Sir William Pearce, 1st Baronet (8 January 1833 – 18 December 1888) was a British shipbuilder, under whose management the

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy ...

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 b ...

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 in Kent, the son of Joseph George Pearce. He trained as a shipwright and naval architect at the

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...

. After supervising the construction of HMS ''Achilles'', the first

ironclad warship An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

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 ...

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 Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of River Clyde, Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, City of Glasgow, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier (engineer), Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. Hi ...

, 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 shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

, the

. 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 tran ...

. The shipyard and offices in

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 Pacific Steam Navigation Company ( es, Compañía de Vapores del Pacífico, links=no) was a British commercial shipping company that operated along the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffi ...

, 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 t ...

, 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 The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

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 14t ...

, 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 form ...

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 Cour ...

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 t ...

. 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 Fi ...

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 south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

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 st ...

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