St Clare John Byrne (1831-1915) was a British naval architect, who specialized in the design of luxury yachts during the late Victorian and early Edwardian period.

Family background

His father, Charles Holtzendorf Byrne (1781-1853), was an Irish ship owner who in 1812 married Scottish Susanna Ewing (1789–1868). They had 8 children, 4 of whom were born in Renfrew Scotland and the remainder in Liverpool, including St Clare Byrne. By the age of 20 Byrne was a merchant’s clerk, living with his parents in Birkenhead, an area associated with shipbuilding. In 1867 he married Kate Chatteris, they had 3 children: Henry, Arthur and Lionel. Byrne's granddaughter was Muriel St. Clare Byrne (1894-1983), historian and author. She and her mother lived with Byrne after her father died in 1905; she would later say of him that he was a genius.

Shipbuilding

Byrne's elder brother, shipping merchant Andrew Ewing Byrne (1818-1908), was a keen yachtsman. Byrne followed his interest, but designed and built his own yacht. In 1856 he was elected a member of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club. By the mid 1850s he was designing larger vessels constructed in iron for the shipyard Brassey, Peto and Betts of Canada Works at Birkenhead. These included the paddle steamer ''Elizabeth Jackson'' (143 ft), ''Edith Byrne'' (729 tons) for his brother Andrew, and the yacht ''Albatross'' (110 tons) for

Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

, son of a

proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

of the Canada Works. In 1865 he was Superintendent Shipbuilder in the Humber Iron Works and later a partner in shipbuilding company called Byrne, Humphreys & Co. of Hull; the partnership was dissolved in 1867. In the early 1870s he was designing merchant ships and private yachts often constructed as composite, where the frame was made of iron but planked in wood. He delivered a paper on this subject to the Institute of Naval Architects in 1878. Steam Yacht Sunbeam

Byrne designed a steam auxiliary barquentine yacht for Thomas Brassey of composite construction named ''Sunbeam''. It was 532 tons, 159 ft in length, built by Bowdler and Chaffer’s in Seacombe and launched in 1874 . ''Sunbeam'' would become one of the most famous private yachts of the period. Brassey took the yacht on a world cruise with his wife Anna (Allnutt) Brassey (1839-1887) and their children. Anna wrote a book describing their travels and this became a best seller, reprinted many times and translated into many languages. In 1915 Brassey sailed ''Sunbeam'' to Mudros Bay to act as a hospital ship during the Gallipoli campaign. In 1877 the first of 3 yachts Byrne designed for Manchester industrialist Samuel Radcliff Platt was launched; they were all named ''Norseman''. The 2nd, launched in 1890, was eventually sold to an American buyer and become the ''USS Mohican - SP117'' during WW1. The ''Lancashire Witch'' was designed and built for Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh on the lines of ''Sunbeam'' and launched in 1877. Like Brassey, Hesketh went on a world tour in the ''Lancashire Witch'' and on one of the legs set a record for the crossing between the Falkland Islands and South Africa. The ''Lancashire Witch'' was sold to the Admiralty in 1893 and become ''HMS Waterwitch''. Two American clients, James Gordon Bennett and William Kissam Vanderbilt, had yachts designed by Byrne, but built in America. Vanderbilt's yacht ''Alva'' was sunk in 1892 and Byrne was commissioned to design a replacement, the ''Valiant'' at 2148 tons, said to be the largest yacht in the world. This was constructed in Britain by

Laird Brothers Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

. Byrne continued to design yachts into his senior years: ''Portia'' designed for Col Herbert A Foster and built by Cammell Laird was launched in 1906 when Byrne was 75. ''Portia'' was used by the Royal Navy during WWI as armed yacht ''Portia II'', becoming involved with the chase and final sinking of German submarine U12. St Clare John Byrne died on 13 December 1915 aged 86 and was buried at Holy Trinity Church, then Hoylake Parish church. The church has since been demolished but the grave yard remains. Sadly, Byrne's tomb stone is now damaged and overgrown.

Table

Many of the larger yachts (over 100 tons) designed by St Clare Byrne are listed below. The list does not included his designs for small yachts or merchant vessels. Source data from contemporary Lloyd's Yacht Registers.

Additional Interests

St Clare John Byrne was a keen golfer and a member of the

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake The Royal Liverpool Golf Club is a golf club in Wirral in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1869 on what was then the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club. It received the "Royal" designation in 1871 due to the patronage of the Duke of ...

having joined in 1890. When younger he was a leading marksman in the 2nd Cheshire Rifle Volunteers. He continued to take an interest in sailing, becoming president of the Hoylake Sailing Club in his later years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, St Clare John 1831 births 1915 deaths British naval architects 19th-century British businesspeople