| Industry | Shipbuilding |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1837 |
| Defunct | 1912 |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Headquarters | London |
TheThames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was ashipyard andiron works straddling the mouth ofBow Creek at its confluence with theRiver Thames, atLeamouth Wharf[1] (often referred to asBlackwall) on the west side and atCanning Town on the east side. Its main activity wasshipbuilding, but it also diversified into civil engineering, marine engines, cranes, electrical engineering and motor cars.[2]
The company notably produced iron work forIsambard Kingdom Brunel'sRoyal Albert Bridge over theTamar in the 1850s,[2] and the world's first all-iron warship,HMSWarrior, launched in 1860.
The company originated in 1837 as the Ditchburn and Mare Shipbuilding Company, founded byshipwrightThomas J. Ditchburn and the engineer andnaval architectCharles John Mare. Originally located atDeptford, after a fire destroyed their yard the company moved toOrchard Place in 1838, between theEast India Dock Basin andBow Creek inBlackwall. There they took over the premises of the defunct shipbuilders William and Benjamin Wallis.
The firm did well and within a few years occupied three sites covering an area of over 14 acres (5.7 ha).
Ditchburn and Mare were among the first builders of iron ships in the area; their partnership commenced with the construction of smallpaddle steamers of between 50 and 100 tons, before progressing to cross-Channel vessels and by 1840 were building ships of more than 300 tons. The company's early customers included theIron Steamboat Company and theBlackwall Railway Company, several paddle steamers being constructed for the latter, including theMeteor and thePrince of Wales, which operated betweenGravesend and the company's station onBrunswick Wharf.
In this period the company was also awarded several contracts by theAdmiralty, includingHMSRecruit (a 12-gunbrig) which was one of the first iron warships built. They also constructed theP & O Company's steamersAriel andErin, along with the paddle steamerPreussischer Adler forPrussia.
Thomas Ditchburn retired in 1847 and the business was carried on by Charles Mare, under the name of C.J. Mare and Company. He was joined by naval architect James Ash, who later began his own shipyard atCubitt Town.
From 1847 the company grew considerably and Mare purchased land inCanning Town on theEssex side of theRiver Lea, a ferry service being established between the two sites.[3]
Mare constructed a yard withfurnaces androlling mills that could construct vessels of 4,000 tons; because of the narrowness of thespit at the mouth of the River Lea, the Orchard Place site was limited to the construction of vessels of less than 1,000 tons. In 1853 the company launched theSSHimalaya for thePeninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, briefly the world's largest passenger ship before becoming a navaltroopship.
In 1855, the company which by now had more than 3000 employees, was threatened with closure following Mare'sbankruptcy. It is thought by some that his financial difficulties arose from delays in payment for completed work or, alternatively, that the company had miscalculated the cost of building vessels for the Royal Navy. The business did not lack orders, having in hand six contracts for gunboats and the contract forWestminster Bridge (which was built in 1862).
The company's chiefcreditors moved to keep the company in operation, and two employees, Joseph Westwood and Robert Baillie were appointed works managers. The main figure in saving the company wasPeter Rolt, Mare's father-in-law andConservativeMP forGreenwich. Rolt was also a timber merchant and a descendant of thePett shipbuilding family. He was supported in the venture by another company director,Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill.[4]
Rolt took control of the company's assets and in 1857 transferred them to a newlimited company, named theThames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd.. It had a capital of £100,000 in 20shares of £5000 each, five of which were held by Rolt who was the main shareholder and alsochairman of the board.[5]
The new company was the largest shipbuilder on the Thames, its premises described by theMechanics' Magazine in 1861 as "Leviathan Workshops".[6] Large scaleOrdnance Survey maps of the 1860s show the yard occupying a large triangular site in a right-angled bend on the east bank of Bow Creek with the railway to Thames Wharf on the third side, and with a smaller site on the west bank. The main yard had a quay 1,050 feet (320m) long.[7] To the south-east the yard occupied the north bank of the Thames east of Bow Creek, with two slips giving direct access to the main river. Today the site is crossed by theA1020 Lower Lea Crossing and theDocklands Light Railway south ofCanning Town station.
