Alfred Yarrow Sir Alfred Fernandez Yarrow , 1st Baronet , of Homestead ( 13 January 1842 – 24 January 1932 ) was a British shipbuilder who started a shipbuilding dynasty , Yarrow Shipbuilders . Life . Yarrow was born of humble origins in East London . His mother was of Spanish Sephardi Jewish background and his father was from an English Christian family ; Yarrow was raised a Christian . He was educated at University College School . After serving an apprenticeship in Stepney , he opened a yard — Yarrow and Hedley ( a partnership ) — at Folly Wall , Poplar on the Isle of Dogs in 1865 to build steam river launches . He ventured into military vessels from the early 1870s , building torpedo boat s for the Argentine and Japanese navies , among other customers . Then in 1892 he built the first two destroyer s for the Royal Navy : " Havock " and " Hornet " of the " Havock " class . He struck up a strong friendship and correspondence with Lord Fisher ( " Jackie Fisher " ) , and subsequently Yarrow Shipbuilders became a lead contractor for the Royal Navy for smaller , but almost always fast , boats . By this time , the Hedley partnership had been dissolved ( 1875 ) , and the company was known as Yarrow & Co , and around 1898 moved out of Folly shipyard to the nearby London Yard . It was to be a short - lived move , for less than 10 years later ( 1906 – 1908 ) Yarrow gradually moving his yard northwards to Scotstoun on the banks of the River Clyde on the west coast of Scotland , closing the London shipyard in 1908 . An operation in Esquimalt , Canada , was purchased in 1913 , renamed Yarrows Ltd . , and after the Second World War sold to Burrard Dry Dock . Yarrow ' s strong naval engineering capabilities and inventive mind were behind a number of inventions designed to drive ships ever faster . Long after he died , the shipyard remained famous throughout navies of the world for building smaller fast vessels . He lived in Greenwich , London for some years , occupying Woodlands House in Mycenae Road , Westcombe Park for some years from 1896 . Knighted in 1916 , Sir Alfred displayed extensive philanthropic tendencies throughout his later years , donating towards : a convalescent home on the Isle of Dogs for the benefit of children ; residences for soldiers ' widows in Hampstead Garden Suburb ( the Barnett Homestead , Erskine Hill ) ; a school , Bearwood College , in Berkshire ; a home and hospital for children in Broadstairs , Kent ; a scholarship at University College London ; a gallery at Oundle School in Northamptonshire ; and medical research at the Royal London Hospital , Whitechapel , among other noble causes . He also left a bequest to the Institution of Civil Engineers . His first wife was Minnie Florence Franklin , daughter of Theodosia ( née Balderson ; daughter of Major G . R . Balderson ) and Frank Franklin . His daughter Minnie Ethel Yarrow was invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( OBE ) ; she married on 18 December 1900 Bertrand Edward Dawson , 1st Baron Dawson of Penn and 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn . He was succeeded by his son Sir Harold Edgar Yarrow , 2nd Baronet , of Homestead . His younger son , 2 / Lt Eric Fernandez Yarrow , was killed in action , aged 20 , in 1915 , whilst serving with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders .