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John Gibb Dunlop (1844–1913) was a Scottish engineer and shipbuilder who ran John Brown Shipbuilders for many years. He is best remembered as the person in charge of the building of the ill-fated RMS Lusitania and the renowned RMS Aquitania.
He was born in Polmont near Falkirk on 28 September 1844, the second son of Robert Dunlop (b.1819) a farmer, and his wife Mary Gibb. In the 1861 they were living at Claret farmhouse near Polmont.[1]
Around 1862 he was apprenticed to Randolph, Elder & Company, shipbuilders in Glasgow. He was with the company in 1864 when they founded the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.[2]
Around 1879 he left Fairfield and joined the Orient Line in London as Superintendent Engineer. Hs family lived at 115 Edwards Road in Hackney.[3]
In 1887 he returned to Scotland to work for J & G Thomson at Clydebank. He was then living at Scotstownhill in Renfrewshire.[4]
In 1895 Thomson's yard was taken over by John Brown & Co. Here he rose rapidly, becoming Director in 1899. As John Brown had not previously undertaken shipbuilding, his presence was now critical, and as senior engineer he would have had a control over all ship design thereafter. This led to a major expansion along the banks of the River Clyde.[5]
At the beginning of the 20th century he was living at 12 Crown Terrace in Govan.[6]
In 1907 he was a controlling influence of the acquisition of a majority share in Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. In this role he may have had some influence on the design of Titanic[7]
He retired to Brighton in 1911.[8]
He died in Glasgow on 13 September 1913. He is buried in Glasgow Necropolis. The grave lies in the north-east section of the upper plateau.
In July 1875 at Stobhill he was married to Isabella Clark (1852-1919). They had one son and three daughters.
In this capacity Dunlop acted as the enabler of "master-plans" by naval architects such as Leonard Peskett who worked for Cunard, bringing a design concept to reality. Dunlop would be the specifier of the physical structure and co-ordinator of all detailed design.
- RMS Saxonia (1899)
- SS Vaderland (1900)
- SS Zeeland (1901)
- HMS Bacchante (1901)
- HMS Leviathan (1901)
- RMS Lusitania (1906) for the Cunard Line torpedoed in 1915
- HMS Inflexible (1907)
- SS Munich (1908)
- HMS Foxhound (1909)
- SS Orsova (1909)
- PS Golden Eagle (1909)
- HMS Acorn (1910)
- HMS Hind (1911)
- HMAS Australia (1911)
- HMS Hydra (1912)
- RMS Aquitania (1914)
- HMS Milne (1914)
- HMS Medusa (1915)
- HMS Ossory (1915)
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