Back to the Clyde

Published on Saturday 11 November 2006 01:19

Q I BELIEVE great grandfather worked for a Clyde shipbuilder in the early 20th century and I'm interested to find out more about the ships he helped to build. Would any records still exist and what can I expect to find?

JG Scott (by e-mail)

A The shipbuilding industry in Scotland has a long and proud history. It was at its height in the late 19th and early 20th century in the area around Tayside and along the Clyde, with a few yards on the Forth. Between 1870 and the First World War, 31 per cent of all Britain's employment in the industry and of all UK production took place on the Clyde, making it the largest volume of output of any single river. As the industry grew, many of the smaller, family-run businesses amalgamated or were taken over, leaving several large companies dominant in Scotland. On the Clyde a consortium was formed, the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS).

Since shortly after the liquidation of UCS in 1971, and as the industry contracted during the 1970s and 1980s, records have been acquired by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). Though these include a little 18th-century material, the bulk dates from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Apart from the UCS records, which were purchased, the collections have either been gifted or deposited by the firms concerned or their liquidators.

Many of the records have now been sent to appropriate local archives, such as Glasgow City or Dundee City Archives. Many records relating to Clyde-based companies are among the business records held by Glasgow University Archive Service. To find out where records of a particular company are held consult The Shipbuilding Industry: A Guide to Historical Records, edited by LA Ritchie.

The records that survive can differ from company to company, but the main type you could expect to find include administrative and commercial records such as minute books, board papers, financial statements, order books and costing records, contracts; drawings and photographs of yards and machinery; particulars of vessels; and plans, drawings and photographs of vessels completed. You will not find much information about the workers, though some wages books and other salary records have survived. If your ancestor was an engineer you may find records they worked on. Photographs can also be a useful source, but they will be listed under the ship name and any people in the picture will not necessarily be identified.

The records of the shipbuilding industry are, however, a great resource for finding out the sort of ships your ancestor may have helped build and what they were like.

• If you have a question for the Genealogy Clinic e-mail the team at [e-mail]

We will endeavour to deal with all enquiries as quickly as possible, but we regret that we cannot enter into personal correspondence.

• ScotlandsPeople is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon.