The Gateside Printing Company

THE GATESIDE PRINTING CO., Silk, Wool and Calico Printers, Barrhead, near Glasgow.

    For many generations past the manufacture of textile fabrics and the industries auxiliary to that trade have formed one of the most important of the staple productions of this great commercial centre, and have contributed in no small measure to the substantial mercantile prosperity of the district. Among the leading houses engaged in this branch of activity, special distinction must be assigned to the Gateside Printing Company, silk, wool, and calico printers, whose extensive works at Barrhead supply the subject of this brief descriptive sketch.

    The business was originally established half-a-century ago by Messrs. Glen and Macindoe, who were then engaged in the block printing trade, and who continued this branch solely until about 1865, at which date the firm was reconstructed under the style of Messrs. Glen, Macindoe, and Hall. About this time, machinery was introduced for printing by steam power, and the firm enlarged the scope of their operations by including Delaines and fine dress flannels to the other productions of the works. Subsequently Mr. Hall retired from the firm, and the title was altered to Messrs. Glen, Macindoe, and Pollard, which was altered to The Gateside Printing Company, the present style of the firm, in 1880.

    In 1851 the firm were awarded the prize medal at the great Exhibition in Hyde Park for the superior excellence and economy of their process of printing shawls, in which, at that time, they possessed the reputation of being the leading house in Scotland in that now obsolete branch of industry. The ever varying fluctuations of fashion having decreed the extinction of the shawl, the firm turned their attention to another field of enterprise, and decided to embark in the calico printing, and, commencing with handkerchiefs, rapidly acquired the high reputation they still retain for the superior quality of design and workmanship which distinguish their productions in this department.

    The premises are of spacious dimensions, and are fully equipped with plant and appliances of improved modern construction, including six printing machines and twenty-six engines of sufficient capacity for the production of the immense quantity of goods required to keep pace with the steady demand. The works, including the dam, cover a total area of ten acres in extent and are supplied with a constant and unfailing stream of the purest water, a vital necessity in the processes of the trade, derived from “Glen Killoch’s sunny braes”, the lovely spot so often celebrated in the songs of Tannahill. A large number of hands is employed in the various departments of the works under the capable direction of the principals, whose long and practical experience in every detail of the trade ensures perfection of design and finish in every article produced at the works.

Back to Index of Firms (1891)