Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co

1854. The Baltic Fleet.

1867. Monitor for the Indian Government.

1868. Greek Ironclad "King George".

1868. Ironclad for Greece.

1885.HMS Benbow .

1886. HMS Benbow.

1888.

1893. Paddle Steamer for the Bosphorus.

1895.

1895. The board room and Mr. Mackrows office.

1895. The drawing office and timber yard.

1895. View from one of the engineering towers.

1895.

1897.

1897. Building of a Warship.

1897.

1897.

1897.

1898. Japanese Battleship Shikishima.

1898.

Girder constructed in 1897 for the Kotri Rohri Section of the Indian State Railways

1899.

Thames Ironworks of Blackwall was an established shipbuilder in the southeast of London.

1835 Thames Bank Ironworks at the Orchard Yard, Blackwall had its origins in the business established by Thomas Joseph Ditchburn and Charles John Mare as Ditchburn and Mare for shipbuilding and civil engineering. The site of the yard had been used for shipbuilding for many centuries.

1846 Ditchburn retired; Mare extended the works to the west side of Bow Creek, as C. J. Mare and Co

1857 C. J. Mare and Co became insolvent and was taken over by Mare's father-in-law, Peter Rolt, and renamed Thames Ironworks Co. Ltd. The yard occupied sites on both banks of the River Lea at the point where it joined the Thames, with 30 acres in West Ham and 5 acres in Blackwall.

1860 The SS Mooltan was built for Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co with engines by Humphrys, Tennant and Co. The yard built the first ironclad battleship HMS Warrior, one of the first to use the longitudinal system of construction.

1861 Built the steam vessels Yavari and Yapura for service on Lake Titicaca, Peru, with machinery by James Watt and Co. The extensively-modified and restored Yavari survives today. See here.

After 1865 Thames Ironworks concentrated mainly on warships, for the Royal Navy and foreign governments; merchant shipping was mainly cross-channel packets, Thames river steamers, and tugs.

1866 Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. failed.

1867 The Thames Iron Works Ship Building, Engineering, and Dry Dock Company (Limited), of Blackwall, exhibited models of ironclad frigates and steam ships at the 1867 Paris Exhibition

1868 Three five-masted ironclads were completed.

1868 Built the ironclad 'King George' for the Greek Government (see illustrations). Designed by George C. Mackrow.

1871 Frank Clarke Hills bought a controlling interest in the Thames Ironworks.

1872 Peter Rolt and Frank Clarke Hills, contributories of the Thames Iron Works and Ship Building Co, applied for the company to be wound up

1872 the firm became a limited liability company. It was one of the largest and most productive shipyards on the Thames.

By 1875 The company was known as Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co

By the 1880s all the Thames shipyards were facing increasing competition from the shipyards on the Clyde and in north-east England.

1880s During the 1880s more battleships were made.

1886 Manufactured Hone's excavator and elevator for the patentee; presumably this was the beginning of the cranes business - see: Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co: Cranes

1892 The electrical engineer Charles Edward Grove joined the company and around this time the Electrical Department was started.

1894 Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co decided to construct an experimental monorail line based on Behr's scheme, for which the electrical equipment might be supplied by Siemens

1894 Constructed three pairs of lock gates, semi-floating and double-skinned, as part of the West India Docks improvements. The gates were actuated by hydraulic rams working direct on to the gates. These, with six hydraulic sluice valves and six 5-ton hydraulic capstans, were fitted by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co., Elswick. Four pumps of the vertical spindle type, each capable of delivering 5000 cubic feet per minute, with four Cornish boilers, Vicars’ mechanical stokers, &c., were installed by Easton, Anderson and Goolden, Erith. The widening of the locks necessitated the lengthening of the swing bridge over them, which was done by Sir William Arrol and Co.

1897 Site is 28 acres and they employ 3,000-4,000 workmen

1897 Description and illustrations of the Japanese Battleship Fuji. 'The designs for building were prepared by Mr. George C. Mackrow, the company’s naval architect, whose large experience in this class of work is well known. The time for completion originally to have been five years, to suit the financial arrangements of the Japanese Government, but the war with China breaking out led to the period being shortened to 33 months. The Thames Iron Works Company would have been prepared to sign for 30 months, but as the armament by Messrs. Armstrong and Co. could not be completed in less time, it decided to adopt the later date, strike of Messrs. Armstrong and Co.’s fitters will, it is feared, delay the final completion and departure of the Fuji...... Before proceeding down the river, the vessel was heeled in the Victoria Docks for the purpose of determining practically the position of the centre of gravity, 12 of the large 10-ton rolls from the Thames Iron Works rolling mill being employed. This large weight of 120 tons was transferred from side to side of the vessel on balks of timber laid across the deck, with an angle-bar to form a tramway for the rolls ; and in this way there was effected in a couple of hours what would have taken the whole day to accomplish by handling pig iron ballast. The result proved the truth of the original calculations to within a small fraction of an inch. We learn that Mr. G. C. Mackrow has been engaged at these works for a period of 53 years this month. Those who know him will easily believe his assertion that he feels equal to many years’ service, which we sincerely hope he may occupy in designing vessels to be built at the historic Orchard House yard. He has lately been occupied in writing his recollections of past years, which have appeared in the Thames Iron Works Gazette. ...'. Engines by Humphrys, Tennant and Co. Belleville-type boilers.

1898 Disaster at the launch of the HMS Albion when 34 persons were killed. A. F. Hills was the chairman of the company

1899 Constructed the lattice girder spans for the Kotri Rohri Section of the Indian State Railways. There were five spans of 350 ft. in the clear, and one span 100 ft. in the clear

1899 The Thames Iron Works, Shipbuilding and Engineering Co was registered on 15 July, to take over the business of the Thames Iron Works and Ship Building Co, with which was amalgamated the undertaking of John Penn and Sons. . The company's civil engineering and electrical departments were full of work, 4 battleships were under construction and many smaller vessels as well as manufacturing and maintenance of the lifeboats for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

May have built a few railway locomotives.

• For a detailed description of the business in the later years see The Engineer 1895/12/13

See Also

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Sources of Information

• British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816
• Buses and Trolleybuses before 1919 by David Kaye. Published 1972
• Ian Allan - British Buses Since 1900 - Aldridge and Morris
• British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss
• Biography of Arnold Frank Hills, ODNB