The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

and

iron works An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. Iron Works may also refer to: * Iron Works, a neighborhood in Brookfield, Connecticut * Clay City, Kentucky, known as Iron ...

straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, at Leamouth Wharf (often referred to as Blackwall) on the west side and at

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

on the east side. Its main activity was

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

, but it also diversified into civil engineering, marine engines, cranes, electrical engineering and motor cars.Jim Lewis 1999, ''London's Lea Valley'', Phillimore, The company notably produced iron work for

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

Royal Albert Bridge The Royal Albert Bridge is a railway bridge which spans the River Tamar in England between Plymouth, Devon and Saltash, Cornwall. Its unique design consists of two lenticular iron trusses above the water, with conventional plate-girder app ...

over the Tamar in the 1850s, and the world's first all-iron warship, HMS ''Warrior'', launched in 1860.

History

1837–46

The company originated in 1837 as the Ditchburn and Mare Shipbuilding Company, founded by

shipwright Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces i ...

Thomas J. Ditchburn and the engineer and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture by occupation Design occupations Occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's rol ...

Charles John Mare. Originally located at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

, after a fire destroyed their yard the company moved to Orchard Place in 1838, between the East India Dock Basin and Bow Creek in Blackwall. There they took over the premises of the defunct shipbuilders William and Benjamin Wallis. The firm did well and within a few years occupied three sites covering an area of over . Ditchburn and Mare were among the first builders of iron ships in the area; their partnership commenced with the construction of small

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

s of between 50 and 100 tons, before progressing to cross-

Channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

vessels and by 1840 were building ships of more than 300 tons. The company's early customers included the Iron Steamboat Company and the

Blackwall Railway Company Blackwall may refer to: Places *Blackwall, London, an area of east London, UK **Blackwall Tunnel, the main crossing of the River Thames in east London **Blackwall Yard, a former shipyard **The former shipyard at Leamouth, London of Thames Ironwor ...

, several paddle steamers being constructed for the latter, including the ''Meteor'' and the ''Prince of Wales'', which operated between

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

and the company's station on

Brunswick Wharf Brunswick Wharf was a railway goods yard in Buglawton, Congleton, in Cheshire, England. It was used to transport sand and coal between Congleton and the Staffordshire Potteries, along the Biddulph Valley Line. History Brunswick Wharf was open ...

. In this period the company was also awarded several contracts by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

, including HMS ''Recruit'' (a 12-gun

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

) which was one of the first iron warships built. They also constructed the P & O Company's steamers ''Ariel'' and ''Erin'', along with the paddle steamer for

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

1847–56

Thomas Ditchburn retired in 1847 and the business was carried on by Charles Mare, under the name of C.J. Mare and Company. He was joined by naval architect James Ash, who later began his own shipyard at

Cubitt Town Cubitt Town is a district on the eastern side of the Isle of Dogs in London, England. This part of the former Metropolitan Borough of Poplar was redeveloped as part of the Port of London in the 1840s and 1850s by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of L ...

. From 1847 the company grew considerably and Mare purchased land in

on the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

side of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

, a ferry service being established between the two sites. Mare constructed a yard with furnaces and

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simi ...

s that could construct vessels of 4,000 tons; because of the narrowness of the spit at the mouth of the River Lea, the Orchard Place site was limited to the construction of vessels of less than 1,000 tons. In 1853 the company launched the SS ''Himalaya'' for the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World ...

, briefly the world's largest passenger ship before becoming a naval

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

. In 1855, the company which by now had more than 3000 employees, was threatened with closure following Mare's

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

cy. It is thought by some that his financial difficulties arose from delays in payment for completed work or, alternatively, that the company had miscalculated the cost of building vessels for the Royal Navy. The business did not lack orders, having in hand six contracts for gunboats and the contract for

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats ...

(which was built in 1862).

1857–1912

The company's chief

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some propert ...

s moved to keep the company in operation, and two employees, Joseph Westwood and Robert Baillie were appointed works managers. The main figure in saving the company was

Peter Rolt Peter Rolt (1798 – 3 September 1882) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. The son of John David Rolt of and his wife Sophia ''née'' Butt, he was born in Deptford. Both of his grandfathers held senior positions in the ...

, Mare's father-in-law and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP for

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

. Rolt was also a timber merchant and a descendant of the

Pett Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay. The road through the vill ...

shipbuilding family. He was supported in the venture by another company director,

Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill Deputy lieutenant, DL (25 July 1825 – 19 April 1873) was a British aristocrat, officer in the British Army, deputy lieutenant of Oxfordshire, a lieutenant in the Oxfordshire Yeomanry and a businessman. He was a g ...

