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Sir William Pearce, 1st Baronet (8 January 1833 – 18 December 1888)
[
] was a British shipbuilder, under whose management the
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
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 ...
became the leading shipbuilding company in the world.
He was later a
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
politician.
Career
Pearce was born at Brompton near
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
in Kent, the son of Joseph George Pearce.
He trained as a shipwright and naval architect at the
Chatham Dockyard. After supervising the construction of
HMS ''Achilles'', the first
ironclad warship
An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. T ...
built in Chatham, he moved in 1863 to
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
to take up the post of surveyor to the
Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...
on the Clyde.
His career then developed rapidly. A year after arriving on
Clydeside
Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...
, he became general manager of
Robert Napier and Sons, where he designed innovative fast, transatlantic liners for the
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the Péreire brothers, brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the ...
. In 1869 he became a partner in
John Elder & Co, and after the retirement of the other partners he became the firm's sole owner in 1878. In 1886, spending more time on his political career in London, he converted the business to a
limited company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...
, the
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.
Pearce remained as chairman.
[ ]
Fairfield became a world leader in ship design and marine engineering, and was most famous for the development of the
triple expansion engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...
. The shipyard and
offices
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...
in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
occupied a site of over , and employed up to 5000 workers. It built ships for the major shipping lines, including the
Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the
New Zealand Shipping Company
The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973.
A group of Christchurch businessmen founded the company in 1873, similar ...
, and the
British and Africa Steam Navigation Company
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. Pearce was a major shareholder in the first of these clients, and was also chairman of the
Guion Steamship Company
The Black Star Line was the name used by American sailing packets owned by the New York firm of Williams and Guion from 1848 to 1866. The line owned 18 ships on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. The line was shut down in 1863 because of th ...
, and of the
Scottish Oriental Steamship Company
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
.
Politics
As one of Govan's leading businessmen, Pearce took up public office as a Commissioner (councillor) for the Burgh of Govan.
He unsuccessfully contested the
Glasgow constituency at the
1880 general election,
but after the
redistribution of seats he was elected at the
1885 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the new
Govan constituency.
His victory was narrow, with a majority of only 155 votes over his
Liberal Party opponent.
Pearce was re-elected at the
1886 election with a slightly increased majority of 362 votes,
and on 21 July 1887 he was made a
Baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, of Cardell in the County of
Renfrew
Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...
.
Death and legacy
Pearce died suddenly at the age of 55 in his home on
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
in London,
on 18 December 1888.
He is interred at
Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham ( ) is a large town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in the ...
. An independent memorial was erected in
Craigton Cemetery
Craigton Cemetery is a cemetery in south-west Glasgow dating from the mid-19th century. It stands on Berryknowes Road.
The cemetery has a Jewish section containing 230 graves. The cemetery also contains 251 commonwealth war graves from the Fir ...
in south-west Glasgow. The monument was designed by the architects
Honeyman and Keppie
Honeyman and Keppie was a major architectural firm based in Glasgow, created by John Honeyman and John Keppie in 1888 following the death of James Sellars in whose architectural practice Keppie had worked. Their most notable employee was Charles ...
.
[Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Honeyman and Keppie]
He was survived by his wife Dinah Elizabeth Socoter, who was originally from
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
in Kent. Their only child was
William George Pearce, who succeeded to the baronetcy.
His estate was valued for
probate
Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...
purposes at £1,069,669.
His statue still stands at Govan Cross near the Pearce Institute, a building containing a public hall, library and other rooms, which was given to Govan by his widow.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, William
1833 births
1888 deaths
People from Chatham, Kent
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912)
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
British shipbuilders
Govan
Scottish businesspeople in shipping
Scottish shipbuilders
19th-century Scottish businesspeople