William Crichton (engineer)
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William Crichton | |
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| Born | 29 November 1827 Leith, Scotland |
| Died | 10 April 1889 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | engineer[1][2] |
| Employers |
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| Successor | John Eager[1] |
| Spouse | 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][2] |
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William Crichton (29 November 1827 – 10 April 1889) was a
Crichton moved to Turku at the age of 23 to lead a
In 1862, Crichton returned to Turku after receiving an offer to buy half of Cowie & Eriksson Company. The company was renamed W:m Crichton & C:o and under Crichton's leadership it developed into the largest company in Turku. The company built predominantly ships and steam engines and its main customer was the Imperial Russian Navy.
Crichton led the company until his death in 1889. He was survived by twelve children who soon sold the company to investors. Crichton's name remained in use until 1965.
Early life
Crichton was born in
First years in Turku
In the summer of 1850 Crichton received a letter from the Finnish engineering company Cowie and Eriksson offering him a position as supervisor on a three-year contract. It is not known how the company found him. 23-year-old Crichton jumped at the opportunity since he had planned for a long time to move to Russia, where his granduncle Sir Alexander Crichton and cousin Sir William Crichton had already made their careers. Imperial Russia, which was developing its merchant shipping fleet, had attracted many British specialists since the 18th century, and the British population in Saint Petersburg was in the thousands. Many of them were in high positions and members of the upper class. Although the offer did not come from Saint Petersburg, but the smaller city of Turku in southwestern Finland with a population of 13,000, Crichton probably saw it as an opportunity to gain a toehold in Russia.[1]
Crichton was engaged to lead a project to construct a steam engine that was to be mounted on the
Project in Helsinki, arrest and transfer to Saint Petersburg
Crichton signed a new contract with
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 the English church in Saint Petersburg in November 1854. The family grew during the following years with the birth of their daughter Louisa in 1856, followed by sons 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 some conclusions can be drawn from the order books, Crichton's specialisation, and a few other pieces of information. Following 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, representing the latest technology. It is noteworthy, that the second child George was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. This indicates that Crichton had been there for a some length of time since he had taken his family with him. A third important fact is that Crichton was awarded the Great Golden Medal with Stanislaus ribbons around 1860; this was a significant award.[1]
It appears that Crichton had travelled to the UK to gather information about the latest steam technology, which he could do relatively easily as a UK citizen using his existing contacts. Further speculation suggests the technology was successfully applied to the powerful engines built in Izhorsk and this was the reason Crichton received the award.[1]
Return to Turku
In 1862 Crichton received a letter from local businessman
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 at Itäinen Rantakatu 56, next to the factory and the Aura River.[1]
Crichton, now age 35, had now become owner and manager of a company where he could use his abilities. He enlarged the company portfolio to include steam ships and he built a new ship cradle by the river in 1864; a few years later he built a larger one next to the original. He replaced old machinery with modern equipment which was most likely purchased from the UK. The Foundry was enlarged and new workshops were built. As the company still built wooden ships, Crichton invested in a steam-powered sawmill that was located next to the river downstream from the other buildings. In the meantime, the Turku Old Shipyard on the other side of the river built the largest shipbuilding cradle in Finland.[1]
The 1850s, 1860s and 1870s was a period of rapid development and economic
W:m Crichton & C:o had a steady flow of orders and the company continued to grow. Crichton had good contacts in Saint Petersburg; about twenty per cent of the company's orders came from Finland, the rest came from the Russian
Due to the financial risk caused by the growing size and value of ships, Crichton and Julin decided to secure their personal property by changing the company's legal status to a
During subsequent years the Russian military became W:m Crichton & C:o's most important customer. A major development was an order for six torpedo boats which were delivered in 1878.
It was unusual that a small company like W:m Crichton & C:o could compete against the large Saint Petersburg shipyards for navy orders. The military's purchasing process, and those of other public institutions, was complex and a successful business required both strong credibility and the right contacts. Evidently, the connections Crichton had made in Kolpino helped him, but to obtain orders he had to give something in return, which meant corruption. Moreover, Crichton presumably collected information about the latest technology during his journeys to the UK and passed it along to the Russian Navy. In 1877 he was awarded the
During the late 1870s Crichton met the
With the takeover of the Old Shipyard, W:m Crichton & C:o became the largest company in Turku with 936 employees and 1,589,000 marks turnover. During the time of William Crichton's death in April 1889, the company had a numerous orders. John Eager was appointed company manager. None of Crichton's twelve children were interested in continuing the business and his shares were sold to investors.[1]
Crichton's name remained in use by the Turku shipbuilding industry until 1965 with the name of his company as well as by the Ab Crichton and Crichton-Vulcan companies.[1]
Sources
- ^ ISBN 951-50-0735-6.
- ^ a b Herranen, Timo (25 August 2000). "Crichton, William (1827–1889)". Kansallisbiografia (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
External links
Media related to William Crichton at Wikimedia Commons