Shipbuilders Belfast Shipbuilders 2 3 Belfast Shipbuilders

Introduction

The years between 1880 and the Astonishingly, Cork rather than outbreak of the Great War were the Belfast had been the centre of golden age of Belfast . shipbuilding on this island in In 1914 Belfast shipbuilders the first half of the nineteenth accounted for nearly 8% of world century and the three Belfast firms output. In some years Belfast building wooden vessels – Ritchie managed to account for an even & MacLaine, Charles Connell & higher percentage of world output. Sons and Thompson & Kirwan – A Financial Times supplement in had launched only 50 ships, most of March 1914 described Belfast as them small, between 1820 and 1850. ‘the premier shipbuilding centre of Belfast, not being close to sources the entire world’. of iron and coal, appeared to have Early twentieth-century Belfast few of the assets needed to become possessed two great : a great shipbuilding centre in Harland &Wolff and Workman, the second half of the nineteenth Clark & Co. The former was the century. John Lynch fully explores ‘big yard’, while the latter was this important point in An affectionately known as the ‘wee Unlikely Success Story: The Belfast yard’. In 1894 Workman, Clark’s Shipbuilding Industry, 1880-1935 production represented two-thirds (Belfast, 2001). Dr Lynch attributes of Harland &Wolff’s tonnage, and, the success of the industry to a in 1895 Workman, Clark & Co., ‘happy coincidence of timing, luck, employing 3,500 men, was the nepotism and the Protestant work fourth largest British shipbuilder ethic’ and identifies Belfast as one in terms of tonnage. To describe of a number of centres, with little or Workman, Clark & Co. as the ‘wee no tradition of shipbuilding, which yard’ was to seriously understate developed at this time largely on the the scale of the operation. Indeed, basis of ‘new technology’. From the in 1901, 1909, 1910 and 1913 the late 1850s the Belfast shipbuilding wee yard’s output exceeded that of industry was ‘notable for its state- the big yard. Harland & Wolff, Ltd. View of Queen’s Road showing workers leaving at end of shift, with White Star liner in stocks in background. 1911. © National Museums Northern Collection Museum Belfast Shipbuilders 4 5 Belfast Shipbuilders

William Ritchie (1756-1834) ‘the father of shipbuilding in Belfast’

measures in support of the industry. for ‘careening’ (beaching a vessel For example, in 1885 the Prince of at high tide in order to expose one Wales re-opened Donegall Quay, side or another of the ship’s hull for while the Princess of Wales turned maintenance below the water line the first sod of the Alexandra when the tide goes out) and repair. graving dock, formally opened by On 3 July 1791 Ritchie returned, Prince Albert Victor in 1889. The bringing over ten skilled workmen Harbour Commissioner’s Office, Duke of York, in 1897, opened a Corporation Square, Belfast. from Scotland and his younger © National Museums branch dock formed out of the brother Hugh, and started a of-the-art design and construction Spencer basin, and in July 1898 an shipyard on the site of the Old Lime methods’. Act of Parliament gave permission Kiln dock on the for the deepening and widening of The Lagan was totally unsuited side of the Lagan. the channel. for large-scale shipbuilding until He launched Hibernia, his first ship, massive improvements were However, Belfast’s ‘unlikely success on 7 July 1792, almost exactly a year undertaken by the story’ also owes a great deal to the after his arrival. The News Letter Commissioners in the 1840s. The talent, vision (or imagination) and William Ritchie 1756-1834 (c.1802) described the ship as ‘the only Belfast Harbour Commissioners enterprise of six men – William Thomas Robinson d.1810. vessel of any burden which had for deserve much of the credit for Ritchie, Edward James Harland, © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum many years been built in the port’. making Belfast’s shipbuilding , William In March 1791 William Ritchie, a Over the next 20 years the business industry possible. Only after the James Pirrie, George Smith Clark Scottish shipbuilder from Saltcoats, prospered. Between 1791 and 1811 excavation of the Victoria Channel and Junior – to Ayrshire, visited Belfast, with a William Ritchie built thirty-two and the creation of ample space at whom this publication is intended view to identifying new business ships and Hugh built a further Queen’s Island could shipbuilders to offer a brief introduction. opportunities. He was surprised eight, having founded a shipyard take advantage of the shelter and And behind the scenes was to learn that there were only six of his own in 1798. These ships depth available in . the intriguing figure of Gustav jobbing ships’ carpenters who were ranged in size from 50 to 450 tons, Throughout the nineteenth century Christian Schwabe. not even in regular employment. the average being 220 tons. In 1810 the Harbour Commissioners were This was sufficient to tempt him William Ritchie launched the James, responsive to the growth of the to open a shipyard in Belfast but a vessel of 400 tons and the largest industry. Jonathan Bardon in Belfast: the Belfast Ballast Board offered ship ever built in Belfast up to that An Illustrated History (Belfast, him the additional inducement of point. 1982) has carefully chronicled the building ‘a graving platform’ on Harbour Commissioners’ proactive which vessels could be beached The size of the workforce grew Belfast Shipbuilders 6 7 Belfast Shipbuilders

