Sir John Priestman built a substantial business as a shipowner and a shipbuilder. When he died in 1941 he had already given away over half a million pounds to hospital, charitable and religious causes. In his will he also left a large sum in trust for use in charitable and other good causes.

Born in Bishop Auckland, he first came to Sunderland at the age of 13 . He would often tell people that when, with a friend they would buy railway tickets to come to the seaside they wouldnt have any money left to buy food. He loved Sunderland and the seaside so much that when his schooldays were over he became appprenticed as a ships draftsman to John Blumer in the North Dock  when iron was just beginning to replace wooden walls. He became chief draughtman for Pickersgills, and designed their first ironship before he opened his own yard at Southwick and launched his first ship, the Isle of Cyprus, in 1883. Priestman had his ups and downs during the recurring depressions. When the yard was idle he would play tennis in the shipyard with his manager, much to the amusement of officials looking on from yards on the opposite side of the river.

WM.Pickersgill  West Yard

Formally Sir John Priestman & Co's Shipyard

The Priestman Yard built a long list of cargo ships, including the Enfield, a trunk deck steamer which, when looking at it was a cross between a Doxford " turret " and a Ropner " trunk ". Admiral Gordon Campbell waged relentless war on U Boats using the Priestman built " Sandyford" , launched in 1904, which became the Q5 in the 1914-1918 war.
The Priestman yard turned out 67,255 tons of shipping during the first World War, and became a victim of the slump in the early "thirties".
Sir John who was knighted in 1923 and later received a Baronetcy, ploughed his own individualistic furrow. His yard faded out and was later, under the stress of war , taken over by Pickersgills.