William Lithgow (industrialist)

Sir William James Lithgow, 2nd Baronet (born 10 May 1934) is a Scottish industrialist and vice-chairman of Lithgow Group. In 1952 he inherited the Scottish shipbuilding company, Lithgows, which was established by his grandfather, William Lithgow. At the time, it was the largest private shipbuilding concern in the world. Economic and political changes, especially the nationalisation of British shipbuilding in the 1970s, prevented Sir William from simply continuing the family business, and he therefore led it in new directions, including engineering, salmon farming and other marine and agricultural matters. He describes himself as an "industrialist and farmer". Since 1999 his son James has been chairman of the Lithgow Group, with Sir William as vice-chairman.

Sir William is the son of Sir James Lithgow, 1st Baronet, and Lady Gwendolyn Lithgow, whose family homes were Gleddoch House, at Langbank on the Clyde, a few miles from their shipyards at Port Glasgow, and Ormsary, their country estate in Knapdale. He was educated at Winchester College, and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. His father died when he was eighteen, and his mother acted as chairman of the family company until 1959. In 1967 he married Mary Claire Hill and they have a daughter and two sons.

In the 1960s British shipbuilding was facing serious competition from the Far East, as well as other challenges. In the late 1960s a government enquiry into the UK shipbuilding industry led to a merger between Lithgows Ltd. and Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd. of Greenock. This became Scott Lithgow Ltd. in 1970, but in 1977 the government nationalised the company under the control of the British Shipbuilders Corporation by the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977.

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