By 1863 the company had the capacity to build 25,000 tons of warships and 10,000 tons ofmail steamers simultaneously. One of its firstAdmiralty contracts was forHMSWarrior, launched in 1860, at the time the world's largest warship and the first iron-hulled armouredfrigate.HMSMinotaur followed in 1863, 400 feet (120 m) long and 10,690 tons displacement.
Work on vessels such asMinotaur was performed on the Canning Town side of the Lea, and this is where the Thames Ironworks expanded from less than 10 acres (4.0 ha) in 1856 to 30 acres (12 ha) by 1891. While the old site at Orchard Place was still the company's official address until 1909, its presence there was minimal, by the late 1860s the company having only a 5 acres (2.0 ha) site there.
General shipbuilding on the Thames came under great pressure due to the cost advantages of northern yards with closer supplies of coal and iron, and many yards closed following the1866 financial crisis. Of the survivors, those like the Thames Ironworks were specialised in warships and liners.[8]
Following the success of HMSWarrior and HMSMinotaur, orders were placed by navies all over the world, and vessels were built forDenmark,Greece,Portugal,Russia, Spain and theOttoman Empire. The yard also built thePrussian Navy's first iron-hulled warship, theSMSKönig Wilhelm in 1868 and thecruiserAfonso de Albuquerque for Portugal in 1884. A multitude of mostly small warships were also built for theRomanian Navy, most notably thebrigMircea.[9] Also notable was the tiny minelayerAlexandru cel Bun. The Iron Works also produced for the Romanian Navy a class of three small 45-ton gunboats, a class of three medium 116-ton gunboats and a class ofeight 50-ton torpedo boats.[10]
In the 1890sphilanthropistArnold Hills became the managing director. He had originally joined the board of directors in 1880 at the age of 23. Hills was one of the first business directors voluntarily to introduce aneight-hour day for his workers at a time when 10- and 12-hour shifts were more common in industrial work.
In 1895 Hills helped to set up a football club for the Works' employees,Thames Ironworks F.C. and within their first two years they had entered theFA Cup and the London League. As a result of the committee's desire to employ professional players, the Thames Ironworks F.C. was wound up in June 1900 andWest Ham United F.C. was formed a month later.
Merged with the engine builderJohn Penn and Sons in 1899 as the Thames Iron Works, Shipbuilding and Engineering Co.
During its lifetime the yard produced 144 warships and numerous other vessels. In 1911 Hills petitionedWinston Churchill, thenFirst Lord of the Admiralty, regarding the lack of new orders. He was unsuccessful, and the yard was forced to shut in 1912.[2] Within two years the United Kingdom was at war with theGerman Empire, with the yard's last major ship taking part in theBattle of Jutland.Kotri Bridge in Pakistan Sindh province was also constructed in between 1897 and 1912.[11][failed verification]
The premises of the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company, Greenwich, were subsequently acquired in 1915, by theRoyal Flying Corps (created in 1912) for the storage of aeroplanes.[12]
Part of the company'sLimmo Peninsula site was excavated during the construction ofCrossrail in 2012.[13]
Employees at the Thames Ironworks formed aworks football team, calledThames Ironworks Football Club. This club was later renamedWest Ham United, whose emblem of the crossed hammers represents the large riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade. West Ham are also known as "The Hammers" for this reason.
While the media and the general football world commonly refer to the club as The Hammers, the club's own supporters have always referred to their team as 'The Irons', which again comes from the link with Thames Ironworks. The chant 'Come on you Irons' is heard on every match day at West Ham.[citation needed]
The shape of the 16th evolution of the club badge, launched after club moved to the Olympic Stadium in 2016, is a representation of the cross-section of the bow ofHMSWarrior, the first iron clad battleship, built by the Thames Ironworks in 1860.[20]
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51°30′34″N0°0′32.8″E / 51.50944°N 0.009111°E /51.50944; 0.009111
