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User:TheSlowTrain/George Lennox Watson

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George Lennox Watson
GLW Portrait
Portrait of G.L. Watson from an Igden's Cigarette Card
Portrait from an Ogden's Cigarette Card
Born30th October 1851
Glasgow
Died12th November 1904
Glasgow
NationalityBritish
OccupationArchitect

G.L. Watson (Naval Architect)

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George Lennox Watson (1851-1904) was born in the Gorbals suburb of Glasgow, son of Thomas Lennox Watson a doctor at the Royal Glasgow Infirmary, and Grandson of Sir Timothy Burstall engineer and entrant at the 1829 Rainhill trials.

Early Life

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As a young boy in the late 1850’s Watson often spent holidays at Inverkip on the Clyde where through his friendship the local skipper William Mackie he developed his passion for yachts and resolved to make naval architecture his living. At the age of 16 Watson became an apprentice draughtsman at the shipyard of Robert Napier & Son in Glasgow. [1]

Career

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During his training at Napier’s yard Watson was at the early stages of using theories of hydrodynamics as influences in yacht design. After practising at J&A Inglis, Shipbuilders, in 1873 (at the age of 22) Watson set out to found the world's first design office dedicated to small craft. [2] His first design, Peg Woffington featured an unorthodox reverse bow which undoubtedly drew attention to the young designer.[3] Successes followed with yachts such as Vril and Verve which were built for a growing client base of wealthy Clyde industrialists. Notable examples include the Coats family of Paisley and the Allan Brothers of the famous Scotch-Canadian shipping line.

Watson’s successes on the proving ground of the Clyde soon attracted larger commissions from more international clients such as; "Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl", "Sir Thomas Lipton", "Charles Lindsay Orr-Ewing" and "Whitaker Wright". Commissioning amongst others, four America’s Cup challengers and the largest sailing Schooner of it’s time, Rainbow.

Amongst his work in yacht designs Watson designed extensively for the RNLI with his boats becoming renowned for their seaworthy and durable qualities. In 1887 Watson became chief consulting Naval Architect to the RNLI [4], a position which G.L. Watson & Co. Directors would fulfil through to the late 1960’s.[5]

Watson designed 432 yachts, lifeboats and other vessels during his 32 year career, an output which averages one new build launched every 3.5 weeks. Of those he designed the following are particularly noteworthy.

Steam yachts

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  • Zara (1891)
  • Foros (1891)
  • Vanduara (1895)
  • Maria (1896)
  • Mayflower (1896)
  • Nahma (1896)
  • Margarita (1899)
  • Lysistrata (1900)
  • Triton (1902)
  • Warrior (1904)

Sailing yachts

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  • Peg Woffington (1873)
  • Vril (1876)
  • Madge (1879)
  • Vanduara (1880)
  • Doris (1885)
  • Queen Mab (1885)
  • Dora (1891)
  • Britannia (1893)
  • Valkyrie II (1893)
  • Valkyrie III (1895)
  • Meteor (1896)
  • Rainbow (1898)
  • Gleniffer (1899)
  • Kariad (1900)
  • Sybarita (1900)
  • Shamrock II (1901)


Britannia

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Watson's most famous design was commissioned by Edward Prince of Wales, subsequently King Edward VII and had a long and successful career passing to his son King George V. HMY Britannia (Royal Cutter Yacht) which remains the most successful racing yacht of all time, with a racing career spanning 43 years.[6]

The America's Cup

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Watson's involvement in the America's Cup was long running and manifested itself in four cup challengers; the Thistle for the Scottish syndicate headed by Sir James Bell[7], two yachts named Valkyrie for Earl (later Lord) Dunraven, and Shamrock II for Sir Thomas Lipton.

  • Thistle (1881)
  • Valkyrie II (1893)
  • Valkyrie III (1895)
  • Shamrock II (1901)

Watson's yachts were met with a range of successes and competed in typically controversial Cup contests but never managed to win the trophy. Thistle was sold to Kaiser Willem of Germany; Valkyrie II was sunk in a collision with the Nicholson yacht Satanita on the Clyde[8]. Both the large cutters, Valkyrie III & Shamrock II were broken up following their defeats.

Personal Life

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In the early years of his adult life Watson was devoted his company as well as close friends and family. He had little time for courting and it was not until his later years that Watson courted and married Ms Lovibond of Putney, London[9]. Their wedding was described as "a gathering of the most fashionable people in society"[10]. Tragically, only 18 months after their wedding and shortly after the birth of his daughter Lily Watson succumbed to "Coronary Athsma" and died on November 16th 1904, aged 55.

Legacy

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As sole partner at the time of his death, Watson entrusted the company to the hands of his Chief Draughstman James Rennie Barnett[11], who went on to design the firm's largest and most famous luxury steam yachts for the social elite[12]. Barnett also furthered Watson's lifeboat work successfully developing the world's first self righting lifeboat[13]. Subsequently the firm passed through the hands of three further managing directors over a ?? year period before a brief hiatus in the early 1990's. The firm is now based in Liverpool and is engaged in the design, restoration and replica builds of classic yachts. The company still holds the original design archive which was temporarily housed in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

References

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  1. ^ Leather, J., ‘Watson 120 Years of Leadership in Yacht Design: The G.L. Watson Story', Classic Boat, January 1993.
  2. ^ RINA Membership Applications, RINA Archive
  3. ^ Watson, G.L., ‘The Evolution of Yacht Design’, Badminton Library of Yachting, 1st edition, Longmans, Green & Co, London, 1894.
  4. ^ Watson, G.L., Transactions of the Institute of Naval Architects, 1890.
  5. ^ Cameron, I., Riders of the Storm, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002
  6. ^ Irving, J., The Kings Britannia, Seeley Service & Co. Ltd, London, 1937.
  7. ^ Paterson, L., The Auld Mug: The Scots and the America's Cup, 1st edition, Neil Wilson Publishing, Glasgow, 2007.
  8. ^ New York Times, July 6th 1894
  9. ^ Leather, J., ‘Watson 120 Years of Leadership in Yacht Design: The G.L. Watson Story', Classic Boat, January 1993.
  10. ^ The Times, May, 1902
  11. ^ J. R. Barnett, Last Will and Testament, National Archives of Scotland.
  12. ^ Barnett, J.R., Smart, W, Stewart, J., University Press, Glasgow, 1924.
  13. ^ Barnett, J. R., Modern motor-Lifeboats of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1st Edition, Blackie, Glasgow, 1933

Bibliography

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  • Life-boat Design & Development, Eric.C. Fry
  • Badminton Library, Yachting 1894
  • Classic Boat Magazine, Articles Series, Ian Nicolson
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  • G.L. Watson & Co. Ltd. [1]
  • Encyclopaedia of Yacht Designers [2]
  • Classic Boat Magazine [3]
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