Records of Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd, shipbuilders, Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland

This material is held atUniversity of Glasgow Archive Services

Reference
- GB 248 GD 321 and GB 248 GD 323/14
Dates of Creation
- 1894-1983
Name of Creator
- Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd (shipbuilders: 1912-1981: Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland)
Physical Description
- 12 metres
  There are no physical characteristics that affect the use of this material

Scope and Content

GD 321

Board records 1904-1963
Financial records including annual accounts, ledgers, day books, account books, journals and wage books 1903-1963
Costing records for ships nos. 101-427 (incomplete) 1894-1942
Ship records including estimate books, specifications, technical data, particulars books ships nos. 105-393 (incomplete)
Photographs including ships nos. 153-256
Publicity materials and press cuttings 20th century

There are also a large number of plans and drawings for designs of proposed ships including steamers, dredgers, barges, floating cranes etc. 1904-1961. Plans also exists for ships nos.153-421, c1948-1980.

A full list of ships and their ship numbers are available in the search room

GD 323/14

Board papers 1965-1977
Directors' reports and accounts 1970-1977
Directors' correspondence files 1972-1979
Company secretary's file 1970-1980

Administrative / Biographical History

Shipbuilding company, Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland . Division of Scott Lithgow Ltd formed at the merger of Lithgows Ltd , Port Glasgow, and Scotts' Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd , Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, in 1970. Prior to the merger the company was a subsidiary of Lithgows Ltd .

Established in 1903 at Newark, Port Glasgow , the company was a development of Fleming and Ferguson Ltd (established 1855), the Paisley, Renfrewshire, based marine engineering firm.

The business was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1912. In 1961, Lithgows Ltd gained full control of the firm and it subsequently became one of the 1969 group of companies prior to becoming part of the Scott Lithgow Group.

Nationalised in 1977, the firm then merged in 1981 with Ailsa Shipbuilding Co Ltd , Troon to form Ferguson-Ailsa Ltd , and continued to operate on both the Troon and Port Glasgow sites.

British Shipbuilders then stepped in with their reorganisation programme which resulted in Ferguson-Ailsa Ltd assets being transferred to Scott Lithgow Ltd . The Ailsa Yard was sold by British Shipbuilders , England, in 1986 and Fergusons was found a new partner in Appledore Shipbuilders Ltd of Devon , creating Appledore Ferguson Ltd . In 1989, the HLD Group, brought under the control of Kvaemer of Norway in 1990, bought Fergusons from British Shipbuilders and traded as Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd . Kvaemer sold the yard to Ferguson Marine plc in March 1991.

Arrangement

The material is arranged into 2 different sequences, reflecting the piecemeal deposit of the records with the National Archives of Scotland and Glasgow University Archive Services. The three sequences, with the covering dates of the records they include, are:

GB 248 GD 321 Records of Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd (1904-1980)
GB 248 GD 323/14 Records of Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd (1965-1980)

This material is arranged into series, which consist of numbers of items related by function and/or format. Within series, the items are generally arranged chronologically.