. Rolt took control of the company's assets and in 1857 transferred them to a new

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

, named the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd.. It had a capital of £100,000 in 20 shares of £5000 each, five of which were held by Rolt who was the main shareholder and also

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

. The new company was the largest shipbuilder on the Thames, its premises described by the

Mechanics' Magazine Joseph Clinton Robertson (c.1787–1852), pseudonym Sholto Percy, was a Scottish patent agent, writer and periodical editor. He was a political radical prominent in the early days of the working-class press in London, and in the debates within th ...

in 1861 as "Leviathan Workshops". Large scale

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps of the 1860s show the yard occupying a large triangular site in a right-angled bend on the east bank of Bow Creek with the railway to Thames Wharf on the third side, and with a smaller site on the west bank. The main yard had a quay 1,050 feet (320m) long. To the south-east the yard occupied the north bank of the Thames east of Bow Creek, with two slips giving direct access to the main river. Today the site is crossed by the

A1020 A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''A-1 Headline'', a 2004 Hong Kong film * (English title: ''Our Man in Jamaica''), a 1965 Italian film * ''A1'', a 1999 Syrian film; see List of Syrian films * ''A1'' (2019 film) ...

Lower Lea Crossing and the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated medium-capacity rail system, light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financi ...

south of

Canning Town station Canning Town is an interchange station located in Canning Town, London for London Underground, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and London Buses services. It is designed as an intermodal metro and bus station, opening in 1999 as part of the Jub ...

. By 1863 the company had the capacity to build 25,000 tons of warships and 10,000 tons of

mail steamer Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

s simultaneously. One of its first

contracts was for HMS ''Warrior'', launched in 1860, at the time the world's largest warship and the first iron-hulled armoured

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

. HMS ''Minotaur'' followed in 1863, long and 10,690 tons displacement. Work on vessels such as ''Minotaur'' was performed on the Canning Town side of the Lea, and this is where the Thames Ironworks expanded from less than in 1856 to by 1891. While the old site at Orchard Place was still the company's official address until 1909, its presence there was minimal, by the late 1860s the company having only a site there. General shipbuilding on the Thames came under great pressure due to the cost advantages of northern yards with closer supplies of coal and iron, and many yards closed following the 1866 financial crisis. Of the survivors, those like the Thames Ironworks were specialised in warships and liners. HMS Sans Pareil ready for launching 1887 Flickr 5374541067 30e01bf104 o

HMS Sans Pareil ready for launching 1887 Flickr 5374541067 30e01bf104 o

Following the success of HMS ''Warrior'' and HMS ''Minotaur'', orders were placed by navies all over the world, and vessels were built for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Spain and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The yard also built the

n Navy's first iron-hulled warship, the SMS ''König Wilhelm'' in 1868 and the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa ( – 16 December 1515), was a Portuguese general, admiral, statesman and ''conquistador''. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across ...

'' for Portugal in 1884. A multitude of mostly small warships were also built for the

Romanian Navy The Romanian Naval Forces () is the principal naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces and operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on ...

, most notably the

Mircea Mircea is a Romanian language, Romanian masculine given name, a form of the South Slavic name, South Slavic name Mirče (Мирче) that derives from the Slavic word ''mir'', meaning 'peace'. It may refer to: People Princes of Wallachia * M ...

''. Also notable was the tiny minelayer ''

Alexandru cel Bun Alexander I, commonly known as Alexander the Good (; – 1 January 1432) was Voivode of Moldavia between 1400 and 1432. He was the son of Roman I and succeeded Iuga to the throne. As ruler he initiated a series of reforms while consolidating ...

''. The Iron Works also produced for the Romanian Navy a class of three small 45-ton gunboats, a class of three medium 116-ton gunboats and a class of eight 50-ton torpedo boats. In the 1890s

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Arnold Hills Arnold Frank Hills (12 March 1857 – 7 March 1927) was an English businessman, sportsman, philanthropist, and activist. He notably made an appearance for the England national football team in 1879. Hills was an advocate for temperance and vege ...

became the managing director. He had originally joined the board of directors in 1880 at the age of 23. Hills was one of the first business directors voluntarily to introduce an

eight-hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time. The modern movement originated i ...

for his workers at a time when 10- and 12-hour shifts were more common in industrial work. In 1895 Hills helped to set up a football club for the Works' employees,

Thames Ironworks F.C. Thames Ironworks Football Club, the club that later became West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, was founded by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company owner Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder), Dave Taylor in ...

and within their first two years they had entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and the London League. As a result of the committee's desire to employ professional players, the Thames Ironworks F.C. was wound up in June 1900 and

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their ...

was formed a month later. Merged with the engine builder John Penn and Sons in 1899 as the Thames Iron Works, Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. During its lifetime the yard produced 144 warships and numerous other vessels. In 1911 Hills petitioned

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, then

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

, regarding the lack of new orders. He was unsuccessful, and the yard was forced to shut in 1912. Within two years the United Kingdom was at war with the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, with the yard's last major ship taking part in the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

. Kotri Bridge in Pakistan Sindh province was also constructed in between 1897 and 1912. The premises of the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company, Greenwich, were subsequently acquired in 1915, by the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

(created in 1912) for the storage of aeroplanes.

Archaeology

Part of the company's Limmo Peninsula site was excavated during the construction of

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

in 2012.

Notable products

*In the 1850s the company produced iron work for I.K. Brunel's

over the Tamar at

Saltash Saltash () is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks ...

