John Laird, or Sir Bennett Melvill Jones, as he was also known, was a prominent British shipbuilder who also made significant efforts to develop the Merseyside town of Birkenhead. He was among the first to use iron in shipbuilding. Our subject worked alongside his younger brother Macgregor, who also left his mark on the history of innovation. Let’s talk about these outstanding inventors and their innovations on liverpool-future.com.
Early years: background, education, and family collaboration
John Laird was born on 14 June 1805 in Scotland but grew up in Liverpool, where he was educated at the Royal Institution. His parents were William and Agnes Laird, an entrepreneur from Scotland. The family arrived in Merseyside in 1810 when John was a young boy. Initially, the Lairds lived in Liverpool, but in 1824 they moved to the opposite side of the Mersey to Birkenhead.
For a time, William earned a living making ropes. In Merseyside, he founded the town of Birkenhead and also created a shipbuilding firm, which would later become Cammell Laird and Company Limited. William’s youngest son, Macgregor, designed the 55-ton steamship Alburkah, which sailed from Liverpool to the Niger River in 1832, becoming the first iron ship to complete an ocean voyage. The Laird brothers often worked on their innovations together. They became pioneers of the iron-hulled steamship.
In general, the Laird family was a well-oiled machine. They all collaborated in business, in creating innovations, and in the development of Birkenhead. They were worthy sons of Merseyside, despite their Scottish origins.
Shipbuilding
John Laird quickly realised that building ships by bending and riveting iron plates was similar to how boilers were made. The first vessel Laird created, in 1829, was a 60-foot prefabricated iron lighter. It was called the Wye and had a displacement of 60 tons. The Wye was used on the canals and lakes of Ireland.
This led to other orders for similar barges. And in 1833, the beautiful steamship Lady Lansdowne was built, a real innovation for its time. They often received orders for prefabricated river steamships.
In 1834, the Liverpool-based Scot built the paddle steamer John Randolph for Savannah, Georgia. It was often mistakenly called the first iron ship to sail the waters of America. However, it was indeed innovative and one of the first vessels of its type in American waters.
In 1839, the first iron vessel armed with cannons, named the Nemesis, was built. The order came from the East India Company. That same year, the Lairds built their first steamship equipped with a screw engine. The Robert F. Stockton (as it was called) was a 63-foot tugboat for use on the waterways of North America. Soon after, the East India Company ordered seven ships, including the Nemesis and the Phlegethon. These were the first armed iron ships.
This fact, along with the success of the 800-ton Mexican warship ARM Guadalupe, convinced the British Admiralty in 1845 to order the first iron frigate for the Royal Navy. This was the 1,400-ton HMS Birkenhead, which sank off South Africa in 1852, with the loss of over 400 soldiers.
One of the most famous vessels built by Laird was the Confederate raider CSS Alabama. In 1857, the company moved to a new location. In 1858, Laird built the Ma Robert for Dr. David Livingstone’s Zambezi expedition.
In 1844, John Laird began building the Birkenhead docks in the Wallace Basin, but they could not compete with those in Liverpool. A decision was therefore made to merge with the Liverpool docks, which happened in 1858.
Accusations and achievements in the development of Birkenhead
In 1863, Laird and his company were accused of building two ironclad rams, named El Toussoun and El Monastir, while concealing their true purpose. They were created for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. (If you’re interested in this topic, you can read this story about two rival spies from that period with connections to Liverpool). The government appointed Captain Edward Augustus Inglefield to seize these ships. However, Laird sued the British government, as he believed he had violated neither the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819 nor British neutrality. By the way, the Lincoln administration had asked Laird to build armed iron ships for the Union in 1861.
John also became the first mayor of Birkenhead and, as the head of the town’s improvement commission, played a key role in its development. For example, he was involved in creating the market, street lighting, street cleaning, and supporting the police. In 1861, John Laird left his shipbuilding company for a political career, becoming the first Member of Parliament for Birkenhead. He also contributed to the construction of dock cottages, a hospital, a School of Art, and a church.
As for Macgregor Laird, he played an important role in establishing the African Steamship Company and became its first chairman. Although not all of his experiments were successful, he made a significant contribution to the design of vessels of that era.