Person NA147 Leslie; Andrew (1818 - 1894) Andrew Leslie Leslie Andrew 1818 - 1894

Leslie, Andrew (1818–1894), shipbuilder, was born on 1 September 1818 at Garth, Dunrossness, in the Shetland Islands, the only son and younger of the two children of Andrew Leslie (d. 1829), a crofter, and his wife, Christina, née Allison. When he was six weeks old his parents were evicted, and his father moved the family to Aberdeen, working as a cartman and on coastal ships out of Aberdeen. After his father's death the family moved back to the Shetland Islands. At the age of thirteen Leslie began work as a rivet catcher before starting an apprenticeship as a boilermaker at the iron works of John Vernon & Co. in Aberdeen. He also studied technical drawing at evening classes with Charles Mitchell, who later established an iron shipyard on the Tyne. He was promoted to foreman, but left in the early 1840s to set up his own business in Aberdeen as a boilermaker and blacksmith. In 1853 Leslie moved to Tyneside, leased 9 acres at Hebburn in open country east of Hebburn Quay on the south bank of the Tyne, and founded an iron shipyard and boiler works. After a brief partnership with John Coutts, a Scot who at Walker in 1840 had established the Tyne's first iron shipyard, which had since failed, Leslie became sole owner of the Hebburn yard. Because of the shortage of local labour, he recruited most of his skilled craftsmen from Aberdeen, to the extent that Hebburn became known as ‘little Aberdeen’. He launched his first ship, the steamship Clarendon, in 1854, but progress was slow after this, at a time when most ships were still being built in wood, and the yard had an annual average output of 2000 tons during the first decade. From the beginning many of Leslie's ships were for overseas customers: twelve of his first twenty ships were for Russian owners, beginning with the 1000 ton Mogoustschi for the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company for its new service from London to Odessa. He built more than sixty ships in all for Russian companies, and his first steel-framed vessel, the Grand Duchess Olga, launched in 1880, was built for the Russian S. E. Navigation Company. His principal English customer was Holts, the Liverpool shipping line, from 1861. By 1863 Leslie had built fifty-three ships, and his business was valued at £90,000. Needing more capital for the business, he entered into negotiations with Thomas Coote, a local businessman, who in 1863 bought a partnership for his son, Arthur, who had served his apprenticeship at Denny & Co., the Dumbarton shipyard. Arthur Coote later married Leslie's adopted daughter. The company became known for its paddle steamers, beginning with the Enterprise in 1864. It built many cross-channel paddle steamers, including the twin-hulled Calais-Douvres, launched in 1877. Between 1863 and 1875 output grew to more than 10,000 tons a year, and in the period 1876 to 1885, despite the depression of the mid-1880s, average output was 16,000 tons, with a peak in 1881 of 23,500 tons. By 1885, 260 ships had been built at the Hebburn yard, and there was employment for more than 2000 men. Although Leslie had no sympathy for the trade union movement, giving evidence to the royal commission on trade unions (1867–9), he managed to retain the loyalty of his workmen, many of whom stayed with the firm all their lives. From 1860 there was increasingly close co-operation between Andrew Leslie & Co. and the marine engineering firm R. and W. Hawthorn, with Hawthorns supplying thirty-one sets of machinery for ships built in Leslie's yard between 1860 and 1870. Following Leslie's retirement in 1885 the two firms amalgamated to become R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd. From 1859 until 1880 Leslie lived in Wallsend House, Wallsend, across the river from the yard, and played an important part in local affairs. He was a member of the first Wallsend school board, and its first vice-chairman, and he was one of those who worked to establish a local board of health, which was set up in 1867: he was elected to the board in 1869 and served until 1878. He served as a Tyne improvement commissioner for thirteen years, and was a JP for Northumberland and Durham. He also did much to develop Hebburn. He built more than four hundred houses for his workmen, with gas lighting supplied from the gas-producing plant in his shipyard. He was the chairman of the meeting that established the Hebburn Co-operative Society in 1866, and contributed to the cost of building a school and a workmen's institute. Leslie was a presbyterian and donated £900 in 1873 for the building of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Hebburn, close to the shipyard, for his Scottish workmen and their families. He was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers from 1858, and of the Institution of Naval Architects from 1882. Leslie was married to Margaret, née Jordan (c.1829–c.1888); they had one adopted daughter. Leslie died on 27 January 1894 at his home, Coxlodge Hall, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, and was buried on 1 February at Rosebank cemetery, Edinburgh. Anne Pimlott Baker Sources J. F. Clarke, Power on land and sea: … a history of R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd (1979) · J. F. Clarke, Building ships on the north east coast, 1: c.1640–1914 (1997) · D. Dougan, The history of north east shipbuilding (1968) · J. F. Clarke, ‘Leslie, Andrew’, DBB · The Times (31 Jan 1894) · Newcastle Daily Chronicle (29 Jan 1894) · Newcastle Daily Leader (29 Jan 1894) · Jarrow Express (2 Feb 1894) · Shields Gazette (29 Jan 1894) · Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (2 Feb 1894) · census returns, 1881 · W. Richardson, History of the parish of Wallsend and Willington (1923) · memorial tablet, St Andrew's Church, Hebburn, co. Durham Archives Durham RO, Leslie company records Likenesses photograph, repro. in Clarke, ‘Leslie, Andrew’ Wealth at death £161,275: Clarke, ‘Leslie, Andrew’ © Oxford University Press 2004–6 All rights reserved: see legal notice Anne Pimlott Baker, ‘Leslie, Andrew (1818–1894)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49317, accessed 24 Aug 2006] Andrew Leslie (1818–1894): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49317 Shipbuilder Andrew Leslie was born in 1818 in the Shetland Isles and from the age of 14 served as an apprentice boilermaker in Aberdeen at the ironworks of John Vernon and Co. He was quickly promoted to foreman and in the evenings after work he was instructed in technical drawing by Charles Mitchel who also later established a shipyard on the Tyne. Andrew Leslie came south to the Tyne with a capital of £200 and in 1853 he rented part of the Woodhouse Farm at Hebburn for his shipbuilding venture laying a single berth.Early in 1854 he launched his first vessel the Clarendon of 1,000 ton grossweight. Many of his fellow countrymen followed him south in search of work and Hebburn came to be known as " Little Aberdeen ". Leslie quickly realised the need to provide housing for his workers and built several hundred houses. He also played a large part in the social life of Hebburn making major financial contributions to building local churches and the workmen's Institute as well as supporting the local school. In 1860 R and W Hawthorn supplied their first set of machinery to Andrew Leslie for the Iberia and in this decade supplied in all 31 sets of machinery to the Hebburn yard. By 1885 Andrew Leslie had built 265 ships. Andrew Leslie retired in 1885 and it was in that year that his company amalgamated with R and W Hawthorn to form R and W Hawthorn, Leslie and Co, Ltd. This Company was registered as a public company on 1st July 1886. He died in January 1894 and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Leith. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Akent 18/07/2000 Lrees 24/08/2006 62425d83-9865-4d0e-9388-cdf60b939534