| Former type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipbuilding |
| Fate | Merged with Vosper & Co. |
| Successor | VT Group |
| Founded | 1866 |
| Defunct | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Woolston, Hampshire, UK |
John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft in the 19th century.
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The 16-year-old Thornycroft, helped only by his younger sister, began to build his first small steam launch in 1859 in his father's back garden at Chiswick on the River Thames.[1] He returned from an apprenticeship in Glasgow in 1864 and began to build more steam launches.
Thornycroft first began shipbuilding at Church Wharf in Chiswick in 1866, when the plot of land which became the nucleus of the shipyard was purchased. Here, the first instance was built of what would become the torpedo boat, the Rap for Norway in 1873. This was followed by HMS Lightning for the Royal Navy in 1877.
In June 1904 the company decided to relocate to Woolston, Hampshire,[1] where it acquired the shipyard owned there by Mordey, Carney & Company, and in 1908 they also set up the Hampton Launch Works on Platts Eyot, an island on the Thames at Hampton, Middlesex. The former yard at Chiswick closed in August 1909. The first ship built by Thornycrofts for the Royal Navy at the Woolston Yard was the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar.[1]
Thornycroft continued to build civilian vessels. Hampton built yachts including Enola (1928),[2] Estrellita (1934) (now called Rake's Retreat)[3], Aberdonia (1935),[4] and Moonyeen (1937).[5] The pre-war motor yacht Prunella[6] may also have been built at Hampton. These four have survived and are now recorded on National Historic Ships' National Register.
Woolston built the ferry SS Robert Coryndon for Uganda in 1930. She also survives, but as a half-submerged wreck on the shore of Lake Albert.
John Isaac Thornycroft died in June 1928, but his role as chairman of the company had been taken by his son, John Edward Thornycroft in 1908. In July 1960 the latter's son, John Ward Thornycroft, in turn replaced his father as chairman.
In 1962, John I. Thornycroft and Sons was building wooden yachts in Singapore. [7]
Thornycrofts merged in 1966 with Vosper & Co., part of the David Brown Group, to form one organisation, although the formal merger to create Vosper Thornycroft took place in June 1970. The company now trades as VT Group.[8]