Private company

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

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Scottish shipbuilding company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the Second World War. It also built many transatlantic liners, including record-breaking ships for the Cunard Line and Canadian Pacific, such as the Blue Riband-winning sisters RMS Campania and RMS Lucania.² It ceased to exist in 1968.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1834Founded¹

Industryshipbuilding, vehicle construction¹
HeadquartersGovan¹
Founded inGovan¹
Legal formpublic company¹

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The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the Second World War. It also built many transatlantic liners, including record-breaking ships for the Cunard Line and Canadian Pacific, such as the Blue Riband-winning sisters RMS Campania and RMS Lucania. At the other end of the scale, Fairfields built fast cross-channel mail steamers and ferries for locations around the world. These included ships for the Bosporus crossing in Istanbul and some of the early ships used by Thomas Cook for developing tourism on the River Nile.²

Leadership

Who has led Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Board members and other officers (1)

Board memberAlexander Cleghorn 1905 to now¹

Products and brands

naval vessel

Listed on Wikidata.¹

Subsidiary of Northumberland Shipbuilding Company

In 1919 the company became part of the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, with Alexander Kennedy installed as managing director. In 1921 Alexander Kennedy was knighted. Sir Alexander became Fairfield chairman in 1930 and remained so until 1937.

The Fairfield West Yard had been added at the outbreak of the First World War for submarine construction, but closed after ten years due to severe recession and was demolished by National Shipbuilders Securities in 1934. The Fairfield West yard site was later used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1944 to build four landing craft.

In 1924, the company bought a shipyard at Chepstow on the River Wye in South Wales, previously developed as National Shipyard No.1 in the First World War and then taken over by the Monmouthshire Shipbuilding Company. The works later specialised in assembling bridges and other major structures.

Subsidiary of Lithgows

In 1935 Fairfield was taken over by Lithgows of Port Glasgow after it had become entangled with the insolvency of the Anchor Line.

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In the 1950s the yard underwent a major £4million modernisation programme which was implemented slowly over a period of ten years to minimise disruption to the yard. In 1963, the Fairfield engine building division merged with another Lithgow subsidiary, David Rowan & Company, to form Fairfield Rowan Ltd. Soon after the decade-long shipyard modernisation works were completed, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd and Fairfield Rowan Ltd were placed into receivership and was subsequently sold by Lithgow's in 1965. Fairfield's Chepstow works was sold to the Mabey Group in 1966. The marine engine-building subsidiary Fairfield Rowan was closed in 1966.

From Wikipedia’s article on Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Timeline

1968Dissolved Dissolved¹
1834Founded Founded in Govan¹

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.