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A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Glasgow Printing Industry
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Part Four - The Era of
Industrialisation
The new process of printing by lithography was developing in Glasgow
some twenty years into the nineteenth century. The name of the first
printer to use lithography in Glasgow is somewhat uncertain but
Thomas Murdoch, in presenting a paper to the Old Glasgow Club in
March 1902 entitled The Early History of Lithography in Glasgow,
highlights names of printers involved with the process around the
1820s. A Hugh Wilson was apprenticed to Mr Blackie of Paisley and
later to Lumsden’s, a successful copperplate printer and stationer,
who sold his printing business to Wilson in 1819. Wilson was first
located at 67 Argyle Street at the foot of Queen Street (Anderson’s
Polytechnic Warehouse took over the site) before moving to 43 Argyle
Street where he employed litho printers at between 14 and 16 shillings
for a 66-hour week. After he visited Paris in 1829 he provided specimens
of chalk printing, and in 1839 he intimated he was printing borders
in colour. Wilson purchased a litho press in France for 6,000 francs
and had it working by 1854. A James Wilson is mentioned in the first
issue of the Northern Looking Glass (6 August 1825) as having a
lithographic press at 169 George Street and as seeking work. Also
at this time there was work issued under the imprint of ‘Cleland
Litho’. Murdoch also mentions two other firms, namely Maclure
& MacDonald in Glasgow, and Gilmour & Dean in Hamilton.
The
former were established in the Trongate in 1835 by Andrew Maclure
and Archibald Gray MacDonald, who set up as engravers and lithographic
printers. They soon moved to 57 Buchanan Street and in 1851 installed
a Sigl machine from Germany capable of printing 600 sheets per hour.
The firm was considered to be the first in the UK to use steam power
for lithographic printing. It continued to expand and branches were
established in Liverpool in 1840, London 1845 and Manchester 1886.
At this time Frank Maclure, one of Andrew’s sons, was made
lithographer to Queen Victoria. Andrew Maclure died in 1885. The
firm moved to a large building of five storeys which they built
in Bothwell Street. Around this time they had no fewer than thirty-seven
large lithographic machines and around 200 employees. The firm did
not restrict itself to lithographic printing and was appointed letterpress
and ornamental printer to King William IV. These were heady days,
but more recently the company encountered difficult trading conditions
and in December 1992 its assets were acquired by I. R. Reid Printers
of Blantyre.
Gilmour & Dean Ltd began business at 86 Buchanan Street, Exchange
Place, on 1 May 1846 by the partnership of Alexander Davidson Dean
and John Bowie Gilmour. Both were skilled engravers and lithographers
and a successful business was built up supplying bank notes to all
the Scottish banks. This partnership continued successfully until
the death of John Bowie Gilmour on 14 April 1891.
On 24 March 1892 Dean acquired the assets of Gilmour from his trustees
and continued to run the business under its original name but as
sole owner. Dean continued as chairman of the company until his
retirement in 1909, at the age of 95. His descendants remained as
shareholders until 1987. The company moved to Hamilton in 1960 and
continue there in business today mainly producing high quality labels
primarily for the wines and spirits industry.
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Volume 2 published 1994
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