William James Pirrie, Viscount Pirrie of Belfast, or more commonly known as Lord Pirrie, was born in Quebec during 1847. He was an Irish apprentice to the Belfast shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff who eventually, after years of work, became the chairman of Harland and Wolff. Harland and Wolff was, at the time, the second greatest and largest ship-constructors in the world. This company made the most legendary liners in all of modern history. The ships Olympic, Britannic, and Titanic were known as the unsinkable. While the great ships were on their maiden voyages, Pirrie was unable to join the Titanic’s voyage due to an illness.

“In 1862 Pirrie became apprentice to the Belfast shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff. By the time he was 27 years old he had been made a partner and was soon left in almost exclusive control" (William James Pirrie p2).

“The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 had little adverse impact on Harland and Wolff” (William James Pirrie p2).

Lord Pirrie was the chairman of a ship building company called Harland and Wolff. He was also one of the men behind the creation of the Titanic, the other being Joseph Bruce Ismay. Over wine and food they discussed about wanting to build a grand ship, which they ended up naming the Titanic. Throughout their discussion they talked about the design of it and the details that the ship would contain. Once the Titanic project had begun one of the roles Pirrie had was managing the men who made the first draft of the ship. That meant that he was able to see if any changes needed to be made. Overall, the website talks about Lord Pirrie’s life story, and his efforts towards the Titanic.

"He was known as a hands-on boss who oversaw every step of construction and frequently made unannounced inspections of projects. Pirrie directly supervised the Harland and Wolff draftsmen who created the first drawings of the Titanic in 1908" (A History of the Shipyard p5).

"He was also due to travel aboard the Titanic but illness prevented him from joining the ill-fated passage" (A History of the Shipyard p5).

"It is said that Titanic’s design was conceived over a glass of wine and fine food between Lord Pirrie and J. Bruce Ismay. They decided speed would be balanced with quality of accommodation" (A History of the Shipyard p7).