SHIPBUILDERS

During the 19th century the large-scale growth of Britain’s maritime trade created a huge demand for ships, which were increasingly built from iron and later steel. Indeed, between 1890 and 1914 the country was the world’s greatest shipbuilding nation. Just before the First World War 60 per cent of the world fleet was built in British shipyards, where some 300,000 workers were employed. It is therefore not surprising that many of us find shipbuilding ancestors during the course of our research.

The largest metal shipbuilding centres were located in the north-east of England on the Tyne, Tees and Wear Estuaries, and on the River Clyde in Scotland. Together these areas employed over half of the country’s shipbuilding labourwas constructed.