Introduction: Regional Fluctuations in United Kingdom Shipbuilding in the Nineteenth Century

Summary

The international pre-eminence of United Kingdom shipbuilding in the nineteenth century is well known. Although few comparative figures exist for the early part of the century, British output was already greater than that achieved by most countries by the end of the period. Sheltered ports on large navigable rivers such as the Thames, Tyne and Clyde with long shorelines provided the ideal location for the industry. An abundance of capital and a highly-skilled labour force were further benefits for British shipbuilding, as was the large and growing home market of the leading shipowning nation. The position of shipbuilding leadership was most likely extended during the century. The technological changes which transformed the industry in this period all originated, and were mostly exploited, in the United Kingdom. By the later years of the century, when statistical evidence is more readily available, the extent of British domination can be clearly indicated. In the two decades to World War I, UK shipbuilders accounted for sixty to eighty percent of world tonnage, with twenty-five to thirty percent of output being sold overseas. Its domination was even more overwhelming in the new technologies of steam and steel, with only Germany as a second producer of any significance. In 1918 a Board of Trade report noted that “there are few important industries where the predominance of British manufacture has been more marked than shipbuilding and marine engineering.” Thus, at a time when the relative decline of British industry and its poor international competitiveness were under close scrutiny, shipbuilding proved to be a notable exception.

The details of British shipbuilding hegemony have been effectively related in several important studies. Prominent among these are several scholarly papers by Anthony Slaven and a monographic assessment of the industry, mostly after 1870, by Sidney Pollard and Paul Robertson. However, these studies say comparatively little about the regional dimension. Pollard and Robertson devote just a single chapter to regional comparisons and contrasts. Existing regional studies of the industry are mostly narrative and parochial in nature and make little attempt to draw comparisons with other regions. There is, in fact, an important regional story which has been largely obscured by the dramatic success of the industry nationally and internationally. By disaggregating the national figures, we can see substantial fluctuations in the performance of particular regions.