George Green Blackwall shipbuilder 1767-1849

George Green (1767 – 21 February 1849) was a ship builder from

Blackwall, London Blackwall is an area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London. The neighbourhood includes Leamouth and the Coldharbour conservation area. The area takes its name from a historic stretch of riverside wall built along a ...

Biography

Green served his shipbuilding apprenticeship with John Perry on the largest dock on the Thames

Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...

, repairing and building ships primarily for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. As Perry began to withdraw from the business the firm became Perry Sons & Green (having married John Perry's second daughter in 1796), Perry Wells & Green (a half share having been sold to

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of D ...

shipbuilder John Wells) and eventually Wigram & Green. In 1821 the firm built its first steamship. During this period the yard built Blackwall Frigates. He married Sarah Perry in 1796 giving birth to Richard Green in 1803. Following Sarah's death in 1805, George Green remarried Elizabeth Unwin giving birth to Frederick Green and Henry Green. Frederick went on to set up Frederick Green and Co., and was the father of Joseph Green and Sir Frederick Green. Green was buried at

St Matthias Old Church St Matthias Old Church is the modern name given to the Poplar Chapel built by the East India Company in 1654, in Poplar in the East End of London. The church is designated a Grade II* listed building. St Matthias Old Church is one of the ver ...

in 1849.

Legacy and Philanthropy

After George retired in 1838, Richard took over with step-brother Henry to form R & H Green's until 1907. In that time they contributed to the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

building 25 naval vessels. In 1910 the company amalgamated with Silley Weir & Company, as R.& H. Green and Silley Weir Ltd, which constructed and repaired munitions ships, minesweepers, hospital ships and destroyers during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. *

George Green's School George Green's School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form, located in Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. History The school was founded in 1828 by George Green, a shipbuilder and sh ...

endowed in 1828 * Trinity Independent Chapel and its associated "minister's house, sailors' home, schools, and almshouses", according to the ''

Survey of London The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...

''. * The Sailors' Home (133 East India Dock Road) and opened in 1841, providing 200 beds caring for the crews of his ships in between their voyages, protecting them from the Crimping System. Unusually for its time, the Sailors' Home was racially integrated (see

Lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, George 1767 births 1849 deaths English shipbuilders Christian missions to seafarers English philanthropists