Obituary of Sir George John Carter 1860

Sir George John Carter, K.B.E.

Sir George John Carter K.G.B., Managing Director of Messrs., Cammell Laird & Co., Limited, Birkenhead, died on Thursday, February 6, 1922, at the residence of his brother-in-law, Brettanby Manor, Barton, Yorkshire. He was born in Gosport on May 24, 1860, and was the son of the late George Dean Carter. He was privately educated and received his early training in the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth.
Sir George went to Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1886 to join the firm of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., Limited, and eight years later was appointed shipyard manager at Elswick, afterwards becoming a local director of the Armstrong firm. He remained at Newcastle twenty-six years, and was responsible for the construction of battleships and cruisers, destroyers and gunboats, training ships and Royal yachts, for many nations. Among the large warships, produced at Elswick during his managership were H.M.S. Monarch, Superb, and Invincible, and the Brazilian dreadnought Minas Geraes. Perhaps the crowning achievement of that part of his career was the planning and laying-out of the new warship building yard at Walker-on-Tyne.
Sir George Carter was a member of the Tyne Improvement Commission for many years, and saw twenty-three years' military service, being first Commanding Officer of the Elswick Battery and later Senior Major of the First Northumbrian R.F.A. (T.F.). On his retirement the Territorial Decoration was conferred upon him.
Sir George went to Birkenhead in October of 1912 as managing director for Messrs. Cammell Laird & Co., Limited, succeeding Mr. Ratsey Bevis in that position. He had thus been less than two years in that position when the Great War broke out, but his virile personality and wide experience had already galvanized the Birkenhead Shipyards into great activity, which gathered increasing speed with the demands upon them for war construction and repairs. The light cruiser Caroline had been laid down early in 1914; she was launched in September and completed in December, nearly six months in advance of her contract date. A long line of "C" Class light cruisers followed her, built, engined, and equipped at Birkenhead; the flotilla leader Kempenfelt was the first of sixteen high-powered destroyer leaders built at Birkenhead for war requirements; and some six hundred vessels of all descriptions were repaired and re-fitted at the same establishment, which possesses seven graving docks.
Sir George Carter had the honour of twice receiving their Majesties the King and Queen at the Birkenhead Works - once in March of 1914, and again in May of

1917; shortly after this, in August of 1917, the King conferred upon him the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was widely congratulated on this well-merited distinction, particularly by his colleagues of the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation, in the advancement of which he had taken such a large part, and of which be was President right throughout the War, from 1914-1919.
For some time Sir George Carter was Chairman of the Merchant Shipbuilding Advisory Committee, appointed to advise the Shipping Controller. In November of 1917 he headed a deputation of shipbuilding employers and men which laid before Mr. Lloyd George suggestions as to the best means of securing the greatest possible output of new ships in view of the ravages of submarine warfare. The Premier welcomed the ideas of the joint deputation of masters and men - he saw in it a "very important step forward in the industrial relations of this country." and said it was "an event of very considerable significance." This one incident serves to illustrate the magnetic personality and mighty driving force of Sir George Carter. He was always in the forefront, and he frequently carried his men with him as well as his colleagues. He was instrumental in negotiating the 47-hour week in the shipbuilding industry. Welfare work at Birkenhead made rapid strides under his enlightened guidance and personal interest, until today the Cammell Laird Sports Club is one of the finest in the country, possessing spacious playing fields and a magnificent Institute.
Inventions and scientific developments received warm support from Sir George Carter. His name will forever be associated with the production of the first rivetless ship, the Fullagar, built as an experimental vessel at Birkenhead in 1920, a complete success as regards seaworthiness and ability to withstand hogging and sagging and other strains. She was fitted with the first marine engine of the new Camellaird-Fullagar type, since installed in ocean liners and manufactured in different parts of the world under licence.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Liverpool Munitions of War Committee; a Member of Council of the Institution of Naval Architects; a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers; a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers; a Member of the Institute of Marine Engineers; a Member of the Committee of Management of Lloyd's Register of Shipping; a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights; a Justice of the Peace in the County of Northumberland, and a Director of the English Insurance Co., Limited.
Sir George Carter was elected a Member of the Institute of Metals on March 17, 1914.