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 Na ...

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

became the leading shipbuilding company in the world. He was later a Conservative Party 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, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

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

ironclad warship An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship protected by steel or iron armor 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. The firs ...

built in Chatham, he moved in 1863 to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to take up the post of surveyor to the

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (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 ...

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 Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. His sons James and John were taken into partnership in ...

, 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 brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the name ''Compagnie ...

. 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 Legal liability, 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 c ...

, 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 transf ...

. The shipyard and

offices An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

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 () 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 traffic in the Pacific Ocean. At one point in the 1870s, ...

, 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. Pearce was a major shareholder in the first of these clients, and was also chairman of the Guion Steamship Company, and of the Scottish Oriental Steamship Company. In 1888 he got Fairfield's to build him a luxurious steam yacht for his own use: ''SY Lady Torfrida'' (545 tons). This was little used before his death and sold in 1890 to Bayard Brown who renamed it ''SY Valfreyia''. It was sold again in 1928 to the

Maharajah Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a prince. However, in late ancient India ...

of Nawanagar and renamed ''Star of India''.

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. For example, while the political systems ...

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 (; ; ) 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 royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

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, England, 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 (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

in London, on 18 December 1888. He is interred at

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Strood and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2020 had a populat ...

. 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 (architect), John Honeyman and John Keppie in 1888 following the death of James Sellars in whose architectural practice Keppie had worked. Their most no ...

. Bronze plaques and a bust of Pearce were designed by sculptor

Albert Toft Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949) was a British sculptor. Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in ...

. Standing near the entrance of the cemetery the impressive monument was robbed of its architectural bronzes in 1970 and ultimately demolished in 1976 due to its excessive vandalism.Glasgow Herald (newspaper) 17 August 1976 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, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

in Kent. Their only child was William George Pearce, who succeeded to the baronetcy. His estate was valued for

probate In common law jurisdictions, 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, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

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 1 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