William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 people. It was founded and owned by William Beardmore, later Lord Invernairn, after whom the Beardmore Glacier was named.
History
Forged steel castings, armour plate and naval guns The Parkhead Forge, in the east end of Glasgow, became the core of the company. It was established by Reoch Brothers & Co in 1837 and was later acquired by Robert Napier in 1841 to make forgings and iron plates for his new shipyard in Govan. Napier was given the contract to build , sister ship to the Royal Navy's first true ironclad warship, . Parkhead was contracted to make the armour for her, but failed, so the manager, William Rigby called in William Beardmore Snr, who at the time was superintendent of the General Steam Navigation Company in Deptford, to help. Beardmore became a partner in the business and, moving to Glasgow was joined by his brother Isaac and son, William Jr. On the premature death of William Snr, Isaac retired and William Jnr became sole partner. He founded William Beardmore and Company in 1886. By 1896, the works covered an area of and was the largest steelworks in Scotland, specialising in the manufacture of steel forgings for the shipbuilding industry of the River Clyde. By this time, they had begun the manufacture of steel armour plate and later diversified into the manufacture of heavy naval guns, such as the BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX–X and BL 15 inch Mk I naval gun.
Shipbuilding
In 1900, Beardmore took over the shipyard of Robert Napier and Sons in Govan, a logical diversification from the company's core steel forgings business. In 1900, Beardmore also began construction of what would become The Naval Construction Yard, at Dalmuir in west Clydebank; the largest and most advanced shipyard in the United Kingdom at the time.
However, this acquisition and construction overstretched company's limited financial resources and after being refused additional borrowings it had to raise new funds otherwise. In 1902, the structure of the company was reorganized, and with the encouragement of the Admiralty half of the shares were bought by Vickers. Armstrong Whitworth also considered investing but decided against it due to high debt load of the company.
was the new Dalmuir yard's first order to complete, in 1906. This work was facilitated by the construction of the Arrol Gantry, a large steel framework supporting nine high-speed electric cranes. Beardmore eventually sold the company's Govan shipyard to Harland and Wolff in 1912. Other notable warships produced by Beardmores at Dalmuir include the dreadnoughts , and (1917). In 1917, Beardmore completed the aircraft carrier , the first carrier to have a full-length flight deck. Beardmore expanded the activities at Dalmuir to include the manufacture of all sorts or arms and armaments, the site employing 13,000 people at its peak.
The post war recession hit the firm hard, and the shipyard was forced to close in 1930. Part of the site and some of the existing buildings later became incorporated into ROF Dalmuir, part was used by the General Post Office for their cable-laying ships.
Merchant ships Beardmore also built oil tankers, including: British Commerce, British Tanker Company, (1922) British Enterprise, British Tanker Company, (1921) British Merchant, British Tanker Company, (1922) British Trader, British Tanker Company, (1921)
Land weapons During World War I, Beardmore produced and repaired field artillery such as BL 6-inch 26 cwt howitzer or QF 18-pounder gun. After the war it also developed a 40 mm anti-tank gun, a set of various field artillery systems and the so-called Beardmore-Farquhar light machine gun from the Farquhar–Hill rifle but none of the weapons was adopted due to the glut on the market caused by military surplus from WWI.
Railway locomotives An attempt was made during the 1920s to diversify into the manufacture of railway locomotives at Dalmuir. Twenty 4-6-0 tender locomotives were built for the Great Eastern Railway as part of their class S69. Ninety London and North Western Railway Prince of Wales class locomotives were built between 1921 and 1922, along with an extra exhibition locomotive for the LNWR's successor, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1924. They also built 90 'Jinty' tank engine for the LMS between 1928 and 1929. Beardmore's locomotive production was small compared with the established competition. Serialnumbers Year Quantity Customer Class Wheelarrangement Fleetnumbers Notes 100–134 1920 35 East Indian Railway HGS 2-8-0 1520–1554 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 26729–26763. 135–154 1920–21 20 Great Eastern Railway S69 4-6-0 1541–1560not in order To LNER 8541–8560 in 1923; renumbered 1541–1560 . 155–173 1920 19 Nigerian Railways 4-8-0 282–300 3' 6" gauge 174–263 1921–22 90 London and North Western Railway Prince of Wales 4-6-0 various to LMS 5755–5844 (not in order) in 1923 264–268 1923 5 Burma Railways Ns 0-6-6-0 16–20 Metre gauge Mallet locomotives. 269–293 1923 25 Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway H(BESA HP) 4-6-0 540–564 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 24289–24331. 294–295 1923 2 Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway W(BESA HP) 4-6-0 784–785 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 24368–24639. 296–298 1923 3 Eastern Bengal Railway LS(BESA HP) 4-6-0 31–33 5' 6" gauge. 299–303 1924 5 North Western Railway HPS 4-6-0 2875–2879 5' 6" gauge. Two to Pakistan, three to Eastern Punjab Railway 2815–2817, later all-India 24400–24402. 304 1924 1 Exhibition locomotive Prince of Wales 4-6-0 Shown at British Empire Exhibition, Wembley 1924–5, then sold to LMS 5845. 305–324 1927 20 London and North Eastern Railway N7/3 0-6-2T 2642–2661 Renumbered 9683–9702 in 1946 scheme 325–414 1928–29 90 London, Midland and Scottish Railway 3F 0-6-0T 16600–16624,16685–16749 Renumbered 7517–7541, 7602–7666. 415–416 1928 2 Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway BE Bo-Bo 901–902 5' 6" gauge Battery-electric, later all-India 20198–9. 417–460 1930 44 East Indian Railway XE 2-8-2 2016–2031, 1981–2003, 2032–2036 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 22536–22551, 22501–22523, 22552–22556. 461–486 1930 26 North Western Railway XC 4-6-2 1842–1867 5' 6" gauge. 1842–51/55/56/58–64/66 to Pakistan at Partition; remainder to Eastern Punjab Railway, later all-India 22245–22250. 487–490 1930 4 Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway XC 4-6-2 613–616 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 22241–22244. 491–492 1930 2 East India Railway XC 4-6-2 1948–1949 5' 6" gauge. Later all-India 22201–22202. 493–494 1930 2 North Western Railway DL B-B (de) 30–31 5' 6" gauge. . Renumbered 330–331.
