2. Coats and Clark the Binding Thread of Paisley's History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
RLHF Journal Vol.15 (2009) 2. Coats and Clark The Binding Thread of Paisley’s History Valerie Reilly Introduction This article looks at the built legacy of the Coats and Clark Families. Following a summary of the development of the family businesses, it covers their buildings and houses. As there are so many family members involved, they have been numbered for ease of reading. The Clark Family In the late eighteenth century two brothers, Peter (1) (sometimes known as Patrick) and James (2) Clark, both lived and worked in Paisley as weavers' furnishers providing items needed by the weaving population such as heddles, reeds and shuttles, as well as manufacturing the twine used to make the heddles 1. Around 1806 the weaving business was hit by Napoleon's Berlin Decree which banned exports to Britain from the continent, greatly hampering the movement of the silk required to produce heddles. It seems to have been this situation that prompted Peter Clark to experiment with producing heddles of cotton rather than silk. He and his brother made a success of this venture and soon James Clark junior (3), who had been selling linen thread for domestic sewing purposes, began to recommend his father's cotton thread as a better product. Demand for the cotton thread soon increased and James (3) had the novel idea of selling the thread wound onto bobbins instead of in the original hanks. If the customer so desired, James would - for the price of a halfpenny - wind the thread onto a bobbin. The halfpenny was refundable if the bobbin was returned. The Hammills and Seedhill c.1900 1 Heddles: looped chords which separated the warp threads and allowed passage of the shuttle. 1 © Renfrewshire Local History Forum & Authors http://rlhf.info/rlhf-journal/ RLHF Journal Vol.15 (2009) Around the year 1812 James Clark junior (3) bought land on the north bank of the River Cart at the bend known as the Hammils. Here his father James (2) erected a factory and engine house for the production of cotton thread. Other members of the large Clark family began to become interested in the thread trade and in 1817 John Clark Junior and Co. was established at the Mile End Mill in Glasgow. In 1819 the elder James (2) Clark, having reached the age of 72, decided to retire and his business was sold to his two sons James junior (3) and John (4). Together they formed the firm of J. & J. Clark, and worked hard for many years to build up their successful and profitable industry. They both retired in 1852 and the business was left in the hands of James Clark (5) of Ralston, the son of John (4). By this time the business was expanding so rapidly that he found himself unable to handle it alone and he brought in his brothers John (6) and Stewart (7) as partners. James (5) Clark of Ralston retired from active business in 1872. More and more branches of the Clark family took an interest in the blossoming thread trade. George A. Clark (8), brother of James (5) and Stewart (7), with his brother-in- law Peter Kerr, established the firm of Kerr and Clark. They erected the Linside Mill, on a site close to the original Seedhill Mill. In 1854 James (9) and Robert (10) Clark, the sons of James Clark (3), established the business of J. & R. Clark. In 1859 they moved to the new Burnside Mill built on the south bank of the River Cart. However, these businesses were relatively short-lived, and both had amalgamated with the original Seedhill firm under the name of Clark and Co. by 1867. It was probably between 1860 and 1880 that the Anchor Mills expanded the most rapidly. In 1860 the complex already had departments for twisting, winding, polishing, dyeing, bobbin-turning, spooling and ticketing, together with engine and boiler houses. New extensions in this period included the incorporation of a former 1840s shawl factory for use in the production of embroidery thread in 1872. In 1874 the Counting House and East Dyeworks were built, to be followed in 1878 by the Fire Station. Also in this period came more amalgamations of small thread firms with Clark & Co. These included Carlile, Kerr and Co. of Underwood and John Clark junior of Well Street. The expansion of this period is clearly shown in the figures relating to the value of the fixed capital of Clark & Co. In 1869 the capital stood at £56,000, by 1880 it was estimated at over £320,000. But, all other expansions of this period were overshadowed by the construction of the Atlantic Mill for spinning in 1872, followed by the Pacific Mill for Twisting in 1875 