SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY Volume 6.1 1983 S C 0 T T I S H I N D U S T R I A L H I S T 0 R Y Volune 6. 1 1983 Scottish Indystrial Hi2tory is published twice annually by the Scottish Society for Industrial History, the Scottish Society for the Preservation of Historical Machinery and the Business Archives Council of Scotland. The editors are: Mrs. S. Clark, Paisley; Dr. C.W. Munn and Mr. A.T. Wilson, University of Glasgow. Proof-reading was carried out by Mr. M. Livingstone, Business Archives Council of Scotland. Front (;over: Paddle Steamer Engine Back Cover: Horizontal Driving Engine Both constructed by A.F. Craig and Company Ltd., Paisley. (Our thanks to Mr. W.S. Harvey for lending the original photographs) . S C 0 T T I S H I N D U S T R I A L H I S T 0 R Y Voltllle 6.1 1983 Content.s Some brief notes on the History of James Young Ltd., and James Young and Sons Ltd., Railway and Public Works Contractors. N.J. Horgan 2 The Iron Industry of the Monklands (continued): The Individual Ironworks George Thanson 10 Markets and Entrepreneurship in Granite Quarrying in North East Scotland 1750-1830 Tan Donnelly 30 Summary Lists of Archive Surveys and Deposits 46 Book Reviews 60 Corrigenda 65 2 Sane brief notes on the history of Janes Young Ltd, and Janes Young & Sons Ltd, Railway and Public Works Contractors by N.J. K>RGAN During the late nineteenth century the Scottish contracting industry was effectively dominated by a handful of giants. The names of Best, Brand, Faill, Gibb, Goldie, Kennedy, McAlpine, Morrison and Mason, and not least James Young become increasingly familiar in lists of contracts awarded, whillt other names become fewer and appear for only short periods of time. The name of James Young is particularly interesting because two firms, both involved in large scale railway and public works contracting, shared that name. James Young (later James Young Ltd) and James Young & Sons (later James Young & Sons Ltd) were frequently confused i~ contemporary trade literature, and this confusion still exists today. It is hoped that the following short histories will clearly differentiate the two firms for future researchers, as well as shedding some light on the history of the Scottish construction industry. The firm of James Young was founded by James Young, who was born at Littlemill, Kilmalcolm, in June 1810.3 Young•s father, also James, was by occupation a farmer but, as was common in nineteenth century Scotland, he also carried out small local contracts connected with road and drainage projects. It was on such work that James Young gained practical experience of construction and building techniques; he also spent time employed as an overseer of navvies on large railway works, where he no doubt became familiar with some of the complexities of rail way and public works contracting. James Young•s first solo project was the Calderbank contract for the Monklands Railway Company in 1854. By the late 1850s Young had joined in partnership with Robert Ward (d. 23/1/1~91), a railway contractor with offices at Germiston Street, Glasgow. Before their association was ended, in about 1866, the two completed major contracts on the Rutherglen and Coatbridge branch of the Caledonian Railway, th~ Milngavie Railway and the eastern section of the Wemyss Bay Railway. From about 1866 James Young entered into partnership with his younger brother, William (1825-1896), and his son, James Young Jnr ( 1839-1913); a second brother of James Young, so far unidentified, was also possibly involved in the partnership. 6 James and his son were also partners in a coal mining and lime-quarrying business which managed a mine at Baljaffray, Duntocher. The mining concern went under the name of James Young & Sons, whilst the contracti~ firm was known generally as James Young & Co, or simply James Young. In this form the partnership completed such works as the Gryffe reservoir (part of the Greenock Water Scheme), and two contracts for the Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Railway. 8 It was during these 3 last contracts, in 1876, that James Young introduced the first steam navvy to Scotland, using it in a deep cutting west of Bellshill, where it was said to do the work of some sixty navvies. 9 Between 1881 and 1886 the firm also undertook contracts on the Yoker and Clydebank Railway (for whi ch they subscribed the majority of the capital), the St Andrews and Anstruther Railway Bnd the western section of the Glasgow City and District Rail way .1 It was on the completion of thi s particular project, in March 1886, that James Young retired from the firm. He died some five years later at his home in Skelmff lie on 18th June 1891, and was buried at the Necropolis in Glasgow. The firm was continued by his sons, James Young Jnr and David Young (1858- 1925), his son-in-law, William Neilson, ~nd his brother, William, who died at Greenock on 7th August 1896. 