Ireland, he established the Pike Fund for the augmentation of the clerical stipend. The fund had a capital sum of £5,000 from which the interest was used for the benefit of the Church of Ireland clergy in the diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
He married (28 September 1881) Frances Annie, daughter of Walter Richard Critchley of Salwick Hall, Lancaster, and his wife Elizabeth (née Dawson). They had one son, Lt. Cecil Francis Montgomery Pike (1882–1907) of the Royal Dragoon Guards, and one daughter. Joseph Pike lived at his father's residence, Bessborough House, Blackrock, Co. Cork, and later at Dunsland, Glanmire, Co. Cork. Dunsland was burned down by the IRA during the 1920s and he moved to England, where he lived at Barton Abbey, Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire. He died in England 19 April 1929.
Joseph's younger brother, and second son of Ebenezer Pike, Ebenezer Pike Junior (1853–1931), company director, was born 18 December 1853 in Cork. Like his elder brother he was educated at the Society of Friends School at Tottenham and later joined his father's firm. He subsequently became chairman of the City of Cork Steam Packet Co. Ltd, which operated routes from Cork to Fishguard, Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth, London, and Southampton. Apart from transporting goods the company began to develop a large passenger business during the 1880s by promoting the idea of a Grand Tour of Britain and Ireland, for which it sold round-trip tickets. Between 1883 and 1893 the company purchased four new iron steamers. During this time the company also benefited from the rise in the transport of cattle between Ireland and Britain, and Ebenezer started a coal importation and distribution business. In 1905 Ebenezer Jr became high sheriff for Cork.
On 9 November 1908 the newly formed Cork branch of the National Union of Dock Labourers, organised by James Larkin (qv), staged its first strike in Cork at the City of Cork Steam Packet dockyard when 150 men ceased work. A similar strike took place during the summer of 1909 but Ebenezer Jr and other shipping companies had formed a shipping federation, which enabled them to import labour from England. Despite the strikes the company was extremely successful until 1914, when world war began to affect the profitability of the company. In 1918 the City of Cork Steam Packet Co. Ltd was sold to Coast Lines Ltd.
As well as his position with the City of Cork Steam Packet Co., Ebenezer Jr was a director of the Cork Steamship Co. Ltd, Southern Hotels Ltd, the Great Southern & Western Railway, and the Muskerry Light Railway. He was a member of the Cork Commercial Buildings Co., Cork Harbour Board, the Lee Fisheries Conservation Board, and Cork Chamber of Commerce & Shipping, and a past hon. sec. of Cork Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital. A past master of the first lodge of Irish Masons, he was also a royal arch mason. He originally lived at Kilcrenagh, Carrigrohane, Co. Cork, which was burned down in the 1920s, after which he moved to England. He died 5 November 1931 in England.
He married (12 November 1881) Ethel Norah (d. 15 December 1947), daughter of Maj. Godfrey Trevelyan Godfrey Faussett. They had three sons and two daughters.