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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 year 1848 saw George Richardson, who started printing in High
Street in 1829, appointed to succeed Khull as University Printer.
Although Richardson had printed for the University for almost twenty
years before his official appointment, his workshop was a very small
one. It only had hand presses, no cutting equipment, and long runs
were sent out to other machine printers. His regular employees numbered
four or five journeymen and three apprentice compositors, with one
journeyman and one apprentice pressman. One man who had trained
as a compositor and pressman was allowed within the trade rules
to do both jobs. Richardson was a strict employer, but, even so,
he kept his regular staff on through the slack summer months. His
restricted workshops were in sharp contrast to those erected by
University Printer Duncan at Villafield in 1818. When Richardson
died in 1872 his whole plant was valued at only £213 17s.
10d. plus stock of paper at £15 13s. 5d.
This sum James MacLehose Senior, advanced on account of his brother,
Robert MacLehose Senior. A further sum of £150 was also paid
for the goodwill. In April 1892 Robert MacLehose was appointed University
Printer. This was in competition with other well known names, such
as Bell & Bain (who around 1853 were printing technical works
in Glasgow for Charles Griffin, London, who had been appointed Publisher
to the University in that year) and Aird & Coghill (another
well known name which was a major printing company in Glasgow into
the third quarter of the twentieth century). It is said that the
output from the University Press under MacLehose often reached as
much in a day as it had done in six months in Richardson’s
time, and as University Printer MacLehose continued to maintain
the high standards of excellence of his productions which had been
the benchmark of his small works in Ayr — opened in 1864. In
Ayr he had begun successful connections with the brothers Daniel
and Alexander Macmillan who were apprentice booksellers. This later
led to an increasing volume of work done by the Glasgow University
Press for Messrs Macmillan & Co. and for other London publishers.
Although there is evidence that some early form of trade society
existed in Edinburgh before the end of the eighteenth century, the
trade society proper was instituted in Glasgow in 1817. The Regulations
of the Glasgow Society, published in 1820, set out its objectives
and explained how they were to be achieved.
First, to provide for such members as require to leave the city
for want of employment, without pecuniary means.
Second, to furnish, with facility, money to strangers as cannot
find employment in the city.
Third, to co-operate with other places in exposing irregular workmen,
and maintaining a friendly intercourse throughout the Trade.
These objectives are of particular interest as they indicate what
was most likely the form and purpose of Societies at this time.
They were concerned mainly with the relief of unemployment under
the ‘tramping system’, in which an unemployed member was
issued with a card by his society, establishing his membership and,
armed with this, he travelled on foot (‘tramped’) around
the country in search of work. At the same time the Societies kept
a watching brief on wage rates as far as the law allowed.
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Volume 2 published 1994
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