A. Leslie and Company

Andrew Leslie & Co, Hebburn was a shipbuilding company that was started in 1853 on an 8-acre site at Hebburn Quay, Newcastle upon Tyne.^[1] The company later merged with the locomotive manufacturer R and W Hawthorn to create Hawthorn Leslie and Company in 1886,^[2] when the founder Andrew Leslie retired.

Andrew Leslie & Co, Hebburn

Company type	Private
Industry	Shipbuilding
Founded	1853
Defunct	1886
Fate	Mergers with R and W Hawthorn
Successor	Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Headquarters	Newcastle upon Tyne, North-East England
Key people	Andrew Leslie
Products	Ships
Number of employees	2600

Between 1854 and 1885 the ship yard built 255 vessels.^[3] and in 1866 constructed a dry dock, which exists till present day.^[4] The company employed around 2600 men, with more jobs in ancillary trades.^[3] By 1886, the company later merged with the locomotives company R. and W. Hawthorn, forming the Hawthorn Leslie & Company.^[5]

Ships built

1,940 GRT cargo steamship Alabama, built in 1879 by Andrew Leslie & Co at Hebburn-on-Tyne as Tantallon. She sailed under successive owners, names and flags as Raymondos and Raymond before being bought by Watts, Watts & Co in 1899 and renamed Alabama. James Paterson & Co of Melbourne, Victoria bought her in 1907. She ran aground in 1916 but suffered little damage. North China Steamship Co of Tientsin bought her in 1925 and renamed her Pei Tai. She was scrapped in 1935.

In total company built 258 ships.^[6] Some of the better-known ships built by Andrew Leslie & Co include:

• SS Petriana, chemical and oil product tanker, completed in 1879 for Bell & Symonds, London.^[7]
• SS Tantallon, cargo steamship, completed in 1879 for JD Milburn, Newcastle.^[8]
• SS Robert Dickinson, chemical and oil product tanker, completed in 1881 for Bell & Symonds, London.^[9]