Gourlay Brothers and Co
of Dundee
1833 Mr Stirling built 2 locomotives for the Dundee and Newtyle Railway
The business later became Gourlay Brothers with Alexander Gourlay and Henry Gourlay who were later joined by Gershom Gourlay
1854 The Gourlay family established their shipbuilding yard on Marine Parade in Dundee, Scotland. Prior to this the yard had traded as a foundry. The main customer of the yard was the Dundee, Perth and London Shipping Co who ordered a dozen steamers from the yard.
1870 The yard was moved to a new site in 1870; the Camperdown Yard. Here, the Gourlay's made steel steamers for a couple of local companies. This kept them in business for the following twenty years or so.
1890s The yard was now building cargo liners for countries such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Australia and Argentina.
1904 The orders for cargo-liners continued to come in along with the initial commission for tramps. In 1904 the business was of limited liability status.
From 1905 onwards the slump in freight orders led to orders drying up.
The Camperdown yard closed in 1908.
See Also
Sources of Information
British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss