John Barnard

John Barnard (1705 – 8 October 1784) was an English shipbuilder who built ships for the Royal Navy.

Life

He was born in 1705 the son of John Barnard a shipwright in Ipswich (1665-1716) and his wife Mary (1668-1734).

His father died before he began his apprenticeship but would standardly have joined a ship as a carpenter's apprentice at age 14 and served 7 years on ship before beginning shipbuilding on shore.

From 1733 he was employed at St Clement's Yard in Ipswich, but is only formally listed as a Royal Navy employee from April 1740 when as a Master Shipwright he launched HMS Bideford. In October 1742 he relocated to Harwich Dockyard. In 1773 he opened a secondary yard known as Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford. His bankruptcy coincides with his beginning to work for the East India Company but it is unclear if this was part of the cause or part of the solution. He also had opened a third yard (almost certainly with his own finance rather than funded by the Royal Navy) at Rotherhithe around 1780. This would have been a considerable expense.

He retired in December 1782 aged 77 and died in Deptford on 8 October 1784. HMS Champion a 24-gun post ship launched at John's Ness in Ipswich in 1779 HMS Pandora a 24-gun post ship launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1779 HMS Zephyr a 14-gun sloop launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1779 HMS Inflexible a 64-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1780 Dutton for the East India Company launched at Barnard's Thames Yard at Deptford in 1781 Fairford for the East India Company launched at Barnard's Wharf at Rotherhithe in 1782 General Coote for the East India Company probably launched at Barnard's Wharf in Rotherhithe in 1782 HMS Irresistible a 74-gun ship of the line launched at King's Yard in Harwich in 1782