The RMS Queen Mary is the finest and most famous work produced by shipbuilders upon the Clyde - and was the greatest example of our ship-building industry reaching far beyond the boundaries of Britain.
The now-retired ocean liner was constructed in Clydebank by John Brown & Company for the Cunard White Star / Line cruise company. Construction began in 1930 and took around three and a half years to finish - including time in which production was paused during the great depression - it cost £3.5m at the time, equivalent to around £315,769,953.35 in 2023.
The ship was named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. Until her launch, the name was kept a closely guarded secret - going under the production name of Cunard Liner 534. Legend has it that Cunard intended to name the ship Victoria, in keeping with company tradition of giving its ships names ending in “ia”, but when company representatives asked the King’s permission to name the ocean liner after Britain’s “greatest Queen”, he said his wife, Mary of Teck, would be delighted.
Alongside the equally as impressive Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary ran a two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York in the days before air travel had become commercially viable.
The Queen Mary has lived a long and full life - from humble beginnings in Clydebank, to ferrying the stars of Hollywood at the peak of silver-screen - it went on to transport troops in the second world war, and then retired to California, where it remains to this day as a tourist attraction on Long Beach.
We wanted to chart the history of the Queen Mary in these old pictures - take a look below.
1. Mid-construction
The new Cunard White Star liner '534', later the Queen Mary, during its construction at the John Brown & Co shipyard, Clydebank, Scotland, 1934.
2. Under the shadow of the Queen Mary
Farmers tilling the soil with horse drawn ploughs and hand sowing their seeds beside the British passenger liner for the Cunard-White Star Line, RMS Queen Mary as she is being built at the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank on 13 January 1936 at Clydebank
3. Starting the day
Hundreds of Clyde workers return to the new liner Queen Mary during its fitting-out on Clydebank.
4. A big fan for the Queen Mary
The massive bronze propeller for the Cunard liner 534, later named the Queen Mary, arrives at Surrey Docks from the J Stone & Co factory, bound for Clydebank.