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3Barclay Andrew Sons & Co. Ltd Locomotive Manufacturers & Engineers

Around 1840, Andrew Barclay (1814-1900) went into partnership with Thomas McCulloch in an engineering business to make mill shafts in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Two years later he left to set up on his own and, in 1847, he moved to new premises in the town, which were paid for by the sale of his patent for the manufacture of gas lamps. The money from this sale was not paid however, and consequently the firm, which specialised in winding engines for the local coal industry, was sequestrated in 1848. Barclay soon recovered from this set back and by 1859, when the company produced its first locomotive, the firm was employing 150 people. By 1870, Barclay's had produced 420 locomotives.

Around 1871 Andrew Barclay established a second locomotive building business, Barclays & Co, for his younger brother, John, and his four sons, James Wilson, Andrew jnr, William and Robert. This business was based at the Riverbank Works, Kilmarnock. This business remained closely associated with that of Andrew Barclay, who provided most of the plant. The firms were declared bankrupt in 1874 and 1882 respectively. In 1886 Andrew Barclay's business was reconstructed as Andrew Barclay Sons & Co, but Barclays & Co was not revived. Problems were still encountered but in 1892 the firm took on limited liability as Andrew Barclay Sons & Co Ltd. Two years later Andrew Barclay was removed from control of the company by its shareholders. Barclay then sued the company for unpaid wages, eventually settling out of court in1899. In 1930, the company took over the business of John Cochrane (Barrhead) Ltd, engine makers, and in 1963 it acquired the goodwill of the North British Locomotive Co Ltd, Glasgow. In 1972 it was acquired by the Hunslet Group of companies, enginners of Leeds, England, and its name was changed in 1989 to Hunslet-Barclay Ltd. The company was still operating in 2001.

Wear, Russell, Barclay 150: a brief history of Andrew Barclay Sons & Co , (1990)

Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography ed. Slaven & Checkland, vol.1 (Aberdeen University Press : 1986)

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4BMK (Blackwood Morton Kilmarnock)

Administrative history

Blackwood Morton & Sons was a company that comprised of two Kilmarnock families that had a long tradition of weaving. The Blackwoods were cotton, worsted, and wool-spinners as early as the 1750s. By 1819 Robert Blackwood was a woollen manufacturer in the Kilmarnock area. The Kilmarnock and Riccarton Post Office Directory for 1846-47 listed Robert Blackwood as a wool-spinner and manufacturer in Wellington Street. Robert's son James Blackwood was listed as a wool-spinner and manufacturer in Brougham Place. There were also two wool-spinning companies listed in the directory. These were: Blackwood R & J, Manford Lane; and Blackwood, Wilson & Co located at Back Causey. In 1860 James Blackwood took his brother Robert Blackwood Junior into business with him forming Blackwood Brothers. In 1880 the company acquired Burnside Works and produced Scotch or Kidder Carpets made of both cotton and wool.

By 1882 the brothers split from each other to form their own companies. James Blackwood took his son Henry D. Blackwood into business at the Townhead Mills factory. This company was named Blackwood Brothers & Co. and continued to manufacture carpets until 1909. Robert Blackwood Junior also took his sons, William Ford and James Blackwood into partnership at the Burnside Works site. They continued to manufacture Scotch or Kidder Carpets of all qualities under the name of Robert Blackwood & Sons. Robert passed away in 1895 and his son James retired from the company in 1900. This left William Ford Blackwood as the sole partner. It was William who joined with Gavin (Guy) Morton to form Blackwood Morton & Sons in 1908.

The Morton family appear to have been involved in carpet manufacturing for many generations. In 1844 Alexander Morton was born in Darvel, East Ayrshire, nine miles away from Kilmarnock. His father Gavin Morton was a woodman and weaver. In 1850 Gavin Morton passed away and Alexander had to work as a herder for his aunt. Alexander returned home at the age of 10 to learn the weaving trade. At the age of 15 he bought his first loom.

In 1867 Alexander's brother-in-law, William Bowie passed away and Alexander took over the running of the company with his sister-in-law, Mrs Bowie. The Bowie's company originally involved manufacturing plain grey curtains that would be sold on to merchants to be dressed. Alexander decided to add a warp twist weft which improved the quality of the curtains. He also decided to dress the curtains himself and sell them straight to the clients. These changes proved profitable and Alexander founded Alexander Morton & Co in 1870. By 1874 he had bought his first curtain factory in Darvel. In 1895 James Morton, Alexander's son joined the business as a partner. By 1898 the company purchased a second factory in Killybegs, County Donegal to produce hearth rugs. Gavin (Guy) Morton, nephew of Alexander, joined the company as a designer during the 1890s. In 1906 the company launched James Morton's invention of 'Sundour Fabrics' which were designed to never fade.

Blackwood Morton & Sons formed in 1908. William Ford Blackwood and Gavin Morton joined together after William had been commissioned to weave for Alexander Morton & Co. During World War I the company produced service blankets to help the war effort. By 1918 they were producing reversible wool-rugs and Chenille Axminster carpets. The company continued to grow under the helm of Robert Morton who became the director in 1930. Chenille Axminster became so popular that the factory had machinery replaced so it could concentrate all its production on Chenille and Spool Axminster carpets. In 1938 the company were able to buy majority shares in Cooke, Sons & Co. of Liversedge, Yorkshire.

World War II caused the ingenuity and capability of Blackwood Morton & Sons to be put to the test. Before the outbreak of the war the company had been selling 5,000 carpets, 12,000 rugs and 20,000 yards of piece-goods every week, however, like all carpet manufacturers in Britain the government placed restrictions on production. Initially they were asked to produce service blankets for the army. However, between 1939 and 1945 Blackwood Morton & Sons produced 19 different items for the armed forces. These ranged from 20mm ammunition Oerliken shells, to F.Q. RAM Coils, and the salvage and repair of radio interference suppressors. To be able to accomplish this task the staff needed to be retrained for each item and often old machinery would need to be stripped out replaced.

At the end of the war Blackwood Morton & Sons bought another factory at Finaghy, near Belfast, to produce Chenille Axminster carpets. In 1948 they purchased their second company which was the Victoria Spinning Company Ltd in Dundee. Success continued and in 1959 the Riverside Mills factory was built in Kilmarnock. In 1966 another factory was built which was specifically for tufted carpet production. In that same year Robert Morton resigned from the company.

