Birkenhead Iron Works
1824 William Laird established the Birkenhead Iron Works with his partner, Daniel Horton, to manufacture boilers - presumably Horton and Laird
1828 The partnership was dissolved, and Laird and his son John, a solicitor's clerk, set up a new business, William Laird and Son. This was initially a boilerworks, but in 1828 it received its first order for an iron ship, to be used on the lakes of Ireland. The business rapidly expanded, as the demand for large iron steamships developed.