page_title: William Crichton (engineer)
section_title: First years in Turku
hierarchical_section_title: William Crichton (engineer) / First years in Turku
caption_attribution_description: Te Russian frigate Rurik (Рюрик) being launched in Turku, Finland in October 1851
context_page_description: William Crichton was a Scottish engineer and shipbuilder who spent most of his career in Turku, located in the Grand Duchy of Finland.
  Crichton moved to Turku at the age of 23 to lead a steam engine construction project at Cowie and Eriksson, a local engineering company. After two years, he moved to Helsinki to work for Fiskars, but because of the Crimean War he was arrested due to his nationality and transferred to Saint Petersburg. He was soon released with help from family connections and he remained working for Izhorsk Works for eight years.
  In 1862, Crichton returned to Turku after receiving an offer to buy half of Cowie & Eriksson Company. The company was renamed W:m Crichton & C:o and under Crichton's leadership it developed into the largest company in Turku. The company built predominantly ships and steam engines and its main customer was the Imperial Russian Navy.
  Crichton led the company until his death in 1889. He was survived by twelve children who soon sold the company to investors. Crichton's name remained in use until 1965.
context_section_description: In the summer of 1850 Crichton received a letter from the Finnish engineering company Cowie and Eriksson offering him a position as supervisor on a three-year contract. It is not known how the company found him. 23-year-old Crichton jumped at the opportunity since he had planned for a long time to move to Russia, where his granduncle Sir Alexander Crichton and cousin Sir William Crichton had already made their careers. Imperial Russia, which was developing its merchant shipping fleet, had attracted many British specialists since the 18th century, and the British population in Saint Petersburg was in the thousands. Many of them were in high positions and members of the upper class. Although the offer did not come from Saint Petersburg, but the smaller city of Turku in southwestern Finland with a population of 13,000, Crichton probably saw it as an opportunity to gain a toehold in Russia.
  Crichton was engaged to lead a project to construct a steam engine that was to be mounted on the steam frigate Rurik, the biggest ship built in Finland to date. The yard, Gamla Warfsbolaget i Åbo, ("old shipbuilding company in Turku"), was the most important customer of Cowie & Eriksson. They were located close to each other on the opposite banks of the Aura River. Crichton did not like the heavy work which was hampered by poor tools. Moreover, the company owners David Cowie and Anders Thalus Eriksson did not get along. When Crichton fell seriously ill, Cowie's wife took care of him. He got to know her brother, Samuel Owen Jr., the son of engineer Samuel Owen, who had played an important role in industrialising Sweden. Owen Jr. had moved to Turku a few years earlier to lead the same project Crichton was working on and lodged at his sister's home. After recovering in spring or early summer 1851, Crichton left for a holiday in Sweden where he met Mr. Fletcher a relative of Mrs. Owen. Fletcher introduced him to Motala Verkstad, the most significant Swedish steam engine producer. Crichton also met Owen's oldest daughter Annie Elizabeth and was smitten by her. When Owen's wife and four children moved to Turku in 1852, they met each other again and became engaged the following year. Their intention was to marry after the shipbuilding project was completed.
caption: Launch of the Imperial Russian steam frigate Rurik at Turku Old Shipyard.
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