EDWARD JAMES HARLAND (1831 - 1895) ‘Majestic’

Edward James Harland was born Thomas Harland. Schwabe was in Scarborough, North , a partner in John Bibby & Sons, and was educated at Edinburgh a shipping company. Academy. His father, William Schwabe took a benign interest in Harland, was a medical practitioner the young Harland and arranged and an amateur engineer. In 1827 for him to be employed at J. and Dr Harland invented a patented G. Thomson, marine engineers in steam-powered carriage. . In 1846, aged 15, With Schwabe’s encouragement, went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to in December 1854, Harland moved serve an apprenticeship at Robert to Belfast, to become manager Stephenson & Company, an of Robert Hickson’s shipyard in engineering works. Robert Queen’s Island. Harland rapidly Stephenson, the owner, was acquired a reputation for strict the son of George Stephenson, management and improving the Hugh Ritchie Unknown, 19th Century. the locomotive engineer. quality of workmanship. He also © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum George Stephenson was cut wages, banned smoking and impressively too during the same McLaine, which built and launched friendly with Dr Harland carried a piece of chalk and an ivory period. By 1811 William Ritchie the first steam ship in Ireland. as a of a shared ruler which he used for marking was employing 44 journeymen But it was William Ritchie who interest in steam power mistakes. carpenters, 55 apprentices, 7 pairs laid the foundations of Belfast’s and locomotion. The An employee at Harland & Wolff of sawyers, 12 blacksmiths and great shipbuilding industry. As young Edward Harland later famously recalled: ‘He had several joiners. the Northern Whig observed served his apprenticeship an all-smelling nose as well as an in January 1834, William in Newcastle until 1851. Hugh Ritchie died in 1807 and all-seeing eye. One day he was Ritchie was ‘the first who was succeeded in the business During his walking rapidly along, and he established a regular by his elder brother John. In 1811 apprenticeship suddenly stopped dead and sniffed system of shipbuilding John formed a partnership with at Robert at a saw-pit. In a flash the trapdoor in Belfast’. Alexander MacLaine, another Scot, Stephenson & was lifted and there squatting in the and it was their firm, Ritchie & Company, Harland sawdust was a wizened little man, met Gustav Christian puffing at clay pipe.’ Schwabe, who knew Harland’s stern management and Edward’s uncle, Edward Harland Memorial, Belfast Cty Hall. Belfast Shipbuilders 8 9 Belfast Shipbuilders

