Wigram and Green
Wigram and Green was a shipbuilding yard based on the River Thames in London
George Green (1767–1849) founded this London shipbuilding and shipping family. He was the youngest and only surviving son of John Green, a successful Chelsea brewer and his wife Mary (née Pritzler), daughter of a London sugar refiner.
In 1782 George was apprenticed to John Perry (1743–1810), whose family had managed the Blackwall Shipyard on the Thames since 1708. He rose rapidly and married Perry’s second daughter Sarah early in 1796. Perry married Green’s younger sister Mary as his second wife in 1799.
In 1797 Perry’s two sons by his first marriage and Green were made partners. The firm became Perry, Sons and Green.
In 1798 half the business was sold to John and William Wells junior, formerly Deptford shipbuilders, becoming Perry, Wells and Green.
In 1803, at John Perry’s retirement, part of the Blackwall estate was sold to the East India Dock Company. His remaining half share was sold to the Wellses.
In 1805 Sir Robert Wigram (1744–1830) bought a large share and the firm became Wigram, Wells and Green.
1812 A meeting held in The Mould Loft, Blackwall belonging to Wells, Wigram and Green [1]
By 1813 Wigram had taken over all the Wells interest and it became Wigram and Green. He owned half the business, his sons Money and Loftus Wigram a quarter, and Green the remaining quarter. Robert Wigram retired in 1819 and sold his half to the other partners.
George and Sarah Green’s first four children died young. Their fifth child, Richard (1803–63), was the sole survivor. After Sarah’s death in 1805 George married Elizabeth Unwin in 1806 and had six more children. The two oldest sons, Henry (1808–79) and Frederick (1814–76) continued the business with Richard.
1821 Mention of a ship launched from Wigram and Green's yard at Blackwall [2]
1825 Launch of the new East India ship 'Abercrombie Robinson' (named in honour of the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors) of between 1,300 and 1,400 tons was launched at Wigram and Green's yard at Blackwall. Her sister ship the 'Edinburgh' had been launched the previous week. [3]
In 1829 Richard Green became a partner in the firm which was renamed Green, Wigram and Green'.
1832 Green, Wigram and Green of Blackwall employ from 500 to 1,000 men [4]
By the 1820s Wigram and Green owned shares in East Indiamen. But with the end of the East India Company shipping monopoly due in 1834, the families diversified into ship-owning, separately and as partners. George Green’s first ship was the Sir Edward Paget in 1824 and he also became involved in building and operating South Sea whalers from 1829.
1833 Green, Wigram and Green of Blackwall launch the 'Monarch' the largest steam-ship ever built in the country and owned by the Edinburgh Steam Co. Powered by two 100 hp engines by Boulton and Watt [5] After 1834 an increasing number of ships were built for both families at Blackwall and elsewhere.
1834 Wigram and Green launch of an East Indiaman [6]
1836 Wigram and Green of Blackwall launch the 'Countess of Lonsdale' of 700 tons. Owned by The General Steam Navigation Co. [7]
1837 Wigram and Green of Blackwall launch the 'Madagascar' of 900 tons [8]
Between 1837 and 1862 one or more ships were built annually for the firm and they lost only four in that period. They began to make Australian voyages in the late 1840s and established a monthly service after the discovery of gold in Port Victoria in 1852. By about 1860 they had a fleet of 30 ships.
In 1837 the Greens’s Blackwall-built Seringapatam introduced an advanced, larger design of vessel. Their general lines and smart operation gained the complimentary nickname of ‘Blackwall frigates’.
In 1835 part of the Blackwall estate was sold to the Blackwall Railway Company for a maritime passenger terminus whose river interface was the Brunswick Wharf.
1839 Wigram and Green launch the East Indiaman 'Owen Glendower' of 1,000 tons [9]
1839 Wigram and Green hold trials of the 'Vernon', the first East Indiaman fitted with a steam engine. 30 hp engine by Leaward and Co [10]
1841 Built the steam ship 'Trident' [11]
In 1843, when the Wigram and Green partnership expired, the shipyard was divided down the middle. Money, Wigram & Sons retained the western half and what became R. and H. Green and Co the eastern.
1843 The 'Conqueror' of 800 tons belonging to Richard Green of 'Wigram and Green wrecked in the channel and all except one of the 45 crew and 18 passengers lost [12] [13]
Wigram & Green built the first of many small steam vessels in the Blackwall Yard in 1821 and continued to do so for concerns like the General Steam Navigation Co. They experimented unsuccessfully in 1838–39 with auxiliary paddle power in their new Indiamen Earl of Hardwick and Vernon. After Richard Green’s death in January 1863 they acquired the auxiliary steamers Good Hope and James V. Stevenson for the Calcutta trade in 1871, and themselves built the full-powered Viceroy (1871) and Sultan (1873) for the same route.
In 1902, with the decline of Thames shipbuilding, R. & H. Green became part of the well-known ship repairing partnership, R. & H. Green and Silley Weir. The Blackwall yard remained in use, with a major graving dock, but the main site was at the Royal Albert Dry Docks. P & O acquired control of the business in 1918 but Green and Silley Weir still had 8,000 employees in the 1960s. It was sold in 1977 to become part of the Government-owned River Thames Shiprepairers and closed in 1980.
By 1895, Thames based shipbuilders were no longer viable due to their distance from coal, iron and steel supplies. Wigram and Green were one of the early builders of steam frigates, and were based at Blackwall in the 1850s.
Sources of Information
- British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss
- [1] National Martime Museum
- ↑ The Morning Chronicle (London, England), Monday, October 12, 1812
- ↑ Glasgow Herald, Monday, April 16, 1821
- ↑ The Morning Post, Tuesday, November 15, 1825
- ↑ The Morning Chronicle, Wednesday, October 17, 1832
- ↑ The Morning Post, Tuesday, July 02, 1833
- ↑ The Morning Chronicle (London, England), Friday, April 11, 1834
- ↑ The Blackburn Standard, Wednesday, August 10, 1836
- ↑ The Morning Post, Monday, May 22, 1837
- ↑ The Standard (London, England), Wednesday, March 20, 1839
- ↑ The Morning Post, Tuesday, September 10, 1839
- ↑ Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland), Monday, July 11, 1842
- ↑ The Morning Chronicle (London, England), Tuesday, January 17, 1843
- ↑ Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper (London, England), Sunday, January 22, 1843