Robert Napier and Sons

Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. His sons James and John were taken into partnership in 1853.

The whole Clyde, every engineer and shipbuilder in it, was considered to have benefitted from the firm's achievements and celebrity. By the 1840s it was universally recognised as the finest in Britain. Many firms were founded by former employees.

After Robert Napier's death in 1876 the plant and goodwill were sold by auction in March 1877 and purchased by a group of engineers led by the previous manager, A C Kirk. It continued to build ships and engines until 1900 when it was incorporated in William Beardmore and Company.

In 1800 Glasgow had no shipbuilding firms. 23-year-old Robert Napier set himself up in his own smith business in Glasgow's Greyfriars WyndGallowgate in 1815.

In 1821 he took over his first cousin David Napier's Camlachie foundry and works and for his works manager chose David Elder (1795–1866) (in 1824 father of John Elder). They made city water pipes then a stationary engine. They built Napier's first marine engine for Leven in 1823. David Elder designed many of his engines. Contracts were won for the supply of engines to a steamer called Eclipse in 1826 and four years later for the vessels of the Glasgow Steam Packet Company. In 1834 they won the contract to supply engines to the Dundee and London Shipping Company.

In 1828 Robert Napier expanded his operations to the nearby Vulcan Foundry re-equipping it, two years later handing over Camlachie to one of his brothers. Eight years later he leased (then in 1841 he bought) his cousin David Napier's Lancefield Quay Foundry and Docks on the north side of the Clyde.

There in 1836 he built Berenice, the East India Company's first steamer, he sub-contracted the hull to John Wood and Company, and their Zenobia and in 1841, HMS Akbar. His first contract for a steamer for Her Majesty's Government won in 1840 was for HMS Vesuvius and followed by HMS Stromboli.

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