The grave of Charles Connell, Glasgow Necropolis

Charles Connell and Company was a Scottish

shipbuilding company A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

based in

Scotstoun Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

History

The company was founded by Charles Connell (1822-1894) who had served an apprenticeship with Robert Steele and Co before becoming manager of

Alexander Stephen and Sons Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Glasgow, on the River Clyde and, initially, on the east coast of Scotland. History The comp ...

Kelvinhaugh yard before he started shipbuilding on his own account at Scotstoun in 1861 initially concentrating on sailing ships. From 1918 the Company became well known for high quality passenger and cargo ships. The yard closed from 1930 to 1937 due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, before rearmament efforts stimulated demand. In 1968 the yard passed from Connell family ownership after 107 years and became part of

Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde. It entered liquidation, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a "work-in" ...

. The Scotstoun yard continued to be operated by Upper Clyde Shipbuilders until 1971, when the company collapsed and, from 1972 to 1980, by

Scotstoun Marine Ltd {{more citations needed, date=May 2008 Scotstoun Marine Ltd was a shipbuilding company in Glasgow, Scotland, on the River Clyde, formed in 1972 to operate the former shipyard of Charles Connell and Company following the collapse of Upper Clyde S ...

, a subsidiary of

Govan Shipbuilders Govan Shipbuilders Ltd (GSL) was a British shipbuilding company based on the River Clyde at Glasgow in Scotland. It operated the former Fairfield Shipyard and took its name from the Govan area in which it was located. History The company wa ...

. The Connell shipyard was closed in 1980 after 119 years of shipbuilding. The site was cleared of cranes although some evidence of the building berths remained visible until about 2004. Part of the yard's covered facilities are used by steel stockholders

GKN GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

whilst the riverside berth has been used by Motherwell Bridge Engineering for heavy fabrication work.

Ships built

Connells built a total of 516 ships at Scotstoun. They include: * ''Wild Deer'' (1863) -

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

ship * ''Michael Angelo'' (clipper) (1865) - sailing clipper * (1865) — sailing clipper * ''Spindrift'' (1867) - composite clipper ship * (1873) — sailing ship * SS ''City of Agra'' (1879) - cargo steamer * (1886) — iron-hulled sailing ship, preserved at the San Francisco Maritime Museum * (1894) — iron-hulled sailing ship * ''Knight Errant'' (1897) - cargo ship * ''Saturnia'' (1910) – passenger steamship *

sloops A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

and * s , and * s and * SS ''Clan Skene'' (1919) * SS ''Diplomat'' (1921) * SS ''Traveller'' (1922) * SS ''Auditor'' (1924) * SS ''Benvenue'' (1927) * SS ''Benmohr'' (1928) * SS ''Benwyvis'' (1929) * SS ''Traprain Law'' (1930) * SS ''Rothermere'' (1938) * SS ''Narwik'' (1942) — Polish ''Empire B'' class cargo steamship * (1943) — MoWT cargo steamship * (1947) –

passenger-cargo ship A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

References

External links

The Clyde-built ships data base – lists over 22,000 ships built on the Clyde
Defunct shipbuilding companies of Scotland River Clyde Manufacturing companies established in 1861 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1980 1861 establishments in Scotland 1980 disestablishments in Scotland British companies established in 1861 Companies based in Glasgow British companies disestablished in 1980 British Shipbuilders {{industry-company-stub