By the 1980s Blackwood Morton & Sons produced Axminster, wire Wilton, and tufted carpets, as well as underfelt. However, in 1981 the company fell into financial difficulties and by 1982 they were taken over by John Logue. In 1992, trading under the name of 'BMK Limited', the company was bought up by the Stoddard Group, then trading as Stoddard Carpets Ltd.

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7BMK (Blackwood Morton Kilmarnock) - Photographs

Click on the following to see photographs and additional information.

Operater guiding wool from spools in a Kilmarnock carpet factory, 1955

Workers making carpets in a kilmarnock Factory

Workers making rugs in a Kilmarnock factory

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8Coal - Mining - Archibald, Finnie, Coal master

Archibald Finnie and Son, of Kilmarnock, Coalmasters

by Chris Hawksworth
During the nineteenth century, Archibald Finnie & Son was one of the largest coal mining concerns in Ayrshire. At its peak, the firm held over 13% of the coal leases in Ayrshire and employed some 1000 men in numerous collieries around Irvine, Kilmarnock, Kilmaurs and Kilwinning. The Finnie family had moved to Kilmarnock from Constablewood1 near Largs in the mid eighteenth century2. Over the next hundred and thirty years they established themselves as one of the town‟s leading families, being involved in many businesses and social organisations as well as producing two Provosts of Kilmarnock. When the last two of the four Archibald Finnies died in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, they left estates valued at over £210,0003, the equivalent of over £10 million pounds today4. This article gives a brief history of the family and the business of Archibald Finnie & Son, coalmasters.
The first son of William Finnie and Ann Boyd, Archibald Finnie I was born in Kilmarnock on 23rd March 1746. Little is known about him other than he ran an iron foundry and ironmongery business in Kilmarnock and was rather litigious. In 1784, he is recorded as taking legal action against James, Earl of Glencairn, and William Howie, merchant in Saltcoats, for recovery of debts of £13 19s 6d and £7 19s respectively5. Again, in 1812, he was involved in litigation with a William Stewart, late merchant of Ayr6. Five years later his Kilmarnock Foundry was in dispute with William Taylor of Bourtreehill over payments for iron rails and chairs for a railway from Taylor‟s coalworks to Irvine7. The outcome of these disputes is not recorded. Like his son and grandson to come, Archibald Finnie I served on Kilmarnock Town Council, being Treasurer in 18218. In 1824, Finnie bought the saltpans at Barassie and later converted some of the buildings as accommodation for the men and horses working on the Kilmarnock and Troon tramway9.
Archibald I married a Janet Muir, with whom he had at least seven children, William, Ann, Janet, Archibald (II), James, Robert and John. The men in the family all went into business, both at home and abroad. William was a merchant in Lisbon; he returned to Scotland after the French invasion of Portugal in 1807 and commenced business in Glasgow. He died in Kilmarnock in 1854. The two daughters, Janet and Ann, died in 1822 and 1857 respectively. James Finnie, who died in 1846, was a merchant in Lisbon and London. He owned the estate of Newfield, near Dundonald. Robert Finnie worked in Glasgow and Liverpool, before becoming head of Finnie Brothers in Rio de Janeiro. He returned to London in 1830, where he died unmarried the following year, and was buried in St Martin-in-the-Fields church, Trafalgar Square. John Finnie, who was also a merchant in Rio de Janeiro, returned to live at Bowden, near Manchester, where he died 1875. He supplied the funds to build John Finnie Street in Kilmarnock, which was named in his honour. His father, Archibald I, died in 182610.
26 Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011
Archibald II, the fifth child of Archibald I and Janet Muir, was born in Kilmarnock on 1st March, 1783. After his father‟s death, he continued running both the ironmongery business at King Street, and the Kilmarnock Foundry at Townholm. The Foundry had been established by his father and two local men, Alexander Guthrie (c.1783 - 1852), who had been coal manager for the Duke of Portland before establishing himself as a coalowner, and John Guthrie, a farmer11. Amongst other items, the foundry supplied rail chairs for the Ardrossan Railway and other castings for the construction of Ardrossan Harbour12. This was one of many business links the Finnies had with the earls of Eglinton. The 13th Earl, who succeeded in 1819, owned the harbour, and was the major shareholder in the Ardrossan Railway; the Eglintons owned much of the land in the Kilwinning area on which Archibald II had his mines. He had taken over the tack for the Fergushill pits near Kilwinning by 183613, and by 1841 he had started building miners rows at Bensley to accommodate his workers at the expanding Fergushill pits, which were a quarter mile from the rows. He was a forward-thinking businessman, becoming a member of the Provisional Committee set up in 1836 to promote the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway14. He would have been aware of the benefits of rail transport, for many of his pits at Fergushill and Sourlie were connected with the recently opened Ardrossan Railway.
Like his father, Archibald II was politically active, being listed as a magistrate in 1826 and 1827, and again in 1832, Bailie in 1833 and eventually Provost of Kilmarnock from 1837 to 184015. While Provost, Archibald II had his portrait painted by James Tannock (see cover illustration)16. The 1833 Kilmarnock Directory lists Archibald as an ironmonger, at 30 King Street. Besides being a Bailie, he was also a member of the Kilmarnock Improvement Trust, a director of both Kilmarnock Academy and Kilmarnock Gas Company, and Preses of the town‟s Dispensary. He was also a member of Kilmarnock High Kirk, and a Life Governor of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He was also a Commissioner of Police and would have been involved in the twice weekly Bailie Courts dealing with small debts. In 1834, presumably in his role as a Bailie, Archibald II was appointed Interim Factor in the bankruptcy proceedings against J.W. and T. Deans, carpet manufacturers at Kirkford, Stewarton. He was elected Trustee on the Deans‟ sequestrated estates, on security of £2000, for which the ironmongery business was used as a guarantee. The creditors were offered 3s 9d for each pound of debt initially, but on rejection of this, this offer of composition was raised to 4s 6d, which was accepted. Presumably the lower offer would have been financially more beneficial to Finnie.
Archibald II married Jean Stevenson 19th March 1810, in Kilmarnock High Kirk. They had at least five children: Archibald (III), James, William, Robert and Frances. Archibald II died in 1843.
