John Watson

John Watson, Coalmaster, 123, St. Vincent Street.—

    The magnitude and importance of the coal trade and industry in Scotland are well illustrated in the operations of such a business as that controlled by Mr. John Watson, Coalmaster, of St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. This house ranks among the largest of its kind centred officially in Glasgow, and dates its history back over a period of forty-two years to the time when it was founded by Mr. John Watson, its present principal and proprietor, who is one of the largest individual coalmasters in Scotland.

    The mining properties of the house are very extensive and valuable, and their products include some of the finest coal mined in the Scottish coalfields. Mr. Watson owns a large colliery at Earnock, and is proprietor of the fine estate of Earnock, in Lanarkshire. He is lessee of colleries at Motherwell, in the same county, and at Slamanan, Stirlingshire. At the Stirlingshire mines there is a large production of coke as well as of coal for all purposes.

    The reputation of the house stands very high, and deservedly so, for the excellence and uniform reliability of its supplies, and an enormous volume of trade is carried on, distributing the coal of this firm, directly and indirectly, to every quarter of the globe. Widespread and influential connections are maintained, the commercial relations of the house being especially well established with shippers, railway companies, and private families. In Glasgow the delivery system embraces the whole of the city and the suburban districts, and is constantly in busy operation. For the past twenty-five years the business has been conducted from its Glasgow head offices, at the present address in St. Vincent Street.

    The sole direction of the business during the forty-two years that have elapsed since its first inception has remained vested in Mr. John Watson, and his spirited and honourable policy of administration has been a permanent and principal factor in the substantial success his house has achieved, and has tended to win and to retain the confidence of all with whom he has had dealings. Mr. John Watson, apart from his prominent commercial position, is a gentleman widely and highly respected in both public and private life. He has always taken a deep and active interest in civic and municipal affairs, and is now deputy lieutenant for the county of Lanarkshire and a justice of the peace.

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