William Crichton (engineer)
| William Crichton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
29 November 1827 Leith, Scotland |
| Died |
10 April 1889 (aged 61) Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | engineer |
| Employer |
|
| Successor | John Eager |
| Spouse(s) | Annie Elizabeth née Owen |
| Children |
Louisa Gifford Elisabeth (b. 1856) George (b. 1858) William (b. 1860) Alexander Owen (b. 1862) Anne Mary (b. 1864) John Allan (b. 1865) Alfred (b. 1868) Rurik (b. 1870) Lilly Vera (b. 1872) James Dunlop (b. 1874) Margaret Jemima (b. 1876) Fanny Julin (b. 1879)[1] |
William Crichton (29 November 1827 – 10 April 1889) was a Scottish engineer and shipbuilder who made most of his career in Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland.
Crichton moved to Turku at age of 23 to lead a steam engine construction project at local engineering company Cowie and Eriksson. After two years he moved to Helsinki to work for Fiskars, but due to the Crimean War, he was soon arrested because of his nationality and transferred to Saint Petersburg. He was soon released by help of family connections and stayed working for Izhorsk Works for eight successful years.
In 1862 Crichton returned to Turku, when he got an offer to buy a half of Cowie & Eriksson company. The company was renamed W:m Crichton & C:o and under Crichton's leadership it was developed the largest company of Turku. The most important products were ships and steam engines and the main customer was the Imperial Russian Navy.
Crichton led the company until his death in 1889. He was survived by 12 children who soon sold the company ownership to investors. Crichton's name remained in company name until 1965.
Early life
Crichton was born in Leith, Scotland. His father George Crichton was a shipowner, whose ships operated between Leith and London. The company became one of the first steam ship companies in Scotland. William's mother, née Allan, was also from Leith; her father was a log dealer, whale hunter and shipowner. William had four brothers and one sister. The older brothers Alexander and Edward studied in Royal Navy School in Camberwell, London and were after employed by Scottish engineering companies. The example of the older brothers inspired William. He studied in Leeth until he was ten years old, after which he went on to Hill Street Institution, Edinburgh. He graduated at age of 14. The father died in 1841. William followed his brother Alexander to Greenock, where he worked in Scott, Sinclair & Company as an intern. After two years he moved to Shotts Iron Company, where the other brother, Edward, worked. The engineering works was closed down, and William moved to Glasgow, where he worked for Robert Napier as draftsman. In 1848 William went to sea to work as engineer on SS Royal Victoria, which operated between London and Granton. During the winter season he studied and in the following year he worked on SS Isabella Napier. The brothers Alexander and Edward changed often to different duties, but William's interest was focused on designing and drafting.[1]
First years in Turku
In summer 1850 William Crichton got from the Finnish engineering company Cowie and Eriksson a letter in which he was asked to position of a supervisor with a three years' contract. It is not known how the company had found the contact. 23-year-old Crichton got his opportunity; for a long time he had planned moving to Russia, where his granduncle Sir Alexander Crichton and cousin Sir William Crichton had already made their careers. The Imperial Russia, which was developing its merchant shipping, had attracted many British specialists already since the 18th century, and the number of British population reached thousands in Saint Petersburg. Many of them were in high positions and upper class. Although the offer didn't come from Saint Petersburg but small Turku with 13 000 inhabitants, Crichton probably saw an opportunity to gain a toehold in Russia.[1]
Crichton was engaged to lead construction project of a steam engine that was to be mounted on steam frigate Rurik, the biggest ship built in Finland until then. The yard, Turku Old Shipyard, was the most important customer of Cowie & Eriksson. The companies were located close to each other, different sides of river Aura. Crichton did not like the work which was heavy and the tools were poor. Moreover, the company owners David Cowie and Anders Thalus Eriksson did not agree together. When Crichton fell seriously ill, Mrs. Cowie took good care of him. He got to know her brother, Samuel Owen Jr., the son of engineer Samuel Owen, who had had an important role at industrialising Sweden. Owen Jr. had moved to Turku for a few years to lead the same project as Crichton was working on and lodged at his sister. After recovering in spring or early summer 1851, Crichton left for a holiday in Sweden where he met Mr. Fletcher a relative of Mrs. Owen. Fletcher introduced him Motala Verkstad, which was the most significant Swedish steam engine producer. Crichton also met Owen's oldest daughter Annie Elizabeth and got very delighted about her. When Owen's wife and four children moved to Turku in 1852, they met each other again and got engaged in the following year. Their intention was to get married after completion of the shipbuilding project.[1]