In concert with US and Canadian Westinghouse, diesel engines were developed and installed for railway self-propelled car use. Canadian National Railways had two articulated cars powered with Beardmore 320 hp engines, eight cars with 185 hp engines, and seven cars with 300 hp engines. Canadian National also purchased two locomotives, 9000–9001, built by Westinghouse and fitted with 1,330 hp engines. Several American railroads had self-propelled cars fitted with Westinghouse engines derived from Beardmore designs."Those people made a good locomotive", David A. Hamley, Trains Magazine, December, 1969.
Aviation
The company first became involved in aviation in 1913, when it acquired British manufacturing rights for Austro-Daimler aero-engines Austro-Daimlers in EnglandFlight, 1 November 1913 and later those for D.F.W. aircraft.Flight, 6 November 1914, p. 1099
It later built Sopwith Pup aircraft at Dalmuir under licence. Later, a shipborne version of the Pup, the Beardmore W.B.III, was designed by the company. A hundred of these aircraft were produced and delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Beardmore also built 50 of the Nieuport 12 under licence, incorporating many of their own refinements however production was delayed sufficiently that by the time they entered service the aircraft were obsolete and were primarily relegated to training duties or placed into storage and never used.
The company built and ran the Inchinnan Airship Constructional Station at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire. It produced the airships R27, R32, R34 and R36.
In 1924, the company acquired a licence for stressed skin construction using the Rohrbach principles. An order for two flying boats using this construction idea was placed with Beardmore. It had the first aircraft built for it by the Rohrbach Metal Aeroplane Company in Copenhagen, building the second itself and they were delivered to the RAF as the Beardmore Inverness. In addition, a large, experimental, all-metal trimotor transport aircraft was designed and built at Dalmuir and delivered to the Royal Air Force as the Beardmore Inflexible. Beardmore produced a line of aircraft engines, including the Cyclone, Meteor, Simoon, Tornado (used in the R101 airship), Typhoon and Whirlwind.
Aircraft
Own designs Beardmore W.B.1 Beardmore W.B.1a Beardmore W.B.II Beardmore W.B.III (most successful design) Beardmore W.B.IV Beardmore W.B.V Beardmore W.B.VI Beardmore W.B.XXIV Wee Bee Beardmore W.B.XXVI
Licensed designs Beardmore Inflexible (Rohrbach) Beardmore Inverness (Rohrbach Ro IV) Handley Page V/1500 Nieuport 12 Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2C Sopwith Camel Sopwith Pup Wight Seaplane
Aircraft engines Beardmore 120 hp Beardmore 160 hp Beardmore Adriatic Beardmore Atlantic Beardmore Cyclone Beardmore Tornado
Airships R24r R27 R32 (airship) R34 (airship) R36 (airship)
Road vehicles
In 1917, Beardmore bought Sentinel Waggon Works, a manufacturer of steam-powered railway locomotives, railcars and road vehicles. In 1919, a range of cars was announced, to be made by a subsidiary company, Beardmore Motors Ltd, based in factories in Glasgow and the surrounding area; Anniesland, Coatbridge and Paisley.
Cars and taxis After the Great War, Beardmore manufactured cars and London-type taxis under their own name. The first car was the 1486cc, four-cylinder 11.4, which had a 4-cylinder overhead camshaft (OHC) engine. It was manufactured at Anniesland, Glasgow and introduced at Olympia in 1919. The shaft drive to the camshaft proved to be unreliable and it was replaced by a chain. The engine was increased in capacity to 1854 cc and the car, renamed as the 12/30 was introduced in June 1923. This new engine was used, in 1923 in the new Super Sports. It was priced at £750 and each car came with a certificate that guaranteed that it had been driven around Brooklands track at 70 mph (110 km/h).John R Hume & Michael S Moss Beardmore: the History of a Scottish Industrial Giant A highly modified version of the Super Sports, with a 2-litre engine broke the course record at the Shelsley Walsh hill climb in 1924.C A N May Shelsey Walsh
The Anniesland factory was closed by 1925 and car production was moved to the taxi factory at Paisley, where a new model, the 14.40, with a sidevalve engine of 2297 cc with an aluminium cylinder head was introduced. The engine was increased to 2391 cc in 1925 and the car redesignated the 16.40. Two standard bodies were offered, the Stewart saloon and the Lomond limousine. A large car, the four cylinder 4072 cc Thirty was made at Coatbridge in 1920 but it was unsuccessful and was discontinued.Various entries for Beardmore in London Motor Show catalogues, 1919 – 1926