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Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as "Palmers", was a
British 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, ...
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 ...
. The Company was based in Jarrow, County Durham, in north-eastern England, and also had operations in
Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...
and
Willington Quay Willington Quay is an area in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear in northern England. It is on the north bank of the River Tyne, facing Jarrow, and between Wallsend and North Shields. It is served by the Howdon Metro station in Howdon. ...
on the River Tyne.


History


Early history and growth

The company was established in 1852 by
Charles Mark Palmer Sir Charles Mark Palmer, 1st Baronet (3 November 1822 – 4 June 1907) was an English shipbuilder born in South Shields, County Durham, England. He was also a Liberal Party politician and Member of Parliament. His father, originally the captain ...
as Palmer Brothers & Co. in Jarrow. Later that year it launched the '' John Bowes'', the first iron screw collier. By 1900 the business was known as Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company. At that time, besides building ships, it manufactured and processed its own steel and other metals, and its products included
Reed water tube boiler The Reed water tube boiler was a type of water tube boiler developed by J. W. Reed, manager of the engine works at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company of Jarrow, England, where it was manufactured from 1893 to 1905. At this time, Palmer ...
s and
marine steam engine A marine steam engine is a steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. This article deals mainly with marine steam engines of the reciprocating type, which were in use from the inception of the steamboat in the early 19th century to their ...
s. By 1902 Palmers' base at Jarrow occupied about 100  acres (41 
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
s) and included 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometres) of the southern bank of the River Tyne, and employed about 10,000 men and boys. In 1910 Sir Charles Palmer's interest in the business was acquired by Lord Furness who, as Chairman, expanded the business by acquiring a lease over a new graving dock at
Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...
from
Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines. Famous early locomoti ...
. In 1919 Palmers laid down the , which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1941, causing the loss of 84 lives and of silver.


Depression and collapse

The Great Depression, which began in 1929, all but destroyed the shipbuilding industry, which would not rebound until the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. In 1931, Palmers posted a loss of £88,867 (). The company received a moratorium from its creditors in order to extend repayment. In January 1933, the majority of the company's unsecured creditors met in London and agreed to extend the moratorium a further six months. However, Palmers' was unable to survive and collapsed by the end of the year. The company's blast furnaces and steel works—which covered 37 acres—were put up for auction. The Jarrow yard was sold to
National Shipbuilders Securities National Shipbuilders Security was a UK Government body established in 1930, under the Chairmanship of Sir James Lithgow, of the eponymous Clyde shipbuilding giant Lithgows. The remit of National Shipbuilders Security was to remove over-capacity ...
, which closed it down in order to sell it, causing much unemployment and leading to the
Jarrow March The Jarrow March of 5–31 October 1936, also known as the Jarrow Crusade, was an organised protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the English town of Jarrow, near Newcastle upon Tyne, during the 1930s. Around 200 men (or "Cru ...
. After the shipyard closed, following support from the industrialist, Sir John Jarvis, the site was used the engine shop as a steel
foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
for another 18 months. The company retained the yard at
Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...
and was subsequently acquired by
Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
, becoming Palmers Hebburn Company. In 1973,
Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...
, successor to Armstrong Whitworth, sold the Palmers Dock at Hebburn to
Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...
and developed it as the Hebburn Shipbuilding Dock. This facility was acquired in turn from the receivers of Swan Hunter by Tyne Tees Dockyard in 1994, which sold it to Cammell Laird in 1995. When the latter entered receivership in 2001, the dock was acquired by
A&P Group A&P Group Ltd is the largest ship repair and conversion company in the UK, with three shipyards located in Hebburn, Middlesbrough and Falmouth. The company undertakes a wide variety of maintenance and repair work on commercial and military shi ...
. The yard remains in use as a ship repair and refurbishment facility.


Ships built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Ships built by Palmers included:


Naval


Battlecruisers

* Royal Navy (1912)


Battleships

* Royal Navy (1861) * Royal Navy (1910) * Royal Navy (1906) * Royal Navy (1892) * Royal Navy (1915) * Royal Navy (1892) * Royal Navy (1901) * Royal Navy (1870) * Royal Navy (1856) * Royal Navy (1870)


Cruisers

* Royal Navy (1885) * Royal Navy (1918) * Royal Navy (1886) * Royal Navy (1897) * Royal Navy (1890) * Royal Navy (1897) * Royal Canadian Navy (1891) * Royal Navy (1891) * Royal Navy (1885) * Royal Navy (1886) * Royal Navy (1928)


Destroyers

*
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1896) *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1896) * Royal Navy (1903) *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1896) * Royal Navy (1903) * Royal Navy (1932) * Royal Navy (1932) * Royal Navy (1903) * Royal Navy (1903) * Royal Navy (1903) *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1897) *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1897) * Royal Navy (1897) * Royal Navy (1895) * Royal Navy (1900) * Royal Navy (1895) *
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
(1932) * Royal Navy (1900) *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
(1899) * Royal Navy (1895) * Royal Navy (1904) * Royal Navy (1899) * Royal Navy (1896) * Royal Navy (1905) * Royal Navy (1900) * Royal Navy (1904) * Royal Navy (1905) * Royal Navy (1896) * Royal Navy (1918)


Monitors

* Victorian Navy (1868) * Royal Navy (1915) * Royal Navy (1871) * Royal Navy (1915) * Royal Navy (1915)


River gunboat A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried mor ...
s

* Royal Navy (1877) * Royal Navy (1877) * Royal Navy (1877) * Royal Navy (1876) * Royal Navy (1876) * Austro-Hungarian Navy (1889) * Royal Navy (1876) * Royal Navy (1877) * Royal Navy (1876) * Royal Navy (1876) * Royal Navy (1876) * Royal Navy (1877) * Royal Navy (1877)


Merchant and leisure


Cable ship A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, military, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cabl ...
s

* Atlantic Telegraph Company (1923)


Cargo ships

*''Anne Thomas''
Evan Thomas Radcliffe Evan Thomas, Radcliffe and Company was one of the more prosperous and better-known of Cardiff-based shipowning companies, established in 1882 by a Ceredigion sea captain, Evan Thomas, and a Merthyr Tydfil businessman, Henry Radcliffe. Until 193 ...
(1882) *''Anthony Radcliffe'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1893) * Alfred Holt and Company (1922) *''Clarrisa Radcliffe'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889) *''Douglas Hill'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1890) *
British-India Steam Navigation Company British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. History The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading part ...
(1919) *''Gwenllian Thomas'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1882) *''Iolo Morganwg'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1882) *'' John Bowes'' Charles Palmer (1852) *''Kate Thomas'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1884) *''Lady Palmer'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889) *''Mary Thomas'' Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889) * China Mutual Steam Navigation Company (1922) *''Slavic Prince'' (Prince Line Ltd, Newcastle) (1918)


Oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
s

*''British Ardour''
British Tanker Company British Tanker Company Limited was the maritime transport arm of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the forerunner of BP. Formed in 1915 with an initial fleet of seven oil tankers, the British Tanker Company became the BP Tanker Company in 1955. ...
(1928) *''British Aviator'' British Tanker Company (1924) *''British Captain'' British Tanker Company (1923) *''British Chemist'' British Tanker Company (1925) * British Tanker Company (1929) * British Tanker Company (1922) *''British Freedom'' British Tanker Company (1928) *''British General'' British Tanker Company (1922) *''British Honour'' British Tanker Company (1928) *''British Industry'' British Tanker Company (1927) *''British Inventor'' British Tanker Company (1926) *''British Justice'' British Tanker Company (1928) *''British Light'' British Tanker Company (1917) *''British Loyalty'' British Tanker Company (1928) *''British Mariner'' British Tanker Company (1922) *''British Officer'' British Tanker Company (1922) * British Tanker Company (1922) *''British Science'' British Tanker Company (1931) * British Tanker Company (1922) *'' British Splendour'' British Tanker Company (1931) *''British Strength'' British Tanker Company (1931) *''British Yeoman'' British Tanker Company (1923)


Passenger ships

* (1860) * (1896)


Steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...
s

* ''Xantha''
Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (6 July 1797 – 7 February 1869), styled Lord Paget 1812 and 1815 and Earl of Uxbridge from 1815 to 1854, was a Welsh peer and Whig politician. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 183 ...
(1867)


Tugs

* PT ''Northumberland'' G. Wascoe, Shields, 1852 Yard number 1


Cargo vessels

* S.S. Socotra, 1897


See also

*
List of shipbuilders and shipyards This is a list of notable shipbuilders and shipyards: Africa Egypt * Suez shipyard * Alexandria Shipyard Asia Azerbaijan * Baku Shipyard Bangladesh * FMC Dockyard Limited * Ananda Shipyard and Shipways * Bashundhara Steel & Engineering * Kh ...


References


Footnotes


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * *


External links

*{{UK National Archives ID Defunct shipbuilding companies of England Marine engine manufacturers Jarrow Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom