WW2 and History Collection / Manufacturers / C / J / L /  W / William Laird and Son / John Laird, Sons and Co / Laird Brothers / Cammell, Laird and Co / Cammell Laird Updated: August 29th, 2016 Manufacturers, Factories etc. Cammell Laird Shipyard, Birkenhead William Laird and Son / John Laird, Sons and Co / Laird Brothers / Cammell, Laird and Co / Cammell Laird History In 1828 the partnership of William Laird, William Hamilton and John Forsyth was dissolved and William Laird set up a boiler factory in Birkenhead with his son John Laird with the name William Laird and Son. As from 1828 the company started building ships. William Laird died in 1841 and John continued the company. On January 1st, 1860, John took his sons William and John as partners into the company and the name was changed to John Laird, Sons and Co. When in 1861 John Laird retired to become an MP, William took in his brother Henry Hyndman Laird as a new partner in 1962. The company became as from then known as Laird Brothers, although the formal name was Messrs. Laird Brothers. In the 1890's the company started working together with Charles Cammell and Co who manufactured armour plating for naval ships build by the Laird Brothers. Both companies merged into the new company  Cammell, Laird and Co in 1903. In 1965 the company was split into two different companies, the Cammell Laird (Shipbuilders and Engineers) and the Cammell Laird (Shiprepairers) Ltd. The shipbuilding company later became the Cammell Laird Shipbuilders when government took over 50% of the shares. In the 1970's all British shipbuilders were nationalized and the company became a part of the British Shipbuilders and in 1985 it merged with Vickers' Barrow Yard. After this the company was privatised. Vickers decided to close the yard in October 1990 and closed it on July 30th, 1993. The Coastline Group aquired the dry docks and set up a repair company for which they adopted the name Cammell Laird form 1994. In 2001 the A&P Shiprepair Group took over the facilities and sold in in 2005 to Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders. In January 2007 the Cammell Laird shipyard site were purchased by Peel Holdings with Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders keeping a lease on facilities. This company aquired the rights on the name Cammell Laird in the same year 2007 and renamed themselve on November 17th, 2008 in Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Limited. This way the name Cammel Laird still excists today. List of ships   © WW2 History Collection, Wilco Vermeer, 2015 - 2016 contact