. *In 1897 to 1912 the company made the ironworks of

Kotri Bridge Kotri Bridge () is a road-rail bridge situated between Kotri and Hyderabad, Sindh, Hyderabad on Indus River in Sindh, Pakistan. History It was opened to traffic on 25 May 1900 and was reconstructed in 1931. It stretches over five spans and the ...

Sindh Province Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...

of Pakistan. * HMS ''Warrior'', launched in 1860, the world's first all-iron warship. When completed in October 1861, ''Warrior'' was the largest, fastest, most heavily armed and most heavily armoured warship in the world. *In the 1890s the yard built two of the six British-built battleships that formed the main Japanese battle line in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

of 1904–1905. *The launch of HMS ''Albion'' in 1898 was marred by an accident when several observers died following a bridge collapse. *The last major warship built by the yard, HMS ''Thunderer'' (22,500 tons), was launched in 1911.

Ships

* HMS ''Trident'', Royal Navy, 1845 (Ditchburn & Mare) * HMS ''Recruit'', Royal Navy, 1846, iron brig. * DS ''Rigi'', 1847. In continuous service on Lake Lucerne (Switzerland) until 1952. Since being decommissioned, she has been on display at the Swiss Transport Museum (Verkehrshaus). * PS ''Vladimir'', 1848 (C J Mare), "Russian War Steamer" * ''Argo'', 1853, first steamship to circumnavigate the world. * SS ''Himalaya'', 1853 (C J Mare), for

, later HMS ''Himalaya'', Royal Navy. * HMS ''Warrior'', Royal Navy, 1860 * ''Yavari'' and '' Yapura'', Peruvian Navy, 1862, exported in sections for assembly on

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

. * , Ottoman Navy, 1863 * HMS ''Minotaur'', Royal Navy, 1863 * RUS ''Pervenetz'', Imperial Russian Navy, 1863 * HMS ''Valiant'', Royal Navy, 1863 * ''Victoria'', frigate, 1865 * SNS ''Vitoria'', Spanish Navy, 1865 * HMS ''Serapis'', Royal Navy troopship, 1866 * ''Anglia'', 1866, iron paddle tug.Thames Tugs, William Watkins Limited
/ref> * SMS ''König Wilhelm'', 1869, Prussian Navy * , Ottoman Navy, 1869 * , Ottoman Navy, 1870 * HMS ''Magdala'', Royal Navy, 1870 * ''Hamidiye'', Ottoman Navy, 1872, purchased by the Royal Navy as HMS ''Superb'' * , Ottoman Navy, 1872 * , English Channel Steamship Company, 1874 * ''Mindello'', Portuguese Navy, 1875 * ''Rainha De Portugal'', Portuguese Navy, 1875 * , Portuguese Navy, 1876 * ''Fox'' 1877, iron tug * ''Canada'' 1880, Screw Tug * HMS ''Linnet'', Royal Navy, 1880 * NRP ''Afonso de Albuquerque'', Portuguese Navy, 1884 * HMS ''Benbow'', Royal Navy, 1885 * HMS ''Sans Pareil'', Royal Navy, 1887 * HMS ''Blenheim'' Royal Navy, 1890 * , Arthur Ponsonby, 1890 * HMS ''Grafton'', Royal Navy, 1892 * HMS ''Theseus'', Royal Navy, 1892 * Battleship ''IJN Fuji'', 1896 * Battleship ''Shikishima'', 1898 * HMS ''Albion'', Royal Navy, 1898 * HMS ''Cornwallis'', Royal Navy, 1901 * HMS ''Duncan'', Royal Navy, 1901 *

Cromer Lifeboat Louisa Heartwell ON 495 RNLB ''Louisa Heartwell'' (ON 495) was the sixth lifeboat to be stationed at Cromer on the coast of the English county of Norfolk She was launched from the beach station and was on station from 1902 to 1932. During her period on station at Crom ...

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

1902 * , Royal Navy, 1904 * ''J C Madge'', RNLI, Sheringham lifeboat, 1904, * HMS ''Nautilus'', Royal Navy, 1910, later named HMS ''Grampus'' * HMS ''Thunderer'', Royal Navy, 1911

Links to West Ham United Football Club

Employees at the Thames Ironworks formed a works football team, called Thames Ironworks Football Club. This club was later renamed

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, whose emblem of the crossed hammers represents the large riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade. West Ham are also known as "The Hammers" for this reason. While the media and the general football world commonly refer to the club as The Hammers, the club's own supporters have always referred to their team as 'The Irons', which again comes from the link with Thames Ironworks. The chant 'Come on you Irons' is heard on every match day at West Ham. The shape of the 16th evolution of the club badge, launched after club moved to the Olympic Stadium in 2016, is a representation of the cross-section of the bow of HMS ''Warrior'', the first iron clad battleship, built by the Thames Ironworks in 1860.

Notes

External links

Arnold Hills
– International Vegetarian Union

Grace's Guide: Chronology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thames Ironworks And Shipbuilding Company 1837 establishments in England 1912 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1912 Ironworks and steelworks in England Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom History of the London Borough of Newham History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Shipbuilding in London Ships built in Leamouth Shipyards on the River Thames Port of London British companies established in 1837