meticulous attention to detail capacity. They were disparagingly In 1861 Harland formed a business the Rosemary Street congregation enabled him to keep the shipyard referred to as ‘Bibby’s coffins’. This, partnership with Gustav Wilhelm in Belfast. In politics a Conservative running despite Hickson’s financial however, was a reference to their Wolff, Schwabe’s nephew, thereby and a Unionist, he served as Mayor problems. In 1857 Harland design rather than to any possible creating Harland & Wolff. of Belfast in both 1885 and 1886. He employed Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, lack of seaworthiness. was a strong and natural opponent In 1874 Harland recruited William Gustav Schwabe’s nephew, as of W. E. Gladstone’s first Home A great innovator, Harland applied James Pirrie as another partner. his personal assistant. Harland Rule bill. Harland was knighted for several patents including, Edward Harland, Gustav Wolff and began attempting to open his by the Liberal government in early in 1860 for ‘improvements in William James Pirrie maintained a own shipbuilding business, but 1886 and on 25 July of the same constructing and covering the good order book, receiving regular was unsuccessful with several year he received a baronetcy from decks of ships and other floating orders from the . applications to open yards in the new Conservative government. bodies’; in 1871 for ‘improvements In 1889 Harland effectively retired Liverpool. However, on 21 At a by-election in 1889 Harland in apparatus for propelling vessels’; from daily involvement in the September 1858, Robert Hickson was returned unopposed to serve and in 1878 for ‘improvements in business, leaving Wolff and Pirrie wrote to him: ‘I offer you my interest as Unionist MP for North Belfast. screw-propellers’. According to to manage the shipyard. and goodwill in the shipyard at the In the House of Commons he was his obituary in The Times, Harland Queen’s Island, Belfast ... for the sum Harland once self-deprecatingly nicknamed ‘Majestic’ after one designed his company’s ocean- of five thousand pounds ...’ With described the nature of the three of his ships, launched in the year going liners ‘on the model of a fish the financial assistance of Gustav men’s business relationship in of his election. After his election swimming through the water’. Schwabe, Harland purchased the the following terms: ‘Well, Wolff Harland largely lived in London firm and on 1 November 1858, designs the ships, Pirrie sells them and was re-elected unopposed Edward James Harland &Company and I smoke the firm’s cigars.’ in the two subsequent general came into existence. On a more earnest note, Dr Samuel elections of 1892 and 1895. Harland died on Christmas Eve 1895 at his The new company promptly Smiles, the author of Self-Help, one Irish home, Hall, County attracted an order of three ships of the most influential improving Leitrim. (which were named Venetian, texts of the nineteenth century, Sicilian and Syrian) from John Bibby held up Harland as an example Although Harland had married & Sons. Delighted with their new of what riches could be won by (in 1860) Rosa Matilda Wann, Belfast-built ships, Bibby ordered determination and application. the daughter of Thomas Wann, a six more from Harland in 1860. Edward Harland served as the chief Belfast stockbroker and insurance Edward Harland’s ships were long, Belfast Harbour Commissioner agent, the couple were childless. had a narrow beam and were flat- Olympic centre propeller and port propeller As a result the baronetcy became with missing blade, Thompson Graving Dock from 1875 until the 1880s. Harland bottomed, thus increasing their with posed workers, March 1912. was a Presbyterian and a member of extinct on Harland’s death. © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Belfast Shipbuilders 10 11 Belfast Shipbuilders

Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834 –1913) ‘Teutonic’

Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was born in the company, he was placed at a at in 1880. into a family of Jewish double disadvantage and as a result Wolff officially retired from Harland descent which had converted to he was not universally accepted by and Wolff in 1906.We have already Lutheranism in 1819. At the age of Hamburg society. Nevertheless, noted Harland’s quip about the 15 he moved to Liverpool to live despite a strong undercurrent of nature of the relationship which with his uncle, Gustav Christian anti-semitism at the Imperial court, existed between the three key figures Schwabe. He served an Ballin enjoyed Kaiser Wilhelm II’s in Harland and Wolff. In response apprenticeship in Joseph Whitworth respect and admiration and he to an after-dinner speech, shortly & Company, a Manchester was designated as being hoffähig before Harland’s death, Gustav engineering firm, and subsequently (welcomed and acceptable at court) Wilhelm Wolff offered a similar was employed as a draughtsman an honour extended to few by the and equally amusing assessment of in Hyde (in what is now Greater Kaiser. Ballin’s home in Hamburg the division of labour: ‘Sir Edward Manchester). had a suite of rooms which were [Harland] builds the ships, Mr built specifically for the use of the In 1857, due to the intervention of Pirrie makes the speeches, and, as Kaiser when he visited Hamburg. his uncle, Wolff became Edward for me, I smoke the cigars.’ Harland’s personal assistant at Ballin had diplomatic significance Robert Hickson’s shipyard at too: in the years before the outbreak Queen’s Island in Belfast. of the Great War he acted as conduit between the governments In 1861 Wolff became a partner in relationship with the Hamburg- of the Second Reich and the United Harland’s firm and thus Harland Amerika Line, periodically the Kingdom. Terrified that he would & Wolff came into existence. In world’s largest shipping company, lose his ships in the event of naval the early years of the partnership which was managed by Albert hostilities, Ballin attempted to Wolff assumed responsibility for Ballin who was Jewish. broker a deal whereby the United managing the yard but he eventually Kingdom and Germany would played a major role in securing Ballin, who may have been related continue to race one another in orders from various shipping lines. to Gustav Christian Schwabe, was passenger liners but desist from As a result of his Jewish ancestry an extremely interesting figure Belfast Ropeworks, Road c.1924. their attempts to best one another’s © Belfast Telegraph he had strong links with the Jewish in German society. Although naval fleets. community in both Hamburg and very successful in developing In 1873 Wolff founded the Belfast in Britain, and was thereby able the business, as a Jew and by Wolff worked extensively at the Ropeworks. He was the chairman, to attract business to the shipyard. virtue of the fact that he was the yard, and was partly responsible and one of the directors was W. H. Wolff had a particularly good director rather than the owner of for the building of the engine works Smiles, son of Samuel Smiles, the Belfast Shipbuilders 12 13 Belfast Shipbuilders

