Shipbuilder and

Enginebuilder

A & J Inglis of Pointhouse, Glasgow

In 1847, exactly one hundred years before WAVERLEY entered service, the brothers Anthony Inglis and John Inglis began an engineering business on the north bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow not far from Anderston Quay, the home of the World’s Last Seagoing Paddle Steamer.

Anthony was 34 and had been a bellhanger and smith, starting his own business in 1841. John, a marine engineer, was 28 when he entered into the partnership with his brother.  Early in their career they started to take orders for steamers and sub-contracted the hulls and fitting of the vessels to some of the Clyde’s many shipyards while they concentrated on providing the machinery.

Their Whitehall Foundry in Anderston also produced boilers and in 1850 they built an engine for the Clyde Navigation Trust’s paddle tug CLYDE.

That engine survives to this day and is statically preserved on a concrete plinth on the Ferry Green at Renfrew. WAVERLEY passes close to it on all her famous ‘doon the watter’ sailings.

Inglis’ reputation grew quickly and they provided the engines for the steamer TASMANIAN in 1855. She was one of the largest and fastest steamers in the world when built.

The Inglis-built engine of paddle tug CLYDE at Renfrew