Sir Raylton Dixon (8 July 1838 – 28 July 1901), was a shipbuilding magnate from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on the River Tees who served as Mayor of Middlesbrough.

Background and early life

Dixon was one of the seven children of Jeremiah II Dixon (1804–1882) and Mary Frank (1803–1877) of

Cockfield, County Durham Cockfield is a village on the edge of Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is situated 8 miles to the south-west of Bishop Auckland, north-west of Darlington and south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. Remains found on Cockfield Fell suggest there ...

who were married on 21 July 1833 in St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington. He was the great-grandson of George Dixon of Cockfield Canal fame, and great, great nephew of

Jeremiah Dixon Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer who is best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason–Dixon line. Early life and ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, where he studied Mathematics.

Business life

The yard first did business under the name ''Backhouse & Dixon''. Raylton Dixon started the firm of Raylton Dixon & Co. in 1873 with the substantial Dixon family coal mining fortune, and it operated until 1923 when it was dissolved. At the height of its production the three Dixon brothers, Raylton, John, and Waynman, were involved in running the company. In its 50-year life the Cleveland Dockyard built more than 600 vessels, the first ship, the iron steamship ''Torrington'', being launched in 1874. The ship was later renamed ''Kwanon Maru No. 11'' and ran aground and was wrecked off Yagoshi Point,

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

on 7 March 1908. Raylton Dixon & Co earned a reputation for the construction of sound, large cargo-liners and during the 1890s had contracts with all the major shipping companies of the time. They also turned out refrigerated ships for the meat industry. Dixon was a close friend of George Young Blair (1826–1894), whose firm, Blair & Co., built marine triple expansion engines and were fitted in Raylton Dixon ships. Raylton Dixon ships played an important role in world history. The was built in 1897 as a refrigerated cargo steamship, with berths for 12 first-class passengers. In 1900 she was chartered to make eight voyages to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, ferrying the Dublin & Denbigh Imperial Yeomanry, with their horses, to the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. In 1904 Doctor Crippen and his secretary, Ethel Le Neve, were aboard the ship and acted suspiciously, causing the master to radio

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, resulting in their arrest on the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. In 1914 she was sold to the admiralty for use as a blockship in Dover harbour, but broke her moorings in a gale and ran aground on the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Upper Chalk platform belonging to the same geologi ...

, her mast remaining visible until 1963. The general cargo steamship built at Raylton Dixon in 1899 devastated

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, Canada when she blew up with a cargo of ammunition in the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Raylton Dixon was knighted in 1890 for his contributions to shipbuilding.

Personal life

Dixon married on 5 August 1863 Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Robert Walker. She was born in 1841 and died in 1915, aged 74. They produced eight children: *Mary Alice Elizabeth Raylton Dixon *Florence Lilian Raylton Dixon *Bessie May Raylton Dixon *Ada Beatrice Averil Raylton Dixon * Clive Macdonnell Raylton Dixon *Mabel Cochrane Dixon, who married in 1902 Otho Cowen Bond. * Harald Raylton Dixon *Amy Gertrude Inga Raylton Dixon Raylton Dixon bought Gunnergate Hall from Carl Bolkow in 1888 and lived there until his death in 1901. Raylton Dixon was buried in St Cuthbert's Marton churchyard.

References

External links

Backhouse, Dixon & Company (1862 – 1873)

A reference archive of ships built on the River Tees 1850 – 1990

British shipyards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Sir Raylton British shipbuilders 1838 births 1901 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Knights Bachelor Mayors of Middlesbrough Conservative Party (UK) councillors People from Cockfield, County Durham 19th-century British businesspeople