Project in Helsinki, arrest and transfer to Saint Petersburg
Crichton made a new contract with Fiskars which wanted to open a facility in Helsinki. He travelled to England in autumn 1853 to purchase the needed machinery, and returned in January 1854 to lead the installation in Hakaniemi. But global politics interfered the project; United Kingdom and France had taken part in the Crimean War against Russia in 28 March. Importing of machinery was impossible, and as a British citizen, Crichton decided to return to UK to wait until the war ends. In the same evening when Crichton went to pick up his passport, gendarmes and policemen waited for him, told him to collect his drawings and notes and ordered him to leave for Saint Petersburg with the papers, which travelled with him in a sealed envelope. He was escorted by an officer and policeman. When Crichton arrived in the city he was treated well but was not allowed to leave the arrest room. After spending few days arrested, he asked for permission to talk to the department leader. When Crichton asked if they had found anything sensitive in his papers the answer was negative, but he was going to be sent to Moscow. Crichton mentioned his granduncle Sir William Crichton, who had worked before as doctor of Grand Duke Nicholas, before he had become Tsar Nicholas II. The department leader answered that this might change the decision, and the case will be investigated. As a result, Crichton was released and sent just 20 miles away from the city to Sir William Crichton who welcomed him warmly. Crichton spent two months at his granduncle during which he met general Alexander Wilson, who was managing the state-owned Alexandrosk factory and Izhorsk Works in Kolpino. Wilson hired Crichton as chief engineer in Kolpino. Soon after he organised a place also for Samuel Owen, who had had to leave the Rurik project after outbreak of the war; Owen moved to Kolpino with his family.[1]
Crichton had finally achieved his dream: a good position in a state-owned engineering company.[1]
Kolpino years
William Crichton and Annie Elizabeth Owen were married in English church of Saint Petersburg in November 1854. The family grew during the following years first by Louisa in 1856, then followed George in 1858, William Jr. in 1860 and Alexander Owen in 1862.[1]
Crichton did not leave notes about his role in the Izhorsk Works, but something can be concluded from the order books, Crichton's specialisation and few other pieces of information. Following the defeat in the Crimean War, the Russian Navy ordered new armoured ships with cannon turrets, powered by steam engines which used propellers; the minimum speed requirement was 15 knots. This required very powerful steam engines with high-pressure boilers, which represented the latest technology. It is noteworthy, that the second child George was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. This means that Crichton had gone there for a longer period because he had taken his family with him. A third important fact is that Crichton was awarded by the Great Golden Medal with Stanislaus ribbons in around 1860; this was a significant award.[1]
It looks that Crichton had travelled to UK to gather information about the modern technology; this he could do relatively easily as a UK citizen and due to his contacts. Further speculated, the technology was successfully applied on the powerful engines built in Izhorsk and Crichton was therefore awarded.[1]
Return to Turku
In 1862 Crichton received a letter from Turku from local businessman Erik Julin. He told that he had bought share of Anders Thalus Eriksson from Cowie & Eriksson, and also David Cowie would be ready to sell his part. Julin was seeking for a capable business partner who would run the company together with him and therefore suggested Crichton to buy Cowie's part. After a many discussions he took the offer. Crichton bought the other half of the company from Cowie for 32 810 silver roubles.[1]
W:m Crichton & C:o
The company was now renamed W:m Crichton & C:o and Crichton became the managing director. The family moved into a wooden house located in Itäinen Rantakatu 56, next to the factory and river Aura.[1]
35-year-old Crichton had now become owner and manager of a company in which he could use his capability. He enlarged the company portfolio to steam ships and he built a new cradle by the river in 1864, a few years after he built a larger one next to the previous one. He replaced old machinery by modern tooling which he bought most likely from UK. Foundry was enlarged and new workshops were built. As the company still built wooden ships, Crichton invested on a steam-powered sawmill that was located next to the river downstream from the other buildings. In the meantime, the Turku Old Shipyard at the other side of the river built the largest shipbuilding cradle of Finland.[1]
The 1850s, 1860s and 1870s were time of rapid development and economical deregulation. Companies act as well as banking act were laid down in 1864 and at the same time Finland introduced its own currency, the Finnish mark. Customs duties were reduced, railway network started to develop. The Estates were called in 1863 and soon followed municipal administration reform. Despite of setbacks, such as famine years, the atmosphere was positive: Finns were looking ahead and wanted to develop their country.[1]
W:m Crichton & C:o had a staunch order basis and the company grew steadily. Crichton had good contacts in Saint Petersburg; about 20% of the orders came from Finland, the rest came from Russian military and civil customers. Crichton kept his British citizenship and soon after settling down in Turku he was appointed Her Majesty's British Vice Consul in Turku and Åland. During the Kolpino years had learnt speaking Russian and in Turku he used Swedish, which was widely spoken back then.[1]
Due to financial risk caused by growing size and value of ships, Crichton and Julin decided to secure their personal property by changing the form limited company in 1874. Julin died already in the same year, after which the owner became trading house which was operated by his son John Julin.[1]
During the subsequent years the Russian military became the most important customer of Crichton. An important step was an order of six torpedo boats which were delivered in 1878.
It was unusual that a such small company as W:m Crichton & C:o could compete against the Saint Petersburg large shipyards for navy orders. The purchasing process of the military and other public institutions was complex and successful business required both strong credibility and knowing the right people. Evidently, the connections which Crichton had made in Kolpino helped him, but to gain orders he had to give something in return, which meant corruption. Moreover, Crichton presumably collected information about newest technology during his journeys to UK and passed it forward to the Russian Navy. In 1877 he was awarded Order of Saint Stanislaus, and it is not known, how he could get a large sum of money to take over the nearby Turku Old Shipyard in 1883. The time fits with the Russian decision to build a torpedo boat fleet, so speculatively Crichton travelled to UK in the mid 1870s to gather knowledge about torpedo boat technology. Another peculiar detail is that when Russian Navy ordered 100 torpedo boats mainly from the navy yards, six of them were ordered from Crichton, which was the only privately owned shipbuilder for this order.[1]
During the late 1870s Crichton met in Saint Petersburg the Welsh-born engineer John Eager, whom he recruited to his own company. Eager's specialty were fast vessels, such as torpedo boats. During the following years W:m Crichton & C:o built a number of relatively small fast vessels, for which the company built two large wooden sheds on the former premises of the Old Shipyard. Also larger vessels were built, such as two oil tankers to Caspian Sea and gun boat Bobr which was ordered for the Pacific Fleet.[1]
Takeover of the Old Shipyard made W:m Crichton & C:o the biggest company of Turku with 936 employees and 1 589 000 marks' turnover. During the time of William Crichton death in April 1889, the company had a good order basis. John Eager was appointed company manager. None of Crichton's 12 children were interested at continuing the business and the shares were sold to investors.[1]
Crichton's name remained in Turku shipbuilding industry in the name of his company and the following companies Ab Crichton and Crichton-Vulcan until 1965.[1]
Sources
- von Knorring, Nils (1995). Aurajoen veistämöt ja telakat [Boat- and Shipyards along River Aura] (in Finnish). Espoo, Finland: Schildts Förlags Ab. ISBN 951-50-0735-6.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Knorring: 2. William Crichtonin muistiinmerkintöjä. pp. 17–30.