WILLIAM JAMES PIRRIE (1847-1924) ‘the greatest shipbuilder since Noah’

Victorian self-help guru. By the including the Ulster Hospital and The Northern Whig of 18 May 1921 Harland contended that ‘Pirrie won end of the nineteenth century the the Orange Institution. described William James Pirrie his place in the firm by dint of merit Belfast Ropeworks were the largest as ‘not merely the greatest Irish alone, by character, perseverance Wolff served as MP for East in the world. industrialist of his day, but the and ability’. Even at a very early Belfast from 1892 to January 1910. greatest shipbuilder in the world’. stage he had almost exclusive Wolff was a shareholder in the Whereas, Harland was nicknamed It was Shane Leslie of Glaslough, control over the yard. Over the Union Steamship Company, ‘Majestic’ at Westminster, Wolff the Monaghan author and cousin of next 50 years, under his leadership, and became a director; with his was appropriately nicknamed Winston Churchill, who amusingly Harland & Wolff became the influence, he ensured Harland and ‘Teutonic’, after another state-of- described Pirrie as ‘the greatest greatest shipyard in the world. Wolff received regular orders from the-art ship launched by Harland shipbuilder since Noah’. Captain the Union Steamship Company. and Wolff. Wolff only faced election William Pirrie, Pirrie’s grandfather, Like Harland, Wolff served as a once; in the 1892 by-election was a member of the Belfast Belfast Harbour Commissioner. Sir William Charley, QC, stood Ballast Board and the Harbour against Wolff as an Independent As a Lutheran, in Belfast he naturally Commissioners and in July 1849 Conservative. Wolff defeated gravitated towards the Church of had been granted the privilege Charley by a margin of over 2,100 Ireland, an episcopal church which of opening the Victoria Channel. votes. was also theologically closest in William James Pirrie was born on spirit to Lutheranism, and to which In 1911 When Wolff was made an 31 May 1847 in Quebec, Canada. he became very committed. He was honorary burgess of Belfast in 1911, He was the son of James Alexander also a generous benefactor to the he observed: ‘I had no idea when and Eliza Pirrie (née Montgomery). RMS Titanic. Church and to various local causes, I came to Belfast in 1858 I would Both parents were of Ulster-Scots be a permanent citizen. I have no ancestry. After his father died, regrets I stayed.’ However, after mother and son returned to Ulster. his retirement from parliament in The young Pirrie grew up in , January 1910, Wolff lived almost County . exclusively in London, where he RMS Olympic. At the age of 15 he entered died on 17 April 1913 at his home, Harland & Wolff as an apprentice- 42 Park Street. Wolff never married He travelled widely to keep draughtsman. By the age of 27 and died a bachelor. By dying in 1913 abreast of the latest developments he was a partner in Harland & Wolff was spared the misfortune of in and marine Wolff and on Harland’s death he seeing his homeland being at war engineering. He was at the forefront became chairman, a position which with his adopted country. of the development of the diesel he retained until his own death. engine for marine propulsion. Olympic deck level view from anchor on fo’c’sle deck, aft to bridge, December 1912. © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Belfast Shipbuilders 14 15 Belfast Shipbuilders

