Caird & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based in Greenock

Greenock

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...

. The company was established in 1828 by John Caird when he received an order to re-engine Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

 paddle-tugs.

John's relative James Tennant Caird joined the company in 1831, and after leaving to work for Randolph, Elder & Co in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, rejoined the family business for good in 1838.

One year after the death of Robert Caird

Robert Caird

Robert Caird FRSE was a Scottish shipbuilder. He joined the family firm Caird and Company in 1888, later rising to become head of the company.He was President of the Institute of Engineers & Shipbuilders in Scotland ....

, the company was bought by Harland & Wolff Ltd in 1916, for £432,493. The firm continued trading as a separate enterprise, with Arthur and Patrick Caird on the board, until 1922. The Arthur St engine plant was sold to John G Kincaid & Co Ltd in 1919.

Ships constructed by Caird

• P.S. Alfred (1863)
• SS Austria
  SS Austria
  SS Austria was a steamship of the Hamburg America Line which sank on 13 September 1858, in one of the worst transatlantic maritime disasters of the nineteenth century, claiming the lives of 449 passengers and crew. The Austria was built by Caird & Co. of Greenock, Scotland and was launched on 23...
  
   (1857)
• SS Delhi
  SS Delhi
  The SS Delhi was a steamship of the Peninsular & Orient Line that was lost off Cape Spartel, northern Morocco on 12 December 1911. Among the passengers was Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, whose subsequent death in Egypt was ascribed to ill-health caused during the wreck, and his family, the...
  
   (1906)
• Governor General Loudon
  Governor General Loudon (ship)
  The Governor General Loudon was a mail steamer and excursion vessel operated by the Netherlands Indies Steamship Company The vessel was built by Caird & Co., Greenock, Scotland, in 1875 and, after surviving the tidal waves caused by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, was lost off the Tengga Batoe reef...
  
   (1875)
• SS Persia (1900)
• SS Westphalia (1868)
• SS Silesia
  SS Silesia
  The SS Silesia was a late 19th century HAPAG passenger and cargo ship which traveled between the European ports of Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France to Ellis Island, New York transporting European immigrants, primarily Russian, Prussian, Hungarian, German, Austrian, Italian, and Danish...
  
   (1869)
• SS Hansa (1861)
• SS Oder (1873)
• SS Frisia (1872)
• SS Saint Simon (ex Rhenania) (1873)
• SS Saxonia (1857)
• Baltimore (1867)
• Berlin (1867)
• Ohio (1868)
• Leipzig (1869)
• SS Teutonia (1856)

Notable members of the Caird family

• Edward Caird
  Edward Caird
  Edward Caird FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and younger brother of the theologian John Caird.He was the son of engineer John Caird, the proprietor of Caird & Company,...
  
  , philosopher
• John Caird, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow
• Robert Caird
  Robert Caird
  Robert Caird FRSE was a Scottish shipbuilder. He joined the family firm Caird and Company in 1888, later rising to become head of the company.He was President of the Institute of Engineers & Shipbuilders in Scotland ....
  
  , head of the company