Russell and Company
| Private | |
| Industry |
Shipbuilding - yards on the Clyde nationalised in 1977; and at Buckie, closed 2013 Marine resources |
| Founded | 1874 |
| Founder | William Lithgow |
| Headquarters | Port Glasgow, UK |
| Owner | Lithgow family |
| Website | http://www.lithgows.co.uk |
Shipbuilding - yards on the Clyde nationalised in 1977; and at Buckie, closed 2013
Lithgows Limited, is a family-owned Scottish company that had a long involvement in shipbuilding, based in Kingston, Port Glasgow on the River Clyde in Scotland. It has a continued involvement in marine resources.
The Company was established by Joseph Russell and his partners Anderson Rodger and William Lithgow who leased the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow from Cunliffe & Dunlop and started trading as Russell & Co. in 1874.
In 1879 they purchased the Cartsdyke Mid Yard from J.E. Scott and in 1881 they acquired the Kingston Shipyard from Henry Murray. The partnership was dissolved in 1891: Russell retired, Rodger took the Bay Yard and Lithgow the Kingston and Cartsdyke Yards.
In 1900 The Cartsdyke Yard was sold to Greenock Dockyard.
Then in 1908 brothers William Lithgow's sons, James and Henry, assumed control; they bought the Bay yard in 1911.
The Company then entered a period of expansion by acquisition, buying the Port Glasgow East Yard from Robert Duncan & Co in 1915 and Glasgow marine enginebuilders David Rowan & Company in 1917.
In 1918 Russell & Company was renamed Lithgows Ltd.
Further acquisitions included the Inch Yard of Dunlop, Bremner in 1919 (although it continued to trade under its own name until 1926), the Glen Yard of William Hamilton and Company also in 1919 (although it continued to trade under its own name until 1963), steel stockholders James Dunlop & Company in 1920, the closed yard of Murdoch & Murray in 1923 (giving them complete ownership of the entire Port Glasgow waterfront from Bay to Inch), the Greenock enginebuilder Rankin & Blackmore Ltd also in 1923 and the Irvine-based shipbuilder Ayrshire Dockyard Ltd in 1928.
In 1933 the Inch shipyard was sold to National Shipbuilders Security and 'sterilised' for 40 years. Then in 1935 Lithgows took control of the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Govan although it continued trading as a separate entity.
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Wikipedia