Ballykilbeg). However the Unionist Party selected C. W. Dunbar-Buller as its candidate. Out of pique, he seems to have assisted T. H. Sloan, the victorious Independent Unionist candidate and future founder of the Independent , financially. Pirrie wished to be the Unionist candidate in West Belfast in the General Election of 1906 but Oceanic funnel section on outfitting wharf prior the Unionist Party chose Captain J. to being lifted on board, March 1899. © National Museums Northern Ireland R. Smiley as its candidate. Again, Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum out of pique, he ran Alexander February 1912 Pirrie earned their , the managing director of whole-hearted contempt when he Harland & Wolff and his brother- Ships. No. 400: ‘Olympic’ and 401 (‘Titanic’) under construction in stocks. 1910. brought Winston Churchill, then a © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum in-law, as a spoiling independent Liberal cabinet minister, to Belfast to His career was contemporaneous the event of Home Rule becoming unionist against Smiley. Carlisle speak in favour of Home Rule. He with the development of steel law. He replied, ‘Most certainly this polled a derisory 153 votes but chaired the famous meeting in Celtic shipbuilding. He was ‘the creator would be done’. At this stage Pirrie it was sufficient in a very tight Park. The opprobrium which he of the big ship’ and for many years was a Liberal Unionist (a Liberal contest to deprive Smiley of the incurred as a result of his support for the largest passenger liners in the opposed Home Rule). However, in seat and hand it to Joe Devlin, the Home Rule had an adverse impact world came from his yards, notably the first decade of the 20th century Nationalist candidate. on his health and prompted him to the Olympic, the Britannic, and the he reverted to Liberalism and In 1906 Pirrie was raised to the take up semi-permanent residence in Titanic. became a Home Ruler. In 1896-7 peerage (for his political apostasy, London and Whitley Park, the thirty- he was Lord Mayor of Belfast and Politically, he was rather more if not treachery, in the eyes of his two bedroom mansion, surrounded became the first Freeman of the city. interesting and complex than political opponents) and was a by artificial lakes and landscaped In 1897 he was made a member of either Harland or Wolff. At a prime mover in the establishment grounds, in Surrey, which he had the Irish Privy Council. Harbouring dinner party on 2 August 1886 of the Ulster Liberal Association in purchased in 1909. In one lake, parliamentary ambitions, in 1902 he Thomas MacKnight, the editor of April 1906. However, his support Whitaker Wright, the house’s wished to be the Unionist candidate the Northern Whig, asked Pirrie for Home Rule had no discernible previous owner, had famously built in the South Belfast by-election of whether or not he would transfer impact on the fervent unionism an underwater, glass-roofed billiard that year (occasioned by the death of Harland & Wolff to the Clyde in of the shipyard’s workforce. In room, which still exists. the celebrated William Johnston of Belfast Shipbuilders 16 17 Belfast Shipbuilders

In 1907 Pirrie persuaded the White Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White represented the past rather than the Star Line to order three great Star Line, who got away in one of future. The rebellion in in transatlantic liners which would the last lifeboats. 1916 played a significant part in his put the White Star Line’s rivals and return to Unionism. Between 1908 and 1914 Pirrie competitors out of business. The was Pro-Chancellor of Queen’s He died at sea of pneumonia (off the first would be named Olympic, the University, Belfast. In the years coast of Cuba) on 7 June 1924. He second Titanic and the third was before the outbreak of the Great and his wife were returning from originally to be called Gigantic. War he served as a member of the a business trip to South America. The Olympic was launched on 20 Committee on Irish Finance. In The body was brought back to October 1910. On 31 May 1911 1911 he became Lord Lieutenant of Belfast and was buried Olympic’s fitting-out was complete the City of Belfast. in the City Cemetery. and the great liner, up until then As Pirrie’s marriage the world’s biggest ship, steamed During the war he was a member of was childless, the out of Belfast Lough. However, the War Office Supply Board and in peerage became a few hours earlier, Harland & March 1918 he became Comptroller extinct at his death. Wolff launched the Titanic, 1,000 of Merchant shipbuilding, helping There is a memorial gross tons heavier than her sister to replace British shipping lost to to Pirrie in the ship. The Gigantic was prudently submarine warfare. He was also grounds of the renamed the Britannic and was mainly responsible for introducing City Hall, Belfast. launched on 26 . Titanic Memorial, . the idea of standardizing ships, However, she was laid up for many a principle that was adopted in months before being put to use as to travel aboard the Titanic on Britain and the United States during a hospital ship in 1915. In that role her maiden voyage but illness Second World War. prevented him from joining the she struck a mine off the Greek In recognition of his war work and ill-fated passage. Had he done so island of Kea on 21 November 1916 charity work, he became a viscount he would be much better known and was sunk. in 1921. He also became a member today because he would have In Pirrie intended of the Senate, the upper chamber of either drowned (like Captain Smith, the Northern Ireland Parliament. Thomas Andrews or Colonel J. J. By this stage he had abandoned Astor, the Titanic’s captain, designer both Liberalism and his support and richest passenger respectively) for Home Rule. His acute political or he would have survived and antennae informed him that both HMHS Britannic. have been universally reviled like J. William James Pirrie bust, Belfast City Hall. Belfast Shipbuilders 18 19 Belfast Shipbuilders

