Gustav Wilhelm Wolff

Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was born on 14 November 1834 in Hamburg to Moritz Wolff, a merchant and his wife, Fanny Schwabe. Gustav was brought up in the Lutheran Church as his family had converted from Judaism in 1819. In March 1850 aged 15, Wolff left Hamburg to live in Liverpool with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe, a financier. Wolff was educated at Liverpool College; afterwards he served an apprenticeship at the engineers Joseph Whitworth and Company, in Manchester. The firm considered Wolff so able that he was chosen to represent the company at the 1855 Paris Exhibition. After serving his apprenticeship, Wolff was employed by the B. Goodfellow Ltd., a firm based in Hyde, Greater Manchester as a draughtsman. In 1857, due to the intervention of his uncle Gustav Christian Schwabe, Wolff was employed as Edward Harland's personal assistant at Robert Hickson's shipyard at Queen's Island, Belfast. In 1860, Edward Harland recruited Wolff as his business partner, and Harland and Wolff was formed.

Wolff's early role at Harland and Wolff involved his engineering and managing the yard. Due to Wolff's German Jewish descent, he had links with the Jewish community in Hamburg and in Britain, and was able to attract business to the shipyard. Wolff worked extensively at the yard, and was partly responsible for building of the engine works at Harland and Wolff in 1880. His company was responsible for the construction of the RMS Titanic. After the conversion of Harland and Wolff to limited company status in 1888, Wolff was appointed as a director. Wolff was able to secure a good relationship with the Hamburg America Line, which was managed by Albert Ballin, who was also of Jewish background. Wolff officially retired from Harland and Wolff in 1906, although he had not been an active in the business for years beforehand. William James Pirrie who became a partner in 1874 was now the most active. Wolff claimed of the business relationship at Harland and Wolff:Sir Edward [Harland] builds the ships, Mr Pirrie makes the speeches, and, as for me, I smoke the cigars.