John Perry (shipbuilder)

John Perry (1743 – 7 November 1810) was the founder of the Blackwall Yard, where he built ships largely for the East India Company.

View of Mr. Perry's Dock at Blackwall, circa 1789

He was buried at St Matthias Old Church, Poplar.^[1]

Ephraim Seehl, an apothecary and chemist, was married to his aunt Sarah.^[2][3]

In 1796 his wife, Elizabeth, died, and less than a month later his second daughter, Sarah, married George Green, whom Perry had taken as apprentice a dozen years previously. In 1798 Perry married Green's sister Mary. He retired to Moor Hall, near Harlow^[4] and was appointed High Sheriff of Essex.

Perry's children by his two marriages included:

• John and Philip, who followed him into the family business
• Charles, first bishop of Melbourne, Australia
• Thomas, father of John Perry-Watlington, MP for South Essex
• Amelia (died 1874), managing committee for George Green's School^[5]