both on the large Anchor Mills site. Atlantic was designed to contain 71,000 spindles together with the necessary preparatory machinery. The power was provided by a pair of Bolton-made beam engines producing 1,600hp. Pacific Mill, the counterpart to Atlantic, contained 80,000 spindles. Here the engines could produce up to about 1,700hp. By 1880 the Anchor Mills complex was running over 230,000 spindles and employing over 3,500 male and female workers. They were producing about 15 tons of finished cotton thread each day, a total of about 4,500 tons/annum. Large quantities of raw materials were needed to feed production on this scale, perhaps the most astonishing figure being that Anchor Mills required 130 tons of coal to keep its 30 boilers fired - every single day! Arguably the most important building erected in the 1880s was the Domestic Finishing Mill, one of the most advanced industrial premises of its time. It was built as a five-flatted mill with engines on the first floor, and with a belt drive for the machinery 2 © Renfrewshire Local History Forum & Authors http://rlhf.info/rlhf-journal/ RLHF Journal Vol.15 (2009) running through a central well to the upper floors. The first flat also had four dynamos producing electricity for lighting, making this one of the very first buildings in Paisley to be equipped with electric lights. The Mill also had a partial fire sprinkler system as early as 1889. Expansion continued for the remaining years of the nineteenth century. Glasgow's Mile End Mill was acquired in 1894 when John Clark Junior & Co. amalgamated with the Anchor firm. The Coats Family But of course this is only half the story of thread in nineteenth century Paisley. In 1802 James(A) Coats, having recently returned from a period of service in the south of England with the Ayrshire Fencibles, took up the weaving trade. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with the shawl manufacturer James Whyte, and they produced some of the only Canton crepe shawls in Scotland. In order to learn about the process of yarn twisting - an integral part of the manufacture of Canton crepe, he took a sleeping partnership in the firm of Ross and Duncan in George Street, Paisley. The partnership expired in 1826, whereupon James (A) built a small thread factory of his own behind his house at Ferguslie. It was a very small-scale enterprise with a three-flatted building powered by a single 12hp engine. In 1830 James (A) decided to retire, and the thread business was placed in the hands of his two eldest sons James (B) and Peter (C), under the name of J. & P. Coats. Shortly afterwards, a third brother, Thomas (D), was admitted to the partnership. It is interesting to note that they didn't get the business for nothing; they had to pay their father an annual rent of £500! By 1840, hard work had increased the trade of the firm and the size of the factory. New engines had to be installed which now gave an output of 50hp. Three-quarters of the Coats product at this time was exported to America, and so yet another brother, Andrew (E), was sent to the States to manage sales there. In 1845 James (B) died, leaving the firm in the hands of Peter (C) and Thomas (D). That same year they acquired a further three acres of ground at Ferguslie, bounded by the Candren Burn and the Canal, where they built their second mill. Much expansion took place at Ferguslie in the period up to 1860. Mills 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were added in an L-shape to the original No.1 Mill, the Clock and Bell Tower was built, and the Counting House was erected close to the canal towpath. Ferguslie Mills c.1850s The year 1887 was important for the Ferguslie complex with the erection of a three- flatted Glazing and Polishing building behind the original No.1 Mill and the opening of the Half-Timers School. But even more significant was the completion of the No.1 3 © Renfrewshire Local History Forum & Authors http://rlhf.info/rlhf-journal/ RLHF Journal Vol.15 (2009) Spinning Mill. This was a huge building measuring 400 feet long, 130 feet wide and 90 feet tall housing all the processes involved in the spinning of yarn from the raw cotton. The machinery was powered by two compound tandem engines producing 2,000hp. In the 1880s and 1890s a difficult situation was developing. Both firms, Clarks and Coats, had now grown so large that competition for a limited market grew very fierce. This resulted in each firm announcing large price reductions in order to attract custom. However, in 1889 an amicable agreement was reached between the Paisley firms, and an office was rented in St.