John Barnard (1705–1784) was an 18th century English shipbuilder serving the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

Life

He was born in 1705 the son of John Barnard a shipwright in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

(1665-1716) and his wife Mary (1668-1734). His father died before he began his apprenticeship but would standardly have joined a ship as a carpenter's apprentice at age 14 and served 7 years on ship before beginning shipbuilding on shore. From 1733 he was employed at St Clement's Yard in Ipswich, but is only formally listed as a

employee from April 1740 when as a Master Shipwright he launched HMS Bideford. In October 1742 he relocated to

Harwich Dockyard Harwich Dockyard (also known as The King's Yard, Harwich) was a Royal Navy Dockyard at Harwich in Essex, active in the 17th and early 18th century (after which it continued to operate under private ownership). Owing to its position on the East ...

. In 1773 he opened a secondary yard known as Barnard's Thames Yard at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

. also dabbled in design, creating the Zephyr class in 1778/9. Barnard appears to have gone bankrupt in 1781. This could be the result of under-pricing on a single ship. Inflation in Great Britain was unusually high (at around 13%) in 1780, and this would also cause problems on keeping to a stated contract price on a job which often took two or three years to complete. His bankruptcy coincides with his beginning to work for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

but it is unclear if this was part of the cause or part of the solution. He also had opened a third yard (almost certainly with his own finance rather than funded by the Royal Navy) at

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of ...

around 1780. This would have been a considerable expense. He retired in December 1782 aged 77 and died in

on 8 October 1784.

Family

In 1728 he married Anne Notcutt. They were parents to William Barnard who continued the shipbuilding yard.

Ships of Note

* HMS Bideford a 20-gun ship launched at St Clement's Yard in Ipswich in 1740 * HMS Hampshire a 50-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

launched at John's Ness in Ipswich in 1741 *"Granado" an 8-gun bomb vessel launched at St Clement's Yard, Ipswich in 1742 * HMS Harwich a 50-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton- ...

in 1743 * HMS Colchester a 50-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in

in 1744 as a sister ship to HMS Harwich *

HMS Eagle Eighteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Eagle'', after the eagle. * was an ex-merchantman purchased in 1592 and in use as a careening hulk. She was sold in 1683. * was a 6-gun shallop sloop, listed until 1653. * was a 12-gu ...

a 60-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1745 *

HMS Lichfield Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Lichfield'', after the town of Lichfield in Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Chesh ...

a 50-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1746 * HMS Severn a 50-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1747 as a sister ship to HMS Lichfield * HMS Seahorse a 24-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1748 *

HMS Mercury Eighteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Mercury'', or HMS ''Mercure'', after the God Mercury, of Roman mythology: * was a 6-gun galley launched in 1592 and sold in 1611. * was a ship launched in 1620. Her fate is unknown. ...

a 20-gun ship launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1756 *

HMS Achilles Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named ''Achilles'', after the Greek hero Achilles. Four others, two of them prizes, had the French spelling of the name, ''Achille''. * was an 8-gun schooner purchased in 1747. She was captured in 1748 ...

a 60-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1756/7 * HMS Vestal a 32-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1757 * HMS Conqueror a 68-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1758 *

HMS Alarm Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Alarm'', whilst another was planned but later cancelled: * was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate, launched in 1758. She was the first Royal Navy ship to have a fully copper sheathed hull. She wa ...

a 32-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1758 *

HMS Quebec Three ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Quebec'', after the city of Quebec in Canada: Ships * was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1760 and blown up in action with French in 1779. * was a schooner purc ...

a 32-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1760 * HMS Arrogant a 74-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1761 * HMS Terrible a 74-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1762 as a sister ship to HMS Arrogant *

HMS Robust Three vessels of the Royal Navy, two actual and one whose construction was cancelled, have been named HMS ''Robust'': * was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1764 at Harwich. * – construction was suspended in ...

a 74-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1764 * HMS Orpheus a 32-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1773 * HMS Ambuscade a 32-gun frigate launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at

in 1773 * HMS Centurion a 50-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1774 * HMS Experiment a 50-gun ship of the line launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1774 *

HMS Cormorant Eleven ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Cormorant'', after the seabird, the cormorant: * was a 16-gun fireship, previously the French ''Marchault''. She was captured in 1757 and sold in 1762. * was ...

a 14-gun

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

launched at the Nova Scotia Yard at Ipswich in 1776 *

HMS Zebra Six ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Zebra'', after the Zebra. * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1777. She was abandoned and blown up after going aground on 22 October 1778 at Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, during the American Revol ...

a 14-gun sloop launched at the Nova Scotia Yard at Ipswich in 1776 * HMS Proserpine a 28-gun frigate launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1777 * HMS Savage a 14-gun sloop launched at Nova Scotia Yard in Ipswich in 1778 * HMS Charon a 44-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1778 * HMS Champion a 24-gun post ship launched at John's Ness in Ipswich in 1779 * HMS Pandora a 24-gun post ship launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1779 * HMS Zephyr a 14-gun sloop launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1779 *

HMS Inflexible Five ships of the Royal Navy have been called HMS ''Inflexible''. * was a 280-ton sloop-of-war launched in 1776. HMS ''Inflexible'' was disassembled at Quebec City and transported upriver in pieces and reassembled and commissioned 1776 at Saint- ...

a 64-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1780 * 26-gun "Dutton" for the

launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1781 * 26-gun (?) "Fairford" for the

launched at Barnard's Wharf at

in 1782 * "General Coote" for the

probably launched at Barnard's Wharf in Rotherhithe in 1782 *

HMS Irresistible Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Irresistible''. A fifth was planned but later renamed: * was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line launched in 1782 and broken up in 1806. * HMS ''Irresistible'' was a prison ship, launched as in ...

a 74-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1782

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, John 1705 births 1784 deaths Businesspeople from Ipswich English shipbuilders