Hamilton, McCulloch & Co.

Hamilton, McCulloch & Co., Coalmasters, Bog and Home Farm Colleries, near Hamilton. Head office, 88, Great Clyde Street.
Branch offices, 111, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; 5, Shields Road, Pollokshields ; 34, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh ; 3, Chapel Street, Greenock.
'Telegraphic address, “Coal, Glasgow”, Glasgow Telephone number, 633.—

    Both as a commercial commodity and as an industrial factor coal is one of the strongest bulwarks and supports of our national greatness in trade, and therefore to those who mine for this invaluable substance position must be accorded prominently and distinctively among the promoters of British prosperity both at home and abroad. In the generally even distribution of the coal deposits of the United Kingdom, Scotland has not by any means been neglected. The Scottish coalmasters and owners have long been well known for the spirit of enterprise in which they have developed the hidden treasure at their disposal, and among them the firm of Messrs. Hamilton, McCulloch & Co. have maintained every honourable tradition of the trade in a most creditable manner.

    This firm are the leasees of the Bog and Home Farm Collieries, which are situated in the parish of Hamilton, county of Lanark, and forming part of the rich mineral field belonging to the Duke of Hamilton. Messrs. Hamilton, McCuIloch & Co. are said to have been amongst the first to undertake coal-mining on the formation of the Lesmahagow Branch of the Caledonian Railway, and for many years they have held a post among the foremost coalmasters of the west of Scotland, controlling a volume of business whose constant growth and increase have been commensurate with the energetic spirit that has at all times characterised their administrative policy.

    The Bog and Home Farm Collieries produce very superior qualities of Ell, Main, Splint, and Cannel coal, all of which enjoy a high reputation. There is no better coal to be had in Scotland than Messrs. Hamilton, McCulloch & Co.’s Ell coal for house use, while the Main coal is likewise an excellent household coal, and meets with high favour both at home and abroad for steam and general purposes also. The eminent authority of Dr. W. Wallace, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., F.I.C., can be cited in recommendation of Messrs. Hamilton, McCulloch & Co.’s Splint coal, which has been pronounced to be a first-rate coal of its species, well adapted for raising steam, for use in pottery kilns, and for furnaces generally. This coal has been found to possess a particularly good heating power, combined with a low average of sulphur and ash. The same coal is strongly recommended also by Mr. D. Drummond, of the Caledonian Railway Locomotive Department, as one of the most satisfactory of Scotch coals for locomotive use ; and the well-known firm of Messrs. Dubs & Co., Glasgow Locomotive Works, additionally attest its excellence by making constant use of it. The same firm have found the dross of the Splint coal good for steam-raising.

    Messrs. Hamilton. McCulloch & Co.’s Cannel coal has achieved a considerable celebrity as a gas coal, its yield in gas being large in volume and excellent in illuminating power, and in coke thoroughly first class in quality. Specialities of the firm are — “Selected Nuts”, expressly chosen for gas making ; “Washed Nuts”, for kitchen ranges ; and “Washed Dross” and “ Ell Dross”, for general furnace purposes.

    The equipment of the pits of the Bog and Home Farm Collieries touches perfection as an illustration of complete modem mining system and organisation. The daily output is between twelve and fourteen hundred tons. This latter circumstance affords a clue to the nature and extent of the firm’s trade The firm send their coal to all parts of the United Kingdom, and they also control a large amount of export trade, shipping from Glasgow, Greenock, Leith, Granton, Grangemouth, South Alloa, Dundee, Ayr, Troon, and Ardrossan, extensive consignments to all the continental ports, as well as to the West Indies, San Francisco, and South America. Both at home and abroad the coal thus supplied finds always a ready and profitable market, and the favour in which it is held by every class of the community making use of it is a gratifying consummation of the firm’s continuous endeavours to place in every market to which their operations extend a coal of first-rate quality and reliability.

Back to Index of Firms (1888)