William Fairbairn & Sons
| Industry | Engineering |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Fairbairn and Lillie Engine Makers |
| Successor | Sharp Stewart and Company |
| Founded | 1816 |
| Founder | William Fairbairn |
| Defunct | 1864 (Locomotive business sold) |
| Headquarters | Manchester |
| Products | Steam engines Steam ships Locomotives Steam cranes |
William Fairbairn and Sons, was an engineering works in Manchester, England.
William Fairbairn opened an iron foundry in 1816 and was joined the following year by a Mr. Lillie, and the firm became known as Fairbairn and Lillie Engine Makers, producing iron steamboats.
Their foundry and millwrighting factory burned down on 6 August 1831 with damage estimated at £8,000. The business survived this event.
In 1830, they built the iron paddle-steamer Lord Dundas, for use on the Forth and Clyde Canal. She proved so successful that the firm built eight more of a larger size within the next two or three years for Scottish canals, two passenger-boats with 40 horsepower engines for the Humber and two for the lakes of Zurich and Walenstadt in Switzerland, which, after being tried, were sent out dismantled.
In 1831, they built the Manchester, in 1832, La Reine des Beiges, with engines of 24 horsepower, which went from Liverpool to Ostend. In 1834, they built the Minerva, with 40 horsepower. Minerva was sent in pieces to Hull, put together, and made the voyage to Rotterdam in thirty three hours, and then steamed up to the Rhine Falls, where she was again dismantled and carried overland to Lake Zurich.
The difficulties which were found to exist in an inland town like Manchester for the construction of iron vessels led to this branch of the business moving to London in the years 1834-5. There at Millwall on the Isle of dogs, William Fairbairn constructed more than eighty vessels of various sizes, including the Pottinger, of 1250 tons and 450 horsepower, for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the Megaera and other vessels for the Royal Navy, and many others. Thus introducing iron shipbuilding on the River Thames. Until in 1848 when Fairbairn retired from this branch of his business.
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