Sir George Clark (1861-1935) the co-founder of the ‘Wee Yard’

In the early days Workman Clark would have a disastrous impact on outsourced the manufacture the Irish economy, the prosperity of engines to Rowan & Sons of of Belfast and the shipbuilding Belfast and other suppliers, but industry. The 1907 contest in the after 1891 the ‘wee yard’ made north of the city was the third its own engines. The ‘wee yard’ contest in the constituency in pioneered the development of the swift succession and Clark was Charles Parson turbine engine chosen as the candidate most and the construction of insulated likely to defeat William Walker, and refrigerated fruit-carrying the formidable Labour candidate, vessels (for United Fruit and for who in the General Election of 1906 Elder & Fyffe’s West Indian banana had trimmed the Unionist majority trade).The company specialized in in the constituency to under 300. medium-sized cargo boats and also Clark boosted the Unionist majority combined cargo-and-passenger to a rather more healthy 1,827. vessels. Harland &Wolff specialised According to Fred Crawford, one in the construction of high-speed of Clark’s most fervent supporters, Workman, Clark & Co.: North Yard. Ship No. 230: Arguaya. View after launch. 6 June 1906. transatlantic liners whereas another one-time apprentice at © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum Workman Clark concentrated on the Harland &Wolff and the principal George Smith Clark was born in seems like a ludicrously young production of ‘smaller, slower ships figure in the Larne gun-running of Paisley on 8 November 1861 and age, opened his own shipyard for less glamorous trades’. Because April 1914, the contest ‘was fought was the second son of the thread with capital provided by his uncle, Harland &Wolff and Workman on the question of the Union, manufacturer James Clark and George Smith. In 1880 the 19-year Clark had different customer bases and the Union only. There were Jane Smith. Jane was the daughter old Clark joined forces with the and specialisms, the two firms were no side issues as far as Mr Clark of a Glasgow ship-owner who had 24-year old Francis Workman, rarely in direct competition. was concerned’. In January 1910 Clark retired from the House of founded the City Line. George a Belfast-born former premium Clark was a founder member of the Commons to devote more attention was educated at Merchiston Castle apprentice at Harland &Wolff who Ulster Unionist Council in 1905 and to his business affairs. However, School in Edinburgh (where James also had links with the Smiths of in 1907 contested the North Belfast this did not signal any weakening Craig, Northern Ireland’s first Glasgow, to form Workman, Clark by-election, briefly becoming the of his commitment to the Union. Prime Minister, was also educated) & Co. The firm’s first order was for Unionist MP for North Belfast. As During the third Home Rule crisis and was apprenticed to Harland a steam coaster named the Ethel. an industrialist and a shipbuilder, George Clark chaired the secret &Wolff. In 1877 Clark, at what The business grew and prospered. Clark believed that Home Rule Ulster Unionist Council sub- Belfast Shipbuilders 20 21 Belfast Shipbuilders

a member of the Northern Ireland Senate. During the Great War Workman Clark built 35 vessels for the Admiralty and also many standard merchant ships to replace those lost to German U-boats. The latter ships were built at break-neck speed: ‘During their construction one of the firm’s men established a new world riveting record in the north yard, [John Moir drove 11,209 rivets in a normal working day on 5 June 1918] and the south yard replied by making a record in the way of Workman, Clark & Co. south ship-building yard, Vacated premises. 17 September 1935. finishing a standard ship, an 8,000 © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum ton vessel being completed in 3 ¾ the firm’s temporary liquidation buried on 26 March in Belfast City days from the time of launch’. It in 1927. The firm was revived in Cemetery. Less than a month later, was for his firm’s contribution to 1928 as Workman Clark (1928) Ltd. it was announced that the firm was the war effort that Clark received The receivers hoped to persuade to be sold and closed. the Baronetcy of Dunlambert in Sir George to resume control of the Sir George’s grandson, George 1917. new company but he declined on The Inchanga being built at Workman Clark yard. Anthony Clark (1914-1991), was the © Belfast Telegraph health grounds. With the onset of After the war demand for ships third baronet and a senior Unionist the world depression in 1929, Sir committee established to acquire initially remained high: in 1920 and Orangeman, being Grand George had made a wise decision. the wherewithal to oppose Home Workman Clark had orders for Master of the Grand Orange Lodge In 1932 and 1933 Harland &Wolff Rule by force of arms. As chairman 37 ships and appeared to be in a of Ireland (1957-67), Chairman of did not launch a single ship. of Duncairn Unionist Association, stronger position than Harland & the Standing Committee of the Workman Clark launched its last he invited Sir Edward Carson Wolff, but by 1921 orders began to Ulster Unionist Council (1967-72), ship, an 8,000-ton tanker named to contest the newly-created dry up. By that stage Sir George President of the Ulster Unionist Acavus, in 1934. Sir George died at constituency in the General Election had resigned from the board of Council (1980-90) and Patron of the his home, Dunlambert, Fortwilliam of 1918. After the establishment of directors in protest at the financial Ulster Unionist Council (1990-91). Park, on 23 March 1935. He was devolution in 1921 Clark became dealings which were to result in Belfast Shipbuilders 22 23 Belfast Shipbuilders

