Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company
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| Public company | |
| Industry | Shipbuilding |
| Fate | Merged with others to form Upper Clyde Shipbuilders |
| Predecessor | Randolph, Elliott and Co. Randolph, Elder and Co. John Elder & Co. |
| Successor | Govan Shipbuilders |
| Founded | 1834 |
| Defunct | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Govan, Scotland, UK |
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Key people
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Charles Randolph John Elder Sir William Pearce Sir James Lithgow Sir Alexander Kennedy |
| Products |
Naval ships Merchant ships Ocean liners Marine engines |
| Parent | Northumberland Shipbuilding Group (1919–1935) Lithgows (1935–1965) |
The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the Second World War. It also built many transatlantic liners, including record breaking ships for the Cunard Line and Canadian Pacific, such as the Blue Riband winning sisters RMS Campania and RMS Lucania. At the other end of the scale Fairfields built fast cross channel mail steamers and ferries for locations around the world. These included ships for the Bosphorus crossing in Istanbul and some of the early ships used by Thomas Cook for developing tourism on the River Nile.
Charles Randolph, who began trading as a millwright, founded the business as Randolph & Elliott by building engines and machinery in the Tradeston district of Glasgow in 1834.John Elder joined the business in 1852 and it then diversified into shipbuilding as Randolph, Elder and Company, acquiring the Govan Old Shipyard in 1858. The first ship was built in 1861 as No 14.
The business moved to a new yard at the former Fairfield Farm at the Govan riverside in 1864, changing its name to the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, after the old farm, in 1886, at which time it was owned by Sir William Pearce. The shipyard's imposing red sandstone Drawing Offices were designed by John Keppie of Honeyman and Keppie, with help from a young Charles Rennie Macintosh, and built 1889–91. The sculpted figures (The Engineer and the shipwright) flanking the entrance are by James Pittendrigh Macgillivray.
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