William Smith Dixon

William Smith Dixon (1824-1880)

1824 William Smith Dixon was born, son of William Dixon (1788-1859), owner of the Govan Iron Works and Calder Iron Works, and his first wife

A licence to produce was granted by Henry Bessemer to Smith Dixon of the Govan Iron Works

1859 His father died in London. William Smith Dixon succeeded him in control of the business.

1860s He expanded the colliery side of the business adding new mines at Cockerhill, Titwood, and Ibrox.

1866 W. S. Dixon, of the Govan Iron Works, Glasgow.

Early 1870s, a new deeper coalfield around Blantyre was being developed.

1872 Dixon formed the works into a private limited company William Dixon Ltd which provided the funds for the Blantyre expansion.

Withdrew from active work in the business.

1880 He died in London in June 1880. The works were carried on by trustees.

---

1880 Obituary

THE death has just been announced of Mr. William Smith Dixon, of Govan and Calder Iron Works, a gentleman bearing a highly honourable name, and one intimately connected with the mining and iron making industries in the Glasgow district for well-nigh a century. William Dixon, the founder of the family, and grand-father of the deceased, was a native of Northumberland who settled in Lanark about the year 1770. In the year 1800 the well-known Calder Iron Works, near Coatbridge, were started by a firm of which he was chief partner, one of the others being David Mushet, the leading spirit in the undertaking, and the gentleman to whom the discovery and utilisation of the blackband iron stone were due; eventually Mr. Dixon became the sole proprietor of the works at Calder.

The property acquired by this gentleman, who died in 1824, was left to his eldest and youngest sons, named respectively John and William; but as the former had no inclination for the business of the iron manufacture he sold his interests to his brother, who in many respects was a man of great force of character, and altogether a man of very great mark in the history of the Scotch iron trade. For a term of years the Calder Works were jointly owned by him and three other partners, at least one of whom, namely, Mr. Alexander Christie, also became a man of mark in the same field of operations; indeed, he was the practical manager of the Calder Works from the year 1805, when David Mushet ceased to have charge of them, down to 1841, and was engaged in the iron trade for the long period of forty-five years, with but a few months intermission. The co-partnership just referred to continued till 1835, when it was dissolved, and the works reverted again wholly to Mr. Dixon, whose son, Mr. W. S. Dixon, the gentleman recently deceased, entered into partnership with him in 1862.

In the year 1843 the younger William Dixon built on his own account the Govan Iron Works, including blast furnaces and rolling mills. A considerable amount of interest attaches to Govan Iron Works from the fact that, with that hearty co-operation of the Messrs. Dixon, Mr. (now Sir) Henry Bessemer made some of his experiments there before his process became commercially successful. The sole license for Scotland was granted to Mr. Dixon and his son, by Mr. Bessemer; but in consequence of the use of a fixed converting vessel, and the presence of such large quantities of sulphur and phosphorus in the pig iron experimented upon, the results were never satisfactory; and, much to the regret of both the Messrs. Dixon, the process had to be abandoned, so far as they were concerned. It is also interesting to note that at the same works the first Siemens heat-regenerative furnace brought into use in Scotland was laid down at Govan Iron Works.

With the assistance of relatives and other immediate friends, Mr. W. S. Dixon continued to conduct the various industrial undertakings left by his father for about ten years; a small limited liability company was formed to carry on the business. The operations of this company, in which Mr . Dixon took the leading part, have become very extensive and of great industrial and commercial importance.

During rwcent years the deceased had such feeble health that he could only give a limited amount of attention to the business of the large concern with which he was associated. He owned extensive estates in Lanarkshire and the adjoining counties, and of late years he resided chiefly in London. Having left no issue, his decease brings to a close the career of the "Dixons of Govan," so closely identified with the industrial history of Scotland.

---

See Also

Loading...

Sources of Information

• William Dixon (1788-1859) [1]
• Dixon family, ODNB [2]