Commodore Frederick Gilbert Bourne was an American businessman. He served as the 5th President of the Singer Manufacturing Company between 1889 and 1905. He made the business "perhaps the first modern multinational industrial enterprise of any nationality".
In order to support of his widowed mother and younger sisters, Bourne started his career in New York with the Atlantic Submarine Wrecking Company, later becoming a cashier and bookkeeper and the clerk of the Mercantile Library. Bourne, who was interested in music, was a member of the Mendelssohn Glee Club, which is likely where he met Alfred Corning Clark, the son of Edward Cabot Clark, who along with Isaac Merritt Singer, was a co-founder of the Singer Company. Bourne and Clark developed a "close personal relationship" and in 1880, Clark recommended to his father that Bourne be invited to join his family's real estate company, which owned several parcels of valuable Manhattan real estate, and be brought on as construction manager of The Dakota, then being built on West 72nd Street along Central Park. Clark frequently traveled abroad, often to Norway to visit the singer Lorentz Severin Skougaard, and in his place, Clark sent Bourne to Singer board meetings. In 1882, following the elder Clark's death, Bourne became the manager of the late Clark's estate. In 1885, Bourne became Secretary of the company and in 1889, at the age of 38, Bourne became the fifth president of Singer. While president, Bourne also oversaw the construction of the company's headquarters, known as the Singer Building. Bourne greatly expanded global production as well as international sales of the Singer sewing machine. Bourne was revolutionary to the sewing machine industry. He used the "installment plan" to make sewing machines a household item. Bourne is also remembered "among the most important innovators in building vertically integrated firms". In 1905, and after sixteen years as president, Bourne retired and was succeeded by Douglas Alexander, who served as president for the next forty-four years. Alexander was created a baronet in the 1921 Birthday Honours for his services to the welfare of industrial workers.
On February 9, 1875, he was married to Emma Sparks Keeler, the daughter of James Rufus Keeler and Mary Louise Keeler. Emma was a granddaughter of Commodore Davidson, one of the founders of the New York Yacht Club. Together, they were the parents of twelve children:
Frederick Gilbert Bourne Jr.
Arthur Keeler Bourne, who married Edith Hollins; their son: Arthur Keeler Bourne ; divorced. Married Alberta M. Bourne, with whom he had three children.
Alfred Severin Bourne, who married Hattie Louise Barnes.
Helen Bourne, who died in infancy.
Florence Bourne, who married Anson Wales Hard. They divorced in 1932 after having seven children.
George Gault Bourne, who married Nancy Atterbury Potter, a granddaughter of Bishop Alonzo Potter.
Marjorie Bourne, who married Alexander Dallas Thayer.
Kenneth Bourne, who died in childhood.
Howard Davidson Bourne, who died aged 25.
A sailing enthusiast, Bourne served as a Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. He was also a member of the famous Jekyll Island Club on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Bourne owned many boats that he frequently used in New York City and at his summer home in the Thousand Islands. After several months of ill-health, Bourne died at Indian Neck Hall, his residence in Oakdale on Long Island, on March 9, 1919. He died one of the wealthiest men in America, leaving an estate valued at $25,000,000.
