Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer
Noel Macklin
Sir (Albert) Noel Campbell Macklin (28 October 1886 – 1946) was an innovative British car maker and boat designer. He founded Eric-Campbell in 1919, Silver Hawk in 1920, Invicta in 1925 and Railton in 1933. In 1939 he founded Fairmile Marine ...
.
Macklin used the garage at his home at
Cobham Fairmile in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles.
As a former
Royal Horse Artillery
The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...
and
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original R ...
officer, he was inspired to turn his talents and his technical staff to producing boats after reading an article by Vice-Admiral
Cecil Vivian Usborne
Vice-Admiral Cecil Vivian Usborne, CB, CMG (17 May 1880 – 31 January 1951) was a high-ranking officer in the British Royal Navy. He served as the Director of Naval Intelligence between 1930 and 1932. His son Henry Usborne was a Member of Pa ...
.
After his first designs were accepted and ordered by the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
, Macklin found he had insufficient
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
. To solve the problem the Fairmile company became an agency of the Admiralty with Usborne as one of the directors.
As a result, the company carried out business without turning a profit, the staff being in effect part of the civil service.
Many Fairmile Bs were built in Commonwealth countries: 80 in Canada, 12 in New Zealand, and six in South Africa.
Boats designed
References
*
Lambert, John and Ross, Al . ''Allied Coastal Forces of World War Two, Volume I : Fairmile designs and US Submarine Chasers.'' 1990. .
See also
*
Vospers
*
British Power Boat Company
The British Power Boat Company was a British manufacturer of motor boats, particularly racing boats and later military patrol boats.
History
The company was formed on 30 September 1927 when Hubert Scott-Paine bought and renamed the Hythe Shipy ...
*
British Coastal Forces of World War II
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy initially established during World War I, and then again in World War II under the command of Rear-Admiral, Coastal Forces. It remained active until the last minesweepers to wear the "HM Coastal Fo ...
Notes
External links
The Fairmile CompanyThe Fairmile Bs of the Royal Canadian Navy
Borough of Elmbridge
Companies based in Surrey
Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom
1939 establishments in England
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