Thomas Andrews (1873-1912) the man who designed Titanic

Thomas Andrews Junior was Chief John Wilson Foster has described He received his early education at of the Designing department of Thomas Andrews’ place in Irish home rather than at the local village Harland and Wolff and Managing culture – ‘as a Unitarian, Unionist school. Following family tradition, Director of the Firm. He designed and staunch Empire man’ – as he entered Royal Belfast Academical the Titanic and was one of the ‘complex’. Perhaps this is so to Institution in September 1884. He 1,517 people who perished with people today but these dimensions was not academic, being fonder of the ship on its ill-fated maiden to his life really ought to be readily games (especially cricket at which voyage. Despite all the controversy explicable in terms of his family he excelled) than of study, and had surrounding the sinking of the ship, background. not yet developed those powers Andrews is one of the few heroes of industry for which he became Shan Bullock produced a brief of the sinking and his reputation famed. biography of Andrews, at the remains – to employ John Wilson suggestion of , the On 1 May 1889 he began a premium Foster’s word – ‘unblemished’. one-time Unionist MP for South apprenticeship at Harland & Wolff. He was born on 7 February 1873 County Dublin, founder of the Co- Every morning he rose at ten at Ardara House, , County operative movement in Ireland and minutes to five and was at work in Down, and was the second son of Vice-President of the Department of the Yard punctually by six o’clock. Thomas Andrews Senior (1843- Agriculture and Technical Education, His first three months were spent 1916) and Eliza Pirrie (1845-1929). Thomas Andrews, his wife Helen Reilly who greatly admired Andrews’ in the joiner’s shop, the next month The Andrews family had been Barbour and their daughter Elizabeth. political acumen. Bullock observed with the cabinet makers, the two prominent for several generations Thomas Andrews Junior’s mother, of Andrews: ‘He was a firm Unionist, following months working in in the public, commercial and Eliza Pirrie, was the sister of being convinced that Home Rule ships. There followed two months industrial life of Ulster. William James Pirrie, the chairman would spell financial ruin to Ireland, in the main store; then five with the of Harland and Wolff. through the partial loss of British shipwrights, two in the moulding His father was a linen baron and credit, and of the security derived loft, two with the painters, eight a politician whose mother, Sarah, Thomas Andrews Junior’s eldest from connection with a strong and with the iron shipwrights, six was the daughter of Dr William brother, John Miller Andrews prosperous partner’. with the fitters, three with the Drennan, the radical poet and the (1871-1956), became Northern pattern-makers, and eight with real founder of the United Irishmen. Ireland’s second Prime Minister in From an early age Thomas the smiths. In November 1892 he Before W. E. Gladstone’s conversion 1940. Another brother, Sir James Andrews Junior developed a great joined the drawing office and, after to Home Rule Thomas Andrews Andrews (1877-1951), became Lord fondness for boats, and because of a spell of eighteen months there, he Senior was a Liberal. Thereafter he Chief Justice of Northern Ireland in his manifest skill in the making of completed his term of five years as was a leading Liberal Unionist. 1937. these he gained among his friends an apprentice. the nickname of ‘Admiral’. Belfast Shipbuilders 24 25 Belfast Shipbuilders