Archibald III was born in Kilmarnock on 28th April 1823, and succeeded his father when barely twenty years old. During the 1840s, the demand for coal for manufacturing, and for the iron industry in particular, increased markedly. Finnie was able to expand his business rapidly, opening up new coal fields and developing a significant export trade to Ireland and continental Europe. The European market developed as a result of Finnie‟s widespread advertising of the benefits of both Ayrshire coal and the port facilities at Troon, Irvine and Ardrossan in French, Spanish, Italian and German. The firm‟s European trade
Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011 27
was such that they employed a clerk for their foreign correspondence who had been educated in France and Germany, and was fluent in these languages17. As the business prospered, the offices moved from Braefoot to a purpose-built office on John Finnie Street (see Figure 2).
Finnie’s offices, John Finnie Street, Kilmarnock
The Bensley miners‟ rows were expanded in 1857 as Archibald III‟s mining interests in the Fergushill area flourished. In 1854, he also arranged with the owners of the adjacent Doura mine to work the particular coal seams he had started mining at Auchenwinsey into the Doura estate property, with a reciprocal arrangement for John Barr, provost of Ardrossan and lessee of the Doura minerals18.
In the Mining Journal of 5th August 1848, James M. Melville, Commissioner to the Duke of Portland, placed an advertisement intimating that “Messrs Archibald Finnie & Son, of Kilmarnock, have now become the sole lessees of his Grace the Duke of Portland‟s Kilmarnock Colliery, and the only Shippers of the Duke‟s Coal at Troon.” Archibald Finnie & Son also developed collieries at Busby (Knockentiber), Thorntoun, Springhill (Springside) and Bourtreehill (Irvine).
The Kilmarnock Foundry at Townholm, lying adjacent to the Kilmarnock Water, was badly affected by the severe flooding of 14th July 1852. The dam at the foundry was destroyed and the flood waters were about ten feet deep at the foundry manager‟s residence: even in central Kilmarnock, the Finnie‟s ironmonger‟s shop was ten inches deep in water19.
28 Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011
In 1864, the company began producing shale oil at an oilworks at Fergushill which continued in business until at least 1873. They extracted between 13 and 14 gallons of oil per town of shale: the crude oil was shipped by rail, in tank waggons, to refiners in Glasgow20 and Bathgate21.
Archibald III took a great interest in the civic affairs of Kilmarnock, being elected councillor for the fourth ward in November 1851. One of his first recorded acts on the council was to attempt to raise a subscription to assist the emigration of destitute handloom weavers from Kilmarnock. In the end, it would appear that the subscription failed, as the weavers did not emigrate. He was elected to the Treasurer‟s Committee in 1852 and served on it for several years. Having voted that the council should take on a Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths in 1854, four years later he was instrumental in reducing the Registrar‟s salary from £40 to £20 per annum. He was elected bailie in November 1857, and became Provost the following year, serving a regulation three-year term until 1861. During his term as Provost, several important improvements were carried out in Kilmarnock, including the opening up of Union Street and Duke Street; he was also involved in the development of the Corn Exchange buildings, and the formation of John Finnie Street, for which the land acquisition had been largely funded by his uncle.
Archibald Finnie III was also one of the local Road Trustees, responsible for the maintenance of the roads in the Kilmarnock area. In May 1859, he gave evidence to the Turnpike Road Enquiry, Scotland, supporting the abolition of turnpike charges in an attempt to encourage local trade. In April 1861, Kilmarnock Town Council received a petition from 300 unemployed and destitute workmen. Finnie and the other magistrates ordered stones to be brought into town to give them work breaking the stones for road metal; he encouraged his fellow Road Trustees to use the unemployed labourers to improve the road at Annandale, between Kilmarnock and Crosshouse. It was probably not a coincidence that the coal pit at Annandale belonged to Archibald Finnie & Son. The Council and Road Trustees agreed to this idea, and £295 was paid out to the labourers. A further £60 was awarded to a John Stewart, carter, for transporting the stone, although, four months later, Stewart had still not been paid his haulage fee. In October the same year, 60 workmen were still unemployed and their families destitute: Finnie and the council agreed to further stone breaking and set up a soup kitchen to feed them. After his term as Provost, Finnie remained a Town Councillor until at least 186522.
Although Finnie‟s dealings with his miners were lauded as philanthropic in his obituary in the Kilmarnock Standard23, he was obviously a shrewd and hard-headed businessman. He built houses for the miners at various collieries and he apparently awarded prizes for the best kept ones. However, given the lack of alternative accommodation when many of the pits were started, it was to his benefit to house the workforce nearby. Living in company houses meant that the miners were liable to eviction if dismissed, as occurred during the 1861 strike over the demand for shorter working hours. According to the socialist newspaper, the Glasgow Sentinel, Finnie persuaded other landlords in the area to refuse to give alternative accommodation to his striking miners24. The miners‟ union tried to put their case in a letter to the Kilmarnock Standard, but the Standard refused to publish it “for fear of offending Finnie”, reported the Sentinel25. As the strike dragged on, Finnie
Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011 29
imported unemployed tin miners from Cornwall and took them on at even lower rates of pay than he was offering the men who had gone on strike.
As well as contributing to the cost of buildings such as Fergushill Church and the school at Fergushill, Archibald III also built the Springside Institute for the use of the local community. He instituted a savings bank for his miners, offering depositors a higher interest than was current at ordinary banks. How many of the miners had any money to save after the various deductions for rent, equipment and living expenses is open to question.
