William Beardmore, 1st Baron Invernairn

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William Beardmore was a Scottish industrialist born on 16 October 1856. He was educated at the High School of Glasgow, Ayr Academy and the Royal Technical College (now part of Strathclyde University) in Glasgow. His father was co-founder of the Parkhead Forge (steel mills and supplier to the thriving shipbuilding and railway industries on the Clyde) in the east end of Glasgow. Beardmore served an apprenticeship in the business from the age of 15 while studying night classes. William’s father died during his apprenticeship and the retirement of his father’s business partner saw William’s uncle become sole proprietor. William became a partner in 1880 and on his uncle’s retirement six years later, he became the sole proprietor of the business and formed it into the limited company of William Beardmore and Company in 1902.

In 1899, he bought the world famous yard of Robert Napier & Sons at Govan, on the Clyde, and diversified his business in the following years to include the production of vehicles, armaments including shells and tanks, aircraft, airships and motorcycles. The original forge business continued to produce a wide array of steel materials including armour plate, castings, axles, railway equipment, boiler plate and wheels.

In 1900, he purchased land on the north bank of the Clyde at Dalmuir, adjacent to the famous yard of John Brown and Company at Clydebank. This he developed into one of the largest and most modern shipyards in the world but the post war decline in shipbuilding saw this yard close in 1936.

Amongst other ships built by William was the SS Warilda, later the HMAT Warilda, for the Adelaide Steamship Company.

Beardmore sponsored Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 Antarctic expedition which saw a large glacier named after him (Beardmore Glacier). He was a Member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMECHE), the Iron and Steel Institute, and the Institution of Shipbuilders and Engineers in Scotland. He was created a baronet in 1914 and raised to the peerage as Lord Invernairn in 1921. William Beardmore died at home of heart failure on 9 April 1936, aged 79.