By 1901 Andrews was the manager On 31 July 1908 the White Star of the construction works and a Line placed an order for the ship member of the Institution of Naval which would become the Titanic. Architects. The following year he Construction began on 31 March became a member of the Institution 1909 and on 31 May 1911 the hull of of Mechanical Engineers, a member the Titanic was launched. Andrews of the Society of Naval Architects took Helen to view the ship one and Marine Engineers (New York), night, shortly before Elizabeth Law and an honorary member of the Barbour Andrews, their only child, Belfast Association of Engineers. was born. Known by her initials, ‘ELBA’ was born on 27 November In 1905 he became chief of the 1910. designing department. Two years later he became managing director The Titanic was a remarkable of the firm and was overseeing feat of early-twentieth-century Hull drawing office with naval architects, 1912. plans for the RMS Olympic for the engineering and craftsmanship, © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Harland & Wolff, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum White Star Line. and the last word in luxury and a group of workers who went on Andrews to examine the damage technological innovation. She was In 1908 he married Helen Reilly the maiden voyages of the ships shortly after midnight. Having a magnificent spectacle with five Barbour, younger daughter of built by the company to observe inspected the damaged section miles of decks, squash courts and a John Doherty Barbour, of Conway, the ship’s performance and to of the ship, Andrews ascertained swimming pool. She was one-sixth Dunmurry, County Antrim, and identify any necessary or possible that the first five of the ship’s of a mile long, as high as the Albert sister to Milne Barbour, a linen improvements. On 14 April 1912 watertight compartments were Clock and had funnels through baron, the family firm of the William Andrews observed to a friend that flooding rapidly and understood which a Belfast tram could pass. Barbour Linen Thread Company Titanic was ‘as nearly perfect as that if more than four of the ship’s of Hilden being the largest linen On 9 April 1912 in a letter to Helen, human brains can make her’. compartments were flooded, the thread manufacturer in the world, Thomas wrote: ‘The Titanic is now ship was doomed. He relayed this However, later that day, at 11:40pm, and future Northern Ireland about complete and will I think information to Captain Smith and the Titanic struck an iceberg on the cabinet minister. The couple made do the credit to-morrow advised that the vessel had only ship’s starboard side. Andrews their home at Dunallan, Windsor when we sail.’ about an hour before it completely had been in his stateroom sleeping Avenue, Belfast. The house is sank. She actually managed to Andrews headed Harland and at the time, and barely noticed now the headquarters of the Irish survive longer than Andrews Wolff’s Guarantee Group on the the collision. Captain Smith, Football Association. . had calculated: for two hours and Titanic’s maiden voyage. This was the ship’s captain, summoned twenty minutes. He also informed Belfast Shipbuilders 26 27 Belfast Shipbuilders

Smith of the chronic shortage of On 19 April 1912 Thomas Andrews lifeboats on board the ship: there Senior received a telegram from his were 2,228 people on board but mother’s cousin, who had spoken only lifeboats for 1,178 people. with survivors in New York, For aesthetic reasons, the White searching for news of Andrews. Star Line had not wanted lifeboats Andrews Senior read the telegram cluttering up the ship’s decks. aloud to the staff of the family home in Comber: As the evacuation of the Titanic began, Andrews searched the ‘INTERVIEW TITANIC’S staterooms and advised passengers OFFICERS. ALL UNANIMOUS to put on lifebelts and go up on THAT ANDREWS HEROIC deck. Conscious of the short time UNTO DEATH, THINKING ONLY the ship had left and of the lack SAFETY OTHERS. EXTEND of lifeboat accommodation for all HEARTFELT SYMPATHY TO passengers and crew, he continued ALL.’ to urge reluctant people into the Mary Sloan, a stewardess on the lifeboats in the hope of filling them ship, whom Andrews persuaded as fully as possible. to enter a lifeboat, later wrote: The Titanic sank at 2:20am on ‘Mr. Andrews met his fate like Monday 15 April. According to a true hero, realizing the great John Stewart, a steward on the danger, and gave up his life to ship, Andrews was last seen staring save the women and children at a painting, ‘Plymouth Harbour’, of the Titanic. They will find it above the fireplace in the first-class hard to replace him’. smoking room. Another account has Thomas Andrews frantically throwing deck chairs into the ocean for passengers to use as floating devices. Andrews’s body was never recovered. 68-72 Great Victoria Street Belfast BT2 7BB T: 028 9043 6710 F: 028 9033 0715 E: [email protected]