Finnie‟s mining interests were dependent on good relations with the railways which provided the main means of transport for his coal. In particular, he had considerable dealings with the Earl of Eglinton‟s Ardrossan Railway, and its successor the Glasgow and South-Western Railway (GSWR). In 1865, he was a Director of the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway. Despite this dependence on railways, he seems to have been frequently involved in legal action on railway and other transport issues, especially with the GSWR. In 1852 there was a dispute over the use of steam locomotives on the branch from his Annandale pit to the Kilmarnock and Troon line. Finnie had built this branch at his own expense, and he objected at having to use horses as specified by the GSWR in a lease of 1846. He advised the railway company of his intention to use his own engines to pull the trains to Troon. The GSWR obtained an interdict preventing him from doing so on the grounds that the steam engine would wear out the rails too quickly26. There were further legal tussles in 1855 over the freight charges applied by the GSWR27. In both these cases, the courts found in favour of the railway company. In 1867, Finnie‟s lease to run trains from his Dreghorn area pits across the Craig estate to the Kilmarnock and Troon railway near Laigh Milton ran out. Despite this, he continued to run his trains until the proprietor of the Craig estate, Allan Pollok Morris, obtained a suspension and interdict from the Court of Session28. This prevented Finnie using that stretch of line until new terms had been agreed. In 1873, the GSWR had to introduce a rule that all traders running trains on their lines should have a brake van staffed by a guard at all times. Finnie had been ignoring this widespread safety rule, and presumably saving some considerable expense in the process, until he received a stern letter urging him to comply29.
Although he was a litigious customer, there is evidence that the railways appreciated Finnie‟s business. In an 1852 letter in which the GSWR turned down a request for reduced freight charges from Finnie‟s pits, they expressed their hope that a new pit Finnie was sinking on the Eglinton estate would be productive as they knew his business had not been going well recently30. The GSWR were in the process of surveying a branch line to the new pit and presumably hoped to profit from the freight trade guaranteed.
Archibald Finnie III married Margaret Monteith Guthire, daughter of the late John Guthrie. They had two sons, John and Archibald (IV), and four daughters, Mary Ann, Margaret, Helena and Jean. In 1836 he bought Diamond Cottage31, a house on the seafront at Barassie, as a „holiday home‟, and in about 1855 began to build Springhill House, just off Portland Road, Kilmarnock, which was to remain in the family until 1948, when it was gifted to Kilmarnock Town Council (see Figure 3).
Archibald III was a keen curler. He was President of the Kilmarnock Curling Club and had his own rink at Springhill, where he would entertain some of his fellow
30 Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011
businessmen before work on winter mornings. He was also Director of the Athenæum, Curator of Kilmarnock Libraries and a member of the Kilmarnock Philosophical Institute32. In 1852, he purchased a commission in the Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry as Cornet (the equivalent of Second Lieutenant) and was Lieutenant from 1854 to 186133. He was a regular attender at the High Kirk, Kilmarnock; in 1879 he endowed a stained glass window there in memory of his parents and parents-in-law, and also to his son John Guthrie Finnie, who had died five years previously. Archibald III died at Diamond Cottage in 1876, from a disfiguring facial tumour that apparently had kept him out of public view for some time. His estate was valued at £213,924.
Archibald IV, born on 12th April 1851, in Kilmarnock, was the only surviving son of Archibald III, and took over the running of the family business on his father‟s death. Little is known about him, other than that he was educated at Kilmarnock Academy, and later at Dreghorn, Edinburgh. He shared his father‟s interest in politics, being Vice-Preses of the Junior Conservative Club in 188234, but was not on the local council. Despite inheriting a large fortune, he seems to have had an active interest in the coal mining business. However, it would appear that the iron foundry at Townholm was disposed of sometime before 1882, when it was listed in the Kilmarnock Directory as belonging to Grant, Ritchie & Co., engineers, whereas in 1873 it has still been owned by Archibald Finnie & Son35.
Springhill House
Archibald IV seems also to have inherited his father‟s hard-headed business streak. In 1882, a new 19-year lease on the Fergushill pits was to be signed36, and Finnie was in dispute with the Earl of Eglinton‟s factor over the amount of coal to be wrought. He felt the factor was being too optimistic about the mine‟s projected output given the increasing difficulty of actually getting at the remaining coal measures. He wanted a reduction in the stipulated tonnage to be exported via Ardrossan Harbour from 90,000 to 50,000 tons per year. Archibald IV died, unmarried, at Springhill House in 1883 before the new lease could be signed. The cause of death was recorded as “sea sickness with irritation of the stomach”,
Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011 31
which he had endured for four months, finally succumbing to “syncope with nervous debility”. His sisters took ownership of Archibald Finnie & Son. The Eglinton estate factor‟s notebooks record that the estate‟s lawyers were unhappy that the Finnie sisters would be the new tenants; they were concerned that if any of the sisters married, a new party would be brought into the contract which could cause complications37. However, despite these misgiving, the Misses Finnie were granted the lease.
The Misses Finnie owned the company until its demise, although it would seem that the day-to-day running of the business was conducted by a manager. The mines continued to meet demand from the local ironworks and other industries, with new pits continuing to be opened as others were worked out. In July 1886, the GSWR agreed to a private branch from the Doura branch of the Ardrossan Railway to Finnie‟s new Fergushill Number 29 pit38. In the same year, the company were owned £203 for coal delivered to Francis Ross, master of the barque Huron of Londonderry, for shipment to Ireland. Ross had defaulted on payment, and the company obtained permission from the courts to tow the boat from Lamlash Bay to Greenock, where they planned to de-mast it and remove the rudder until such time as the money was paid by the Huron‟s new owners39. Much of Finnie‟s coal was exported, often to Ireland. This aspect of the business must have been going well as, in June 1893, the company took delivery of a new 515-ton vessel, the SS Archibald Finnie, from Fleming & Ferguson of Paisley. Unfortunately, a month later while on a voyage to Dublin laden with coal, she collided with the SS Pearl, of Glasgow, and sank in 49 metres of water off Ballyhalbert, County Down40.
