G. K. Stothert and Co

Detail from 1929 aerial photograph showing G K Stothert's Hotwells Yard. Note the sheer legs on the quayside. The stretch of water connecting to the Floating Harbour is Merchants Dock. Behind that is the drydock. For wider context, see below

1929 aerial photograph - from a display board at Cumberland Basin. See below for display board text

Photo 2

1883. Patent compound horizontal engine.

1885.Horizontal Compound Condensing Engine.

G K Stothert of Steam Ship Works, of Hotwell Road, Bristol made stationary and marine steam engines.

1852 George Kelson Stothert opened his shipbuilding works at Hotwells. He was a pioneer in iron shipbuilding and marine engineering, and the firm built ships there until 1904.

1852 Geared marine engine for the screw propeller

1854 Company established in partnership with Ernest T. Fripp, as a builder of marine and stationary engines and of ships.

Some years afterwards Mr. Fripp retired, and Mr. Stothert carried on the business as sole proprietor.

1883 400 HP tandem compound mill engine described in The Engineer 1883/06/08. Cylinders 23" and 43" dia., stroke 4' 6". Reference was also made to a 250 HP engine installed in 1880 at Richard Hayward and Co’s Coker Sailcloth Works, Crewkerne.

1891 Advert as brass and iron founders. Boilermakers.

1892 Engines for SS Tredegar of the Port of Bristol Authority / Osbourne and Wallis

1904 The last ships built were two tugs. Thereafter they were occasionally busy with ship repairs and rebuilds, but closed in the 1920s

1908 Death of Mr Stothert

1909 Incorporated as a limited company.

1914 Engineers, shipbuilders and repairers. Employees 25.

1933 The Hotwells works were finally sold off.

See Also

Loading...

Sources of Information

• Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10
• The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-903485-65-6