John Lilley and Gillie Ltd

History

John Wilson Gillie was born on 31 March 1864. On 31 July 1880 he was apprenticed for four years to J.J. Wilson and Sons, Nautical Instrument Makers of Sunderland. Following the apprenticeship he spent six months to a year as an ‘improver’ in Glasgow, and then started a new company ‘Wilson and Gillie’ in North Shields.

At this time sail had just given way to steam and wooden ships to steel, and the railways were competing with colliers for the carrying of coal from the North East of England to London and the South. In 1858 only seven out of 44 shipyards on the Tyne were using iron, but by 1862 there were ten, employing around 4,000 men. These changes had a significant effect on nautical instrument manufacturers, as the magnetic compass for a wooden sailing vessel was very simple and required little in the way of compensation. For steel vessels much more was required and this was a period of great development, both in the compass bowl and the binnacle in which it was housed.

In 1870 Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) designed his dry card standard compass, which completely replaced all previous designs. Wilson and Gillie started as agents for the Thomson compass, but later J.W. Gillie, using similar principles, redesigned the compass suspension and patented the ‘UNIT’ standard compass. It became popular with local shipowners and shipbuilders.

In 1910 the firm of John Lilley and Son (which had been established in London in 1812), found themselves in financial difficulties and were saved with the help of John Wilson Gillie, who established, on 8 August 1911, a new firm of John Lilley and Son Limited. John Lilley and Son had been the sole London agents for Sir William Thomson, a very enviable position during this period, when the Thomson compass led the field. Unfortunately, Mr. Lilley had quarrelled with the Glasgow company, who withdrew the agency and established their own branch in London (later to become Kelvin White and Hutton).

On November 7, 1913, the firm of John Lilley and Son Limited of London amalgamated with Wilson and Gillie of North Shields, and after this date instruments manufactured by the two companies bore the name John Lilley and Son Limited of London and North Shields.