Edward Harland
Encyclopedia
- For the United States general see: Edward Harland (general)Edward Harland (general)Edward Harland was a Union general during the American Civil War. He was associated with early battles of the IX Corps as well as Union involvement in North Carolina and the Tidewater region of Virginia.-Early life:...
Sir Edward James Harland, 1st Baronet (15 May 1831 – 24 December 1895) was a British shipbuilder
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
and politician
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
. In 1846, aged 15, he took an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
at the engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
works of Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. Afterwards he was employed in jobs in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and again in Newcastle, before moving to Belfast in 1854 to manage Robert Hickson's shipyard at Queen's Island. Four years later he bought the yard and renamed the business Edward James Harland and Company, before in 1861 he formed a business partnership with Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was a British shipbuilder and politician. Born in Hamburg, he moved to Liverpool in 1849 to live with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe...
, his former personal assistant, creating Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
. Later, Harland recruited William James Pirrie as another partner. Edward Harland, Gustav Wolff and William James Pirrie maintained a successful business, receiving regular orders from the White Star Line
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
, before Harland's retirement in 1889, leaving Wolff and Pirrie to manage the shipyard.
Outside of his company, Harland served as a Belfast harbour commissioner. In 1885, Harland was granted a knighthood
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
and a baronetcy. Harland was a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, and served as Mayor of Belfast; later he moved to London and served as Member of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
for Belfast North
Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast North is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...
until his death.
Early life
Edward James Harland was born on 15 May 1831 in Newborough, a neighbourhood within Scarborough, North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
to Dr. William Harland and his wife Anne, the daughter of Gowan Pierson who was from Goathland
Goathland
Goathland is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in the North York Moors national park situated due north of Pickering, off the A169 to Whitby...
, Yorkshire. Harland's birthplace is now the site of a Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
store. Edward was the seventh child of ten, and the fourth boy of six. His antecedent brother died as an infant; Edward Harland is described as the sixth child in the family by alternative sources. Dr. Harland was a physician and an amateur engineer; he invented a patented steam powered carriage in 1827.
Early career
Edward Harland was educated at Edinburgh AcademyEdinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
. In 1846, aged 15, he went to Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
to serve an apprenticeship at Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
, an engineering works. The owner, Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
, was the son of George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
, the locomotive engineer, of whom Edward Harland's father was a friend. Harland served as an apprentice in Newcastle until 1851. During the apprenticeship, Harland met Gustav Christian Schwabe, who knew Dr. Thomas Harland, Edward's uncle; Schwabe was a partner in John Bibby & Sons, a shipping company based in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Schwabe arranged for Harland to be employed at J. and G. Thomson marine engineers in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, who were shipbuilding for John Bibby, after he completed his apprenticeship. Here, Harland earned 20 shillings a week and became head draughtsman
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
. In 1853, Harland left Glasgow to return to Newcastle, as the manager of the Thomas Toward shipyard on the Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
.
Robert Hickson and Company
In December 1854, Harland moved to BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
with Schwabe's encouragement, and was employed as manager of Robert Hickson's shipyard in Queen's Island. Here, Harland became known for strict management and improving workmanship, by cutting wages and banning smoking; he also a carried a piece of chalk and an ivory ruler, used for marking mistakes. A employee at Harland's later venture, Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
stated: Harland was able to keep the shipyard running despite the owner's financial problems. In 1857, Harland employed Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was a British shipbuilder and politician. Born in Hamburg, he moved to Liverpool in 1849 to live with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe...
, Gustav Schwabe's nephew, as his personal assistant. Harland began attempting to open his own shipbuilding business, and was unsuccessful with several applications to open yards in Liverpool. But on 21 September 1858, Robert Hickson wrote to him:
With the financial assistance of Gustav Schwabe, Harland purchased the business and on 1 November 1858, Edward James Harland and Company was created.
Founding of Harland and Wolff
Edward Harland's new company quickly attracted an order of three boats from John Bibby & Sons. These boats were named Venetian, Sicilian and Syrian; the current company's order book still has the three boats listed as No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Impressed with the boats, Bibby ordered six more boats from Harland in 1860. The boats that Edward Harland designed were long, had a narrow beam and were flat-bottomed; the boats became known as "Bibby's coffins". On 26 January 1860, Harland married Rosa Matilda Wann, of Vermont, Belfast, who was the daughter of Thomas Wann, a stockbroker and insurance agent. In 1861, Harland chose the 27-year-old Gustav Wilhelm WolffGustav Wilhelm Wolff
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was a British shipbuilder and politician. Born in Hamburg, he moved to Liverpool in 1849 to live with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe...
, his former personal assistant, to become a partner in the firm, forming Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
. Harland's company had a prosperous relationship with Thomas Henry Ismay
Thomas Henry Ismay
Thomas Henry Ismay was the founder of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, more commonly known as the White Star Line...
's White Star Line
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
, a prominent shipping company, ensuring regular orders and financial success. Harland's designing skills created ships with flatter bottoms and squarer bilges to increase capacity. According to Edward Harland's obituary in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, he designed his company's ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
s "on the model of a fish swimming through the water." Harland's company received orders during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
from the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, who bought fast steamers to evade the Union blockade
Union blockade
The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
. In 1874 Edward Harland recruited William James Pirrie, a former apprentice at the company as a partner; Pirrie later became chairman of the company, and was given the task of finding buyers and negotiating deals. Harland was once asked the nature of the three men's business relationship and replied: Harland applied for several patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s including, in 1860 for "improvements in constructing and covering the decks of ships and other floating bodies", in 1871 for "improvements in apparatus for propelling vessels", in 1878 for "improvements in screw-propellers." In 1880 Harland and his two partners decided to expand further and built their own engine works. Harland began having less involvement in the running of the shipyard, and in 1889 he retired from daily involvement in the business.
Political career and later life
Edward Harland served as the chief Belfast Harbour Commissioner from 1875 until the 1880s. Harland was a PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in Ireland
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland , is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland...
and a member of the Church in Rosemary Street, Belfast. As a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, he served as Mayor of Belfast in 1885 and 1886, and strongly opposed the 1886 Home Rule Bill
Irish Government Bill 1886
The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. In 1885, Harland was granted a knighthood and on 25 July the same year, he was granted a baronetcy. In 1889 Harland was elected to serve as the Member of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
for Belfast North
Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast North is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...
. Harland then moved to London, and was re-elected unopposed twice in 1892 and 1895 and served as MP for the constituency until his death, on Christmas Eve 1895 at his Irish home, Glenfarne Hall in County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
. Harland left no heir to his baronetcy. He was appointed to a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on industrial disputes in 1891.