Freemen of Newcastle - Shipwrights Company

Since 1622, the Shipwrights Company has been the regulatory backbone of shipbuilding along the River Tyne, ensuring quality and safety in an era dominated by wooden ships and sail power. Officially incorporated in 1636, the Shipwrights Company not only controlled shipbuilding activities but also upheld the standards of craftsmanship essential for the burgeoning coal trade. The transcription of the document by which it was incorporated, known as the Ordinary, is a historical artifact that lists 167 members who were foundational to the maritime operations of the time.

Members of the Shipwrights Company are all Freemen of Newcastle and the history of the Freemen is set out in more detail on their website fon.org.uk

Briefly, in the Middle Ages, Freemen were the middle class between the nobility or barons and the serfs.  The barons held land on behalf of the monarch, collected taxes and provided troops to protect and fight for the crown. Freemen were entitled to ply their trade in towns and cities so long as they provided militia for the monarch when requested. 

In 1216 King John granted a charter which enabled the Freemen of Newcastle to appoint a mayor and to form Guilds.  Guilds were very important as they enabled Freemen to control their trades by setting of standards of work and also gave them a monopoly for the trade in the area. The first Guilds were of Merchants but Guilds of tradesmen and craftsmen soon followed, among them Tanners, Smiths and Butchers until there were forty-six in total, including Shipwrights.  Details of the Guilds which still exist are shown on the Freemen’s website.

The Freemen continued to run the town, as it was then, meeting their obligation to provide militias in the early days before England had a standing army. In 1835 the Municipal Corporations Act was passed by Parliament.  This stipulated that the Corporation (Council) must be elected by ratepayers rather than Freemen and so their reign in Newcastle came to an end.

The Shipwrights Company is an association of members who are all Freemen of Newcastle  and whose ancestors once built wooden ships on the banks of the River Tyne. We are united in our interest in our heritage and our love of the City.  And of course we support the Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne in their work protecting and preserving the Town Moor as a green space for the benefit of all.

Today, there are currently around 140 Shipwrights and 2,000 Freemen of Newcastle.

There were huge changes during the industrial revolution; both in the way things were run and how goods were produced.  The Freemen lost their right to run Newcastle and people wanted more change. 

Many of the trades carried out by Freemen became obsolete.  For example, imported rubber replaced leather in industrial fastening etc so Skinners, Tanners and Curriers lost business.

The Shipwrights weren’t exempt.  In 1718/20 Robert Wallis built a ship in South Shields and defended two lawsuits brought by the Company.  He won and the Shipwrights’ monopoly along the whole river was broken.  By 1780, there were ten shipyards in South Shields.

Ships changed.  Steam tugs and steam colliers were introduced from 1815 and 1850 respectively and as they didn’t have masts, less carpentry work was required. From the late 1870s, production of steel hulled ships started and increased until the only carpentry needed was interior work.

And of course, the railways were developed in the mid-1800s.  This provided an alternative way to take coal to London and also meant that coal fields in the Midlands could move their coal.

The Company had been run very strictly with a system of fines for poor work and non-attendance at meetings.  Members stopped attending meetings and refused to pay their fines then finally stopped signing up at all.  By 1900 there were only twelve members, down from around 200 in times when shipwrights were active.

There is more about our membership rules elsewhere on the site but, like many other Companies, the Shipwrights continually refused membership to hereditary Shipwright Freemen if their father had not been a Company Keeper (member) or had fines outstanding. Although many people had continued to apply to become Freemen the numbers joining Companies had decreased as people didn’t need to join them anymore.

 In 1954 only two members resided on Tyneside while the other five lived in Essex, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Australia and South Africa. To avoid the Company dying, the rules were refreshed to enable membership for the sons of the non-Company Keepers. The Senior Steward of the day Eric Boutland then set about trying to locate those who could have been sworn in as Shipwrights since the Second World War and the membership had increased to about sixty by the 1960’s.

 Women were admitted to the Free Lage in 2010 and the then Senior Steward Ian Miller had done his research and was quick to sign up some female Shipwrights.  They in turn ensured that their children were sworn in and there are now more than 140 Shipwrights scattered across four continents.