William Arrol (1839 – 1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Party politician. 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the country. ... A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering. ... This article is about the edifice (including an index to articles on specific bridge types). ... This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ...

The son of a spinner, he was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton mill at only 9 years of age. He started training as a blacksmith by age 13, and went on to learn mechanics and hydraulics at night school. In 1863 he joined a company of bridge manufacturers in Glasgow, but by 1872 had established his own business, the Dalmarnock Iron Works, in the east end of the city. Houston is a commuter village six miles to the northwest of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. ... Renfrewshire (Siorrachd Rinn Friù in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary authority regions in Scotland. ... For other uses, see Cotton (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Blacksmith (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Mechanic (disambiguation). ... Table of Hydraulics and Hydrostatics, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ...

In 1878, he secured the contract for the Caledonian Railway Bridge over the Clyde, and In 1882 he was awarded the reconstruction contract for the Tay Rail Bridge, which had collapsed in 1879. His company went on to construct the Forth Bridge which was completed in 1890. At the time, the Tay and Forth bridges were the largest of their type in the world. Other notable bridges followed, including: Tower Bridge in London, completed in 1894, the Nile Bridge in Egypt and the Hawkesbury Bridge in Australia. He also constructed Bankside Power Station in London, now the Tate Modern Art Gallery. The Caledonian Railway was a Scottish railway company which was grouped into the London Midland and Scottish Railway by the Railways Act 1921 in 1923. ... The River Clyde opening out at Newark Castle, Port Glasgow past Clydeport Ocean Terminal, Greenock, to the Firth of Clyde on the left, and to the right past Ardmore Point to the Gare Loch. ... A view of the Tay Bridge from Dundee Tay Bridge, central section The Tay Bridge (sometimes unofficially the Tay Rail Bridge) is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles (three and a half kilometres) long[1] that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of... For the nearby road bridge, see Forth Road Bridge. ... For the bridge of the same name in California, see Tower Bridge (California). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Bankside Power Station after conversion to the Tate Modern, from the Millennium Bridge Bankside Power Station is located on the south bank of the Thames in the Bankside district of London. ... Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge Tate Modern from St Pauls Cathedral. ...

Arrol was knighted in 1890, and elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for South Ayrshire at the 1895 general election, serving the constituency until 1906. The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... South Ayrshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until 1883, when it was abolished. ... The UK general election of 1895 was held from 13th July - 7th August 1895. ...

His company was contracted by Harland and Wolff Shipyard, Belfast, to construct a large Gantry (known as the Arrol Gantry) for the construction of three new super-liners, one of which was called 'Titanic'. Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries began as a shipyard located in Belfast. ... This article is about the city in Northern Ireland. ...

He spent the latter years of his life on his estate at Seafield, near Ayr, where he died in 1913.-1...

External links

• Climbing the Greenock Titan crane
• William Arrol on The Gazeteer for Scotland
• Sir William Arrol information at Structurae
• Titan Crane