In 1873, Archibald Finnie & Son had employed over a thousand men and boys at its seven collieries at Busbie, Carmelbank, Cauldhame, Fergushill, Kilmarnock (Annandale), Thorntoun and Springhill. The firm also had a share of the Bourtreehill coal and fireclay mine. Over the next thirty-five years, most of these pits closed, leaving only Fergushill still open by 1908 (see Table 1, below). According to Pott‟s 1915 Mining Register and Directory, Fergushill Colliery still employed 360 men and the company was run by William Cameron, managing partner. The colliery had closed by 1918, and Archibald Finnie & Son appear to have ceased trading.41
The four sisters of Archibald IV all outlived the firm. Jean married James Robertson Buntine, Sheriff Substitute, of Tarbrax House, Stirling, and died a widow, aged 83, in Kilmarnock in 1938. Three weeks later her spinster sister, Mary Ann, died at Springhill House. Helena, also unmarried, died at the age of 84 at Springhill House in 1942. The final sister, Margaret, married the coalmaster John Sturrock in 1895 and died, aged 90, at Thorntoun House in 1947. Neither of the married sisters appears to have had children.
Despite its relatively rapid demise from major employer to ceasing business in less than 10 years, there is still some physical evidence left of the firm of Archibald Finnie & Son. Their office building in John Finnie Street and the family home at Springhill House are still standing in Kilmarnock, as is the house at Barassie. Ruins of some of their Fergushill mine buildings are still to be found on the eastern boundary of Eglinton Park near South Fergushill farm, along with evidence of the mineral railways that supplied them, a lasting reminder of this once widespread industry.
32 Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011
Table 1: Archibald Finnie and Son’s collieries in ‘Lists of Mines’ from Scottish Mining web site42 and Potts Mining Register and Directory 1915
Pit
1854
1860
1866
1873
1880
1893
1896
1908
1915
1918
Fergushill43
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Busbie
*
*
*
*
Carnilbank
*
*
*
*
Thorntoun44
*
*
*
*
*
*
Kilmarnock45
*
*
*
*
Gatehead
*
*
*
Springhill
*
*
*
*
*
Cauldhame
*
*
*
*
*
Bourtreehill46
*
*
Acknowledgements.
I would like to thank the staff at the National Archives of Scotland, Ayrshire Archives, North Ayrshire Local History Library and the Burns Monument Centre for their unfailing help and advice while researching this article. I would also like to thank Bruce Morgan of the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, for finding the portrait of Archibald Finnie and allowing me to photograph it.
1 “Constablewood is a small piece of land lying high on the north bank of the Noddle Burn, on the back road from Largs to Inverkip... This ground once had a flax mill on it and supported livestock and arable farming for the earliest members of the Finnie family I have been able to trace.” (Joyce Hart, „Island Hopscotch: Largs to Cowal in Four Generations‟, Pt 1, in Largs & North Ayrshire Family History Society Journal, no.58, Spring 2010, p.20).
2 Christopher A. Whatley, „The Process of Industrialization in Ayrshire c.1707 – 1871‟ (PhD Thesis, University of Strathclyde), 1975, p.82. [There is a copy at the Carnegie Library, Ayr].
3 R Britton, „Wealthy Scots 1876-1913‟, in Historical Research, vol. 58, 1985, pp 78-94.
4 National Archives Currency Converter: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency
5 National Archives of Scotland [NAS}, CS99/268, Arch Finnie v Earl of Glencairn.
6 NAS, CS228/F/8/36/1, Arch Finnie v William Stewart. William Stewart, merchant, Ayr, was a partner in the Kilmarnock Foundery Co dissolved in 1809: the other partners were Archibald Finnie and John Guthrie (see Air Advertiser, 25th May 1809, 4b).
7 NAS, CS271/40298, William Taylor v Kilmarnock Foundry Co 1817.
8 Archibald McKay, History of Kilmarnock, 1909.
9 „The Building of Barassie‟: www.ladyisle.com/tp%2014.htm accessed 4th June 2010.
10 „The Finnies of Kilmarnock‟ in Kilmarnock Standard, 25th August 1883.
Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011 33
11 Whatley, op cit. Presumably after the dissolution of the earlier partnership with Stewart in 1809.
12 NAS, GD3/18/2/9, /15, /19, /21 and /23.
13 NAS, GD3/4/101, Fergushill Colliery, abstract of accounts.
14 William McIlwraith, The Glasgow and South-Western Railway: Its Origin, Progress and Present Position, Glasgow, 1880, p.18.
15 Kilmarnock Directory 1833.
16 The original is stored at the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock.
17 „The Finnies of Kilmarnock‟, op cit.
18 NAS, GD3/4/142, Tack between Archibald Finnie and Earl of Eglinton and Winton.
19 McKay, op cit.
20 The Mining Engineer, Vol. 81-82, 1982, p.193.
21 NAS, BR/GSW/1/58, GSWR, Reports to Directors, p.88.
22 Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock, Kilmarnock Town Council Minutes 1843 - 1865.
23 Kilmarnock Standard, 19th August 1876.
24 Glasgow Sentinel, 10th November 1866.
25 Glasgow Sentinel, 24th November 1866.
26 NAS, CS275/14/166, GSWR v Archibald Finnie.
27 NAS, CS275/17/31, GSWR v Archibald Finnie.
28 NAS, CS275/29/100, Allan Pollok Morris v Archibald Finnie.
29 NAS, BR/GSW/1/13, GSWR Directors‟ Minutes.
30 NAS, GD3/5/1343/63, letter from Railway Office, Ardrossan to Auchans House, Dundonald.
31 „The Building of Barassie‟, op cit.
32 Kilmarnock Directory 1868.
33 W.S. Cooper, Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry, 1881. See also Edinburgh Gazette, 27th February 1852, p.174.
34 Kilmarnock Directory, 1882.
35 Grant, Ritchie & Co had been founded in 1876 when Thomas M. Grant and William Ritchie, formerly employees of Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co., left that employ to establish a rival locomotive engineering company in the Townholm Engine Works,, vacant through the death of George Caldwell. They presumably acquired the Kilmarnock Foundry soon after. [Russell Wear, „The Locomotive Builders of Kilmarnock‟, in Industrial Railway Record, No.69, January 1977, p.332.]
36 NAS, GD3/15/5/12, Factor‟s Memoranda Notes 117 and 119.
37 NAS, GD3/15/5/12, Factor‟s Memoranda Notes 191 to 215.
38 NAS, BR/GSW/1/37, GSWR Committee Minutes, 22nd June 1886.
39 NAS, CS274/113 Archibald Finnie & Son v Bryson.
40 www.irishwrecksonline.net, accessed 7th September 2006.
41 See Chris Hawksworth, „Fergushilll Tileworks – a short lived industrial concern on the Eglinton Estate‟ in Ayrshire Notes 32, 2006, 21-25.
34 Ayrshire Notes 41, Spring 2011
42 www.scottishmining.co.uk/377 accessed 15th November 2010.
43 Fergushill had both coal and shale mines in 1873.
44 Thorntoun was listed as East and West Thorntoun prior to 1880.
45 Kilmarnock colliery was Annandale.
46 Bourtreehill was co-owned with James Finlay and Son, and had both coal and fireclay mines.

