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A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Aberdeen and Northern Counties Printing
Industry
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161718192021
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Northern Counties - Coupar
Angus
The first printing press was established in Coupar Angus in 1835
by William Culross. Unfortunately little is known of the early history
of the Culross company except that it remained in the hands of the
family until 1923, when it was purchased by Frank Benzies, the father
of the present chairman. The year 1916 was undoubtedly a disastrous
period for several Scottish printers. As recorded in earlier titles
in this A Reputation for excellence series, Neill’s of Edinburgh
and Bums and Harris of Dundee both suffered serious fires in 1916.
In that year the same fate also befell William Culross. However,
in spite of the inevitable replacement difficulties encountered
during the First World War, all three firms survived. In 1922 Culross
became a limited company, and from the following year until the
present time it has been managed by two senior members of the Benzies
family. Frank Benzies arrived in Coupar Angus from Glasgow as a
wounded airman of the First World War. He was trained by his uncle,
John Benzies, in Paisley and was still at business when he died
at the age of eighty. He was manager of the local Savings Bank,
this being one of the duties which went with the business!
It is interesting to look back at the product range of the company
in the 1920s as there was a strong link with the structure of local
government, at that period based on central government and parish
councils. Culross were publishers of forms which parish councils
required to carry out their functions. Copy was authorised by central
government as and when legislation changed and the firm were known
as Poor Law Publishers. This meant that if anyone required a form
to bury a relative, or to admit someone to a lunatic asylum, or
to lay drains or build a house, application had to be made on the
Culross forms published at one shilling and sixpence per dozen.
The early 1930s saw the aftermath of a recession and the creation
of town and county councils. As a result Frank Benzies had to reconstruct
the business virtually overnight to commercial printing and bookbinding.
The firm also took a lead with machine accounting and the forms
for machine accounting became a speciality.
Meanwhile central government was finding difficulties in keeping
track of the new councils and asked the firm to produce a directory
called The County and Municipal Yearbook, and this was launched
in 1931. The title remains extant, having changed its name in line
with legislation to Scot-land’s Regions and it is now published
as Scotland’s Year Book. It provides a directory of every organisation
active at royal, national, and local level.
Among other notable publications of the company were The Fair Land
of Gowrie, printed for the author Lawrence Melville in 1936, and
the same author’s Errol, Its Land, Legends and People.
The firm suffered a further fire in 1938 but, strangely, this had
beneficial results post-war. At that period many Scottish printers
were desper-ate for plant renewal whereas Culross, following their
latest fire, had already installed the most modern Monotype and
letterpress plant available. Family connections within the company
have always been important. A Mr Dunn was manager when Frank Benzies
took over, and one of his concerns was that he did not have a son.
Frank Benzies prom-ised that his daughter Georgina Dunn (later Mrs
Ameil) would always have employment in the firm. She was a first
class compositor, carrying on throughout the Second World War at
a time when an elderly bookbinder, Bob Doig, turned his hand to
Monotype casting. Even more important, he kept production going
when supplies were scarce and his boss, Frank Benzies, was a Wing
Commander in the Air Training Corps. Mr Doig had a family connection
with William Chalmers of Dundee who invented the adhesive postage
stamp, and his granddaughter runs the Culross sales data today.
After 1947 the company ran successful stationery businesses in Perth
and Inverness but when markets changed they were closed down. Today,
with its modern plant in Coupar Angus, the firm operates as colour
printers and book printers. The colour boom of recent years has
led to further diversification to print-related products and, within
ten years, a successful range of melamine tableware has been created
under the tradename Strathmore Melamine.
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Volume 3 published 1996
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