1 Prior to this date they completed the Stobcross section of the Glasgow Central Railway, a contract worth some £200,000, and were also involved in large pipe­ laying contracts in connection with the e~~ension of the Loch Katrine Water Works, worth in total some £137,000. In 1897, following the death of Wil~ ~am Young, the firm was formed into a limited liability company. James Young Jnr was chairman and managing director; his eldest son, James, at that time based at Spean Bridge , was also a director. The third director was the ironmaster Robert Angus, brother-in-law of James Young Jnr, and partner in the firm of Wm Baird & Co, which controlled one of the most extensiv~~ronfounding and coal mining concerns in the West of Scotland. The company had a capital of £30,000, divided into 30,000 ordinary shares of £1, which was increased in 1909 by the issue of 20,000 preference shares of £1 each to £50,000. The majority of shares were held within the Young family, James Young Jnr being the largest single shareholder. The largest non-family shareholder was Archibald Gilchrist, the firm's secretary and cashier, who held 2,500 shares. The company carried out many successful contracts, among them being the Fort Augustus Railway, the Ki lsyth and Bonnybridge Railway (of which company James Young Jnr was a director) and a large contract for the extension ?6 the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway, worth in excess of £200,000. The success of the company was overshadowed by a series of personal tragedies. In June 19q7 James Young Jnr's eldest son, James, died suddenly at his home. His share in the company was purchased by John Ferguson, a civil engineer with the consulting engineers Formans & McCall who had worked on many of the contracts carried on by the Youngs. Ferguson also took up 5 ,OOO of the preference shares issued in the following month. Some seventeen months later, his second son, Richard, by then a direc~§r in the company, died following a riding accident at St Andrews. Within four weeks of this second death, on 20th January, 1911, the company was voluntarily wound up by special resolution. James Young Jnr continued to act as a director of a number of minor companies, among them the Mercantile Chambers Company, the Coatbridge Gas Company Ltd and the Peebles Hydropathic Company Ltd. However, two years later he died, aged 74, following a shor1 i l lness, and he was buried at Biggar where he had resided since 1901. 9 James Young Ltd have sometimes been confused with the company of James Young & Sons Ltd, railway and public works contractors, which was formed in March 1899. The founder of the company , Robert Young, 4 was the son of James Young a contractor in Edinburgh from the early 1840s. Robert Young and his brother James became partners with their father in 1866; following his death in 1886 Robert entered into a partnership with his brother James (a third son of James Young, John, acted as ~anager for the firm), which lasted until the latter's death in 1898,2 The firm was prosperous: it operated with a capital of £40,000 and whilst its profits never exceeded £8,000 in any one year, neither did the brothers ever have to record a loss. Between 1890 and 1898 the company recorded average net profits of £3,000 per year from which Robert Young himself received an annual salary of £800. The firm was, however, heavily dependent on its bankers for credit, a particularly precious commodity for contractors who had to bear the cost of plant and labour in any given job well before they received any payment for it. By 1898 the Bank of Scotland was pressing the partnership for a substantial reduction of its overdraft of £27 ,OOO, and it was part12 in order to reduce this that the limited company was floated in 1899. 1 The Edinburgh firm carried out a variety of contracts throughout Scotland, and by 1899 they claimed to be one of the largest contractors in Scotland, with a workforce of 'about' 2,000 hands. They undertook small local authority toad-building and paving schemes and also larger scale rail way works. 2 In 1890 they won a contract to build 4.5 miles of the Alloa and Kincardine Railway for the North British Railway Company at a value of £36,000; a further contract on this line was worth £24,000.