Reproduced from the Ayrshire Notes, No, 42 Spring 2011

http://www.ayrshirehistory.org.uk/Bibliography/pdfs/AN41.pdf

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14Co-operative Society - Fenwick Weaver's

Ayrshire weavers recognised as world's first co-op

Events are taking place in the East Ayrshire village of Fenwick to mark its unique place in the history of the world wide co-operative movement.

Exactly 250 years ago, 16 Fenwick weavers signed a document, promising to support one another, work honestly, and charge fair prices.

Later they went on to bulk-buy food and sell it at a discount to members.

The group also founded a credit union, a lending library and an emigration society to help villagers move abroad.

Many historians have dated the formation of the co-op movement to the middle of the 19th Century, in Rochdale.

But now research by John Smith and John McFadzean, who live in Fenwick, has established the village's claim as the world's first fully recorded co-operative with all records and original charter intact.

'Banded together'

Mr McFadzean told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The [weavers] realised that they were facing financial ruin.

"Working independently, selling their goods to the merchants, and getting bartered down and bartered down, there was no profit left in their sales.

"So they banded themselves together, so they could actually fix a price, and buy stuff in in bulk.

"Then they used the money they made to look after the poor, and to expand the whole co-operative venture throughout the village."

But Mr Smith said when the 16 original Fenwick Weavers gathered in the parish church to secretly sign their charter, they can't have guessed where their initiative would end up.

"It started off as a local enterprise to help the people of the village, and to help the weavers themselves," he said.

"But when you look into the history you can see how it developed locally after that, and you see other co-operatives springing up in the area.

"You can see that the principle was being taken to other places, where they thought it was a good idea, so they copied the example that was set here in Fenwick."

As part of the 250th anniversary celebrations, guests at an event at the church have been asked to sign a copy of the Weavers' charter.

Mr McFadzean said the modern co-operative movement went far beyond the supermarkets on British high streets.

"It's a world-wide financial, and economic business model," he said.

"It takes in farming, manufacturing, worker-owned co-operatives all round the world.

"Last year co-operatives traded in the trillions [of pounds]. The total was equivalent to the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] of a country like Canada."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12733078

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18Glenfield & Kennedy - Aerial View

http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/collections/life-work/key-industries/engineering-firms/glenfield-kennedy/aerial-view-of-glenfield-kennedy-works.aspx

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20Glenfield & Kennedy - Kennedy, Thomas Obituary

The Kilmarnock Standard of 12 September 1874 included the following obituary:

Mr. Thomas Kennedy (c1797-1874)

Our obituary this day contains the intimation of the death at the ripe age of 77 of one whose enterprising genius has been the means of adding to the industries of the town an important branch of manufacture which enriches those engaged in it and gives employment to numerous skilled workers. This event, therefore, in association with important benefits, is entitled to public sympathy.

Although not a native of Kilmarnock , the deceased has been so long an inhabitant of it, and has occupied so prominent a position amongst us, that he was very widely known. He was connected by marriage with some of the most respectable families in the town, and has filled with ability several offices, ecclesiastical and civil.

Mr Kennedy was a native of Argyleshire, but settled here fifty years ago as a watch and clockmaker. This trade he had learned in his own county, where he began business for himself, but not meeting with sufficient encouragement he came to Kilmarnock and was for some time employed by the late Mr George Thomson, watchmaker and jeweller. Having married the daughter of Mr John Hunter, saddler, he again began business on his own account, and added to it the trade of gun-making, for which he acquired a great reputation, and through the influence of Mr Wallace of Kelly he received the honorary appointment of gunmaker to Prince Albert.

Mr Kennedy's place of business in Portland Street was well known to visitors to Kilmarnock , and the “Albert Arms” and the “Gold Gun” were never-failing objects of attraction. The rifles of his manufacture were held in high estimation both in this country and in India , where a ready market was found for them and high prices obtained. Not content with his success as a gun manufacturer, and emulous of higher honours, he devoted his attention to another matter, which was still a desideratum – the construction of a water meter of perfect accuracy. In this he was completely successful, and the patented mechanism Kennedy's Water Meter, is used largely in this country, on the Continent and in America . It has been the means of enriching many in connection with it and directly, as well as indirectly, materially benefits Kilmarnock .

Although the late Mr Kennedy has obtained chief credit of the invention, yet it is well known that Mr John Cameron, watchmaker here, had no mean share in the perfecting of the meter. Mr Kennedy was twice married, and leaves a young widow and several of a family, whom his success in business has well provided for. The remains will be interred in the High Church Burying Ground today.

 http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/CommunityLifeAndLeisure/LocalHistoryAndHeritage/Famouspeople/ThomasKennedy.aspx

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22Johnnie Walker's

John (Johnnie) Walker (1805 - 1857)

John (Johnnie) Walker (1805 - 1857) was a Scottish grocer, who founded what would become one of the world's most famous whisky brand names, Johnnie Walker.

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23Johnnie Walker's - History

Johnnie Walker

A brief history

Back in 1920 John Walker, a young Ayrshire farmer purchased a grocery, wind and spirit business in King Street, Kilmarnock.  The modest business he founded then, now produces over 3 million bottles of Johnnie Walker whisky each week. It is in fact, the world’s largest selling Scotch whisky.

From the start, progress was rapid.  Throughout the 19^th Century the company grew apace with Kilmarnock, now establishing itself as an important industrial centre.  John walker eventually entrusted the management of the business to his son, Alexander.  Alexander Walker, a man of vision and sound business acumen developed production and advance the sales of whisky for the company, both at home and abroad.  Such expansion meant a move to London and offices were opened in 1880.  Six years later the business was incorporate as a private limited company with capital of £70,000 and Alexander Walker’s son, also named Alexander, joined the company.

Quickly he followed his father’s lead and embarked on further expansion.  Offices and agencies were opened worldwide ad he was subsequently knighted.  The company capital was again increased, this time to £210,000 and Johnnie Walker stepped into the 20^th Century.

New sales ideas and advertising techniques followed.  The now famous trademark of Johnnie Walker was incorporated into the advertising of the whisky.  Based on a portrait of the founder impeccably dressed, this regency figure with top hat and purposeful stride symbolises the excellence of the product.  A new livery of Red and Black labels set at a slant on the unusual square bottles was also adopted.  Thus a worldwide identity for the company’s blends of Scotch whisky was established and the slogan 0 (Born 12820 – Still going strong” was created to endorse the whisky.

In 1923 Johnnie Walker became a public company and tow years later merged with the Distillers Company Limited.  Growing demand in the 1950’s and the 1960’s meant further expansion; production was doubled by the opening of a large blending hall at Barleith and a second bottling hall five miles away in Kilmarnock.  A storage building followed in 1973.  This blending and bottling complex is now the largest in the world.

John walker & Sons Ltd. Is now one of the most important units within the Distillers Group, accounting for a large proportion of it’s training profit and exports.

The company’s fine achievements have been duly acknowledge; the Queen’s Award to Industry for Export Achievement has been conferred on John Walker & Sons Ltd in 1966, 1967, 1970, 1972 and 1976.  They were awarded the Royal Warrant in 1933. 

Johnnie Walker Brands – The U. K. and Worldwide

Most distillers in Scotland produce malt whisky but there are some that make grain whisky.

The difference between the two is that the grain whisky has a lighter flavour and body than the malts.  This is due to a proportion of unmalted grain used in the process.  Malt whisky however, uses only malted barley and in the making is split into four main stages; malting, mashing, fermentation and distillation.

Finally, it is from the blending of these two types of whisky that a smooth and mature spirit is formed.  It is the consistently high quality, the delicate flavour and  skills of the blinder in proportioning the blends that combine to make Johnnie Walker’s whiskies so justly famous.

 John Walker & Sons market four brands in the U. K. – John Barr, Black Label, Swing and Cardhu Highland Malt and four worldwide – Red Label, Black Label, Cardhu Highland malt and swing, which in certain markets is known as celebrity.

Red Label

Johnnie Walker Red Label is not longer marketed in the UK following the December 1977 EEC ruling on pricing structures.  It is, of course, sold extensively abroad and maintains its position as the world’s largest selling Scotch  whisky.  The brand is a blend of over 40 single malt and grain whiskies, including the company’s own Cardhu Highland Malt.

Red Label is sold in the famous square bottle with the Red and Gold slanting label.  Each of the 200 or so world markets has its particular labelling requirements and over 1,000 different labels are needed to meet them.

A popular favourite, Red Label is blended to be enjoyed on its own with water and ice.  Alternatively, it can be taken with a variety of mixtures.

 Black Label

Black Label is a de-luxe bended whisky.  It contains a higher proportion of malt whiskies than the high-volume standard blends, and a greater percentage of older malt and grain whiskies.  Hence it sells at a significantly higher price than Red Label.

In common with Red Label, Black Label contains Cardhu Highland Malt in the blend.  It is marketed in the same square Johnnie Walker bottles, but unlike Red label, the colours of the slanting label and black and gold.

In certain expert markets, Black Label is now bottles as “12-year-old.”

Black Label’s delicate flavour is best tasted on its own or with a little water and if preferred some ice.  It also makes a fine after-dinner drink.

 Cardhu Highland Malt

One of the most picturesque distilleries in the Speyside area of the Scottish Highlands in Cardow, near the tiny village of Knockando.  From Cardow distillery, John Walker & Sons Ltd obtain a fine malted whisky, sold under the original Gaelic name Cardhu meaning ‘black rock.’

All Cardhu Highland malt is now sold as “12-year-olds.”  The pale whisky is contained in around bottle with parchment coloured label and is packaged in an attractive presentation box.  Both label and box feature an etching of Cardow distillery.

 Reproduced from article held in library.  Unknown author.

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26Kilmarnock - Troon Railway

Plaque marks pioneering Kilmarnock and Troon railway

The plaque will be unveiled at the Laigh Milton viaduct on Friday

A specially designed plaque has been unveiled in Ayrshire to commemorate the first-ever railway to carry passengers in Scotland.

The Kilmarnock and Troon railway was opened in 1811 and primarily carried coal from Kilmarnock and Troon Harbour.

Passengers initially travelled in horse-drawn carriages before the line became the first in Scotland to use a steam locomotive.

The plaque was unveiled at the Laigh Milton Viaduct on Friday.

Professor Roland Paxton of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in Scotland designed the plaque.

Town development

He said: "When it was officially opened in 1812, the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was state-of-the-art and it contributed significantly to the development of both towns.

"By the late 1830's it was being used for as many as 200,000 passenger miles every year.

"It was also one of the earliest to use steam locomotion, nine years before the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

"The Leigh Milton Viaduct is the world's earliest public railway viaduct which was conserved for posterity in 1996."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18725887

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32Lace Making - Alexander Morton

Biographical History

Alexander Morton Senior started life as a hand-loom weaver taking over the business of his late brother-in-law William Bowie in 1867. His first breakthrough was in improving the weave of the leno curtains the firm produced by adding in a warp twist weft. His business expanded and in 1874 he saw a Levers lace maching on a visit to London made by Sharman and Tilson and visited the factory in Nottingham. The investment to purchase the machine was provided by family members and friends and led to the creation of Alexander Morton and Co.

The company continuted to grow and diversify. Lace curtains and Madras Muslin continued to be produced in Darvel. Chenille curtains were produced in Carlisle and a factory producing hand knotted carpets was established in Killibegs, County Donegal, Ireland in 1896 which became very fashionable. The firm bought designs from most of the leading Arts and Crafts designers such as Silver Studios, Brangwyn, Charles Voysey and Baillie Scott. They supplied firms such as Liberty's and Wylie and Lochhead and rugs they produced graced 10 Dowing Street. In 1905 the firm started the production of printed fabrics and in 1906 this was moved to a new subsidiary company Morton Sundour in Carlise headed up by his son James Morton.

One of Alexander's other sons Guy was a designer and inventor of machinery. He went to Carlisle to work for Morton Sundour, where he designed and made carpets. Eventually he moved back to Kilmarnock, where with a Mr Blackwood he established Blackwood and Morton Kilmarnock Ltd known as BMK. He later bought Mr Blackwood out of business and BMK eventually became part of Templeton-Stoddard.

Guy Morton married Minnie Fairweather, whose daughter Mary married Mr Richmond a Lace manufacturer in Kilmarnock and owner of Fleming's Lace. In 1998 this company merged with Scott and Fife

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/search/summary.html?rsid=2020456512&startRecord=1&maximumRecords=20&hitposition=0#rightcol

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34Saxone Shoes - Photographs

Please click on the following to see photographs and additional information.

Part of the Saxone Shoe Factory, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

Rosetta Whittaker holding a calf skin for shoe-making in a Kilmarnock factory, 1955

Saxone Shoe Company Ltd factory at Kilmarnock - General view- 18/9/58

Saxone Shoe Factory, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire

Saxone Shoes Kilmarnock

Shoemaker in a Kilmarnock factory, 1955

Shoes on the production at a Kilmarnock factory, 1955

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35Stoddard Carpets - History of

Stoddard International PLC Ltd.

Sales:                  £32 million (2003)

Company History

Founding the Scottish Carpet Industry in the 1860s

The 1830s marked an era of accelerated innovation in the British carpet industry. In 1832, for example, a new method for printing and weaving yarn with incorporated designs was invented. That machine was known as the Tapestry Carpet Loom. Scotland, with its access to large quantities of wool, became an important center for the United Kingdom's carpet industry and boasted a number of prominent names in carpet weaving, such as Henry Widnell & Stewart, based in Edinburgh; Templetons, in Kilmarnock; and J&R Ronald, operating a tapestry factory in Elderslie.

A talent for innovation, in conjunction with a need to cut production costs, enabled Great Britain's carpet makers to dominate the industry by the middle of the century. British carpet makers also enjoyed ready and cheap access to raw materials, especially jute, cotton, and wool, which were brought in from the United Kingdom's rapidly expanding colonial empire. Great Britain emerged as the world center for textile production, particularly in the sector of high-quality carpets. Within the United Kingdom itself, competition among carpet makers was often quite fierce, especially during the many downturns that marked the industry's history.

By 1875, Stoddard was exporting more than 75 percent of the carpets it made, for the most part to the United States. Joining Stoddard at the company was son-in-law Charles Renshaw, who later took over as head of the company. Under Renshaw, the company began supplying other export markets, especially Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. In 1895, Renshaw incorporated the company as A.F. Stoddard & Sons, listing it on the London Stock Exchange.

In the mid-20th century, Stoddard had gained a reputation as one of the United Kingdom's top producers of high-quality carpets. The company's reputation was cemented in 1947 when it was selected to provide the carpets for H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth's marriage at Westminster Abbey. Stoddard's carpets also became featured in such prominent locations as the White House, Balmoral Hall, and Scottish Parliament.

The 1950s, however, marked a challenging period for the company. By then, Stoddard's export focus had shifted to Australia, which became the group's largest market into the early 1950s. However, when Australia implemented new import restrictions in 1952, Stoddard found itself more or less cut off from its primary foreign market.

Stoddard also took advantage of the Common Market to make a move onto the European continent. In 1961, the company formed Bergoss\/Stoddard BV., a 50-50 joint venture with the Netherlands' Bergoss Gerbre van der Bergh Koninklijke Fabrieken. The joint venture launched construction of a new tufted mill, and production began in 1962. This continental presence encouraged Stoddard to begin exploring further expansion into the European market.

By then, the British textile sector was already beginning its long decline. For more than 100 years, the textile industry had been the country's single largest employer. Even as late as the 1960s, the carpet manufacturing continued to employ more than 1.5 million people. Yet that number was to shrink dramatically over the next decades as cheaper textile products, including carpets, began to flood the United Kingdom from Asian countries and elsewhere.

Yet the sluggish economy of that decade, and new rounds of protective tariffs and subsidies in such countries as Australia and the United States, made it difficult for Stoddard to break out. By the beginning of the 1980s, the company had begun cutting back on its foreign operations, shutting down its subsidiaries in France and Germany and restructuring its U.S. operations.

The newly enlarged company now took its place as the United Kingdom's number two carpet manufacturer, trailing only Carpets International. Yet the merger of the two companies tipped Stoddard into the red by 1981. In response, Stoddard underwent a restructuring, shutting down a spinning mill in Cumnock, a dye house in Glasgow, and consolidating production from the Templeton and Kingsmead sites into its main Elderslie facility.

However, the Sekers deal quickly turned sour for Stoddard, in part because accounting discrepancies had overvalued the company. Hard hit by a rise in silk prices, the company decided to sell off the silk operation in 1989, which was spun off in a management buyout worth £8 million. Instead, the company attempted to shore up its carpeting operations, acquiring the U.K. operations of Belgian carpet producer Louis de Poortere for £950,000 in 1991.

The 1990s spelled the beginning of the end for the British textiles industry. The rapid globalization of production techniques, which saw the development of a new manufacturing model based on outsourcing to third-party producers in low-wage developing markets, made it all but impossible for British textiles manufacturers to compete. In Scotland, the loss of jobs was dramatic. By 1993, just 57,000 textile jobs remained.

Stoddard now found itself doubly vulnerable. As it struggled to maintain carpet sales and profits, its Sekers textiles business slipped into losses. By 1998, with Sekers' losses mounting to £1.5 million, Stoddard decided to exit the fabrics business and refocus on its core carpets production. In that year, the company sold Sekers to Wemyss Fabrics for just £600,000. Stoddard then changed its name to Stoddard International.

Nevertheless, the recovery proved short-lived. By 2002, Stoddard's sales were once again sagging. In that year, in an effort to pay down debt and streamline its production, the company announced its intention to shut down two of its production sites, including its Elderslie headquarters, and consolidate production solely at the Kilmarnock site. The sell off of its property was completed in 2003. However, the company, which had hoped to raise as much as £17 million from the sale, was finally forced to settle for just £7 million. With its debt at more than £12 million, the company's finances remained in crisis.

Principal Competitors:          Coats Holdings Ltd.; Howrah Mills Company Ltd.; Allied Textile Companies Ltd.; Chapelthorpe plc; Gaskell plc; Sirdar plc; Victoria plc.

1862:         Alfred Stodard acquies a Scottish tapestry maker, J & R Ronald and begins producing carpets at Elderslie, primarily for the American Market.

1895:         Son-in-law Charles Renshaw incorporates the company as A. F. Stoddard & Co. and lists It on the London Stock Exchange.

1947:         Stoddard provides the carpet for Princess Elizabeth’s marriage at Westminster Sbbey.

1959:         Stoddard acquires Hnery Windnell & Stewart.

1966:         The company receives the Queen’s Royal Warrant.

1970:         Chenille Axminster is acquired.

1980:         Stoddard acquires Templeton and Kingsmead Carpets from Guthrie Corporation.

1988:         Stoddard acquires fabrics and silks maker Sekers and changes its name to Stoddard Sekers International.

1989:         The silk operation of Sekers Silks is sold off in a management buyout.

1991:         Stoddard acquires the U. K. sales operations of Belgium’s Louis De Poortere.

1998:         The company sells off Sekers and refocuses on carpets as Stoddard International.

2002:         Stoddard announces plans to consolidate its manufacturing at its Kilmarnock plant.

2003:         The company sells off its Elderslie site.

2005:         Stoddard is place in receivership.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/stoddard-international-plc-history/

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36Lace Making

Please click on the links below to see photographs and additional information.

Lace loom in J & J Wilson's Greenhead Mills, Newmilns, Ayrshire, showing lace curtain being woven

Lace loom in J & J Wilson's Greenhead Mills, Newmilns, Ayrshire

Lace weaver making a repair at Darvel, Ayrshire, c.1950s

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