John Perry (shipbuilder)

John Perry (1743 – 7 November 1810) was the founder of the Blackwall Yard, where he built ships largely for the East India Company.

He was buried at St Matthias Old Church, Poplar.^[1]

Ephraim Seehl, an apothecary and chemist, was married to his sister Sarah.^[2][3]

In 1796 his wife, Elizabeth, died, and less than a month later his second daughter, Sarah, married George Green, whom Perry had taken as apprentice a dozen years previously. In 1798 Perry married Green's sister Mary. He retired to Moor Hall, near Harlow^[4] and was appointed High Sheriff of Essex.

Perry's children by his two marriages included:

• John and Philip, who followed him into the family business
• Charles, first bishop of Melbourne, Australia
• Thomas, father of John Perry-Watlington, MP for South Essex
• Amelia (died 1874), managing committee for George Green's School^[5]