Category: Out and about

By 1844 the company of P. & R. Fleming described itself as an iron merchant and ironmongers 29 Argyll Street and 18 Stockwell Street, Glasgow.

The company’s base remained firmly in Glasgow. By 1874 it had a branch establishment at 1 Downhill Place, Patrick. It opened its works in Kelvin Street, Patrick, by 1889. Premises were opened up in Edinburgh, in the Grassmarket, by 1896. It had stands at the Edinburgh and Cupar Corn Exchanges in 1928 – as had a number of the leading implement and machine makers in Scotland.

The company developed a specialist range of trades and manufactures. By the mid 1850s it described itself as smiths and weighing machine makers. The company continued to develop its expertise and trades. By 1889 it described itself as wire fence and gate manufacturers and as having an agricultural implement warehouse. It was to become renowned as a structural engineer. These were to form its major activities until the company passed a special resolution to voluntarily wind up its affairs which it passed on 11 August 1982.

In 1940 the company described itself as an agricultural implement manufacturer, anvil manufacturer, axl maker, belt and screw maker, colliery plant merchant and furnisher, corrugated iron merchant, constriuctional engineer, engineers’ furnisher, engineer and mill furnisher, felt manufacturer, fencing contractor, galvaniser, also iron house and roof constructor, grindstone maker, hoop merchant, horse-shoe nail manufacturer, house furnishing ironmonger, iron church builder, iron door maker, iron fence maker, iron founder and iron forger, iron house and roof instructor, iron merchant, retail iron founder, iron and steel bridge builder, lawn mower maker, nail maker, plough maker, roofing, scale-beam maker, screw maker, smith, spade and shovel maker, steel manufacturer and merchant, steel roof builder and structural engineer, wire merchant, and wire netting manufacturer. Quite a list of specialisms, trades and activities.

The company actively promoted its manufactures at the Highland Show from 1867, though it was a sporadic exhibitor until the early 1890s. Thereafter it was a regular exhibitor until 1954. It was awarded a minor silver medal for its collection at the 1875 show. It also entered machines to the Society’s trial of binders in 1893 and swathe turners in 1905. It was a regular advertiser in the agricultural press, especially the North British Agriculturist, from 1863.

The company was a major agricultural implement agent from at least 1867. In that year it acted as an agent for Richmond & Chandler, Manchester, and Samuelson & Co., Banbury. By 1896 its agencies included ones for R. Hornsby & Sons Ltd, Grantham, Walter A. Wood Mowing & Reaping Machine Co., London, Harrison, McGregor & Co. Ltd, Leigh, Blackstone & Co. Ltd, Stamford, T. Bradford & Co., Manchester, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies Ltd, Ipswich, Richmond & Chandler. These agencies ensured that the Scottish farmers had implements and machines from the leading English makers.
Look out for the Fleming name at rallies and other events – though most of their manufacturers were found as structural elements of the farm, in fencing and buildings.

The photographs of the P. & R. Fleming weighing machine were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, September 2015.

The Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement undertook an important survey of agriculture and rural improvement in Britain from 1793 to 1817. This series was referred to as the County Agricultural Surveys, with each report having the title “General View of the Agriculture of the County of …”. Each survey generally focused on a county or a small number of counties.

Each survey was systematically undertaken and written up under a number of headings. These included geographical state and circumstances, state of property, buildings, mode of occupation, enclosing, draining, arable and grass grounds, implements, gardens and orchards, woods and plantations, wastes, livestock, rural economy, political economy, obstacles to improvement, and means of improvement.

The accounts contained detailed accounts of the implements and machines used in each county, together with the changes that were being made to them.

The account for Clydesdale (Lanarkshire), written by John Naismith, provides a range of insights into the character and state of implements used in that county. It is worth quoting at length:

“The ploughs used here are, 1st, the Scotch plough: this well-known instrument has long been esteemed the best for ploughing stiff or stony land. It was preferred to some of the later invented ploughs, as setting up the furrow with a bold shoulder, and so furnishing a plentiful mould to cover the seed. Some improvements have lately been made on it, particularly the head, beam, and stilts or handles, are made shorter, in order to make it easier drawn. It is still found, however, to require greater power to work it than some others, and therefore, since ploughing with only two horses is become more prevalent, this plough is on less esteem.
2ndly, a little plough, brought to this county many years ago from Northumberland; it seems to be the same with that described by Lord Kaimes, under the name of the Rotherham plough, and has been found to answer very well for stirring of fallow.
3dly the Rutherglen plough, invented for the purpose of turning up the deep soil of the valleys with a strong furrow: it has been used chiefly in the neighbourhood of that town.
4thly, Small’s plough: the improvements which this ingenious mechanic made in the construction of the plough, make it easier drawn, and it quickly obtained reputation, and was generally adopted. But it fell short of the perfection aimed at, and has undergone many modulations, almost every plough-wright having its own particular cast of the mould-plate, &c.
5thly, Wilkie of Uddingston’s plough: this profound artist has had the good fortune to discover every thing requisite to the construction of a complete plough, and formed an implement the best adapted to the purpose, of any that has yet appeared in this county. It turns up the furrow with a bold shoulder, like that for which the Scotch plough was valued. Its shape, like that of a well-tapered wedge, turns over the soil with the application of very moderate powers; and its broad-winged share leaves nothing unstirred. There are instance of other different constructions of ploughs, but they seem only to be variations of the kinds above-enumerated.
The common harrows, which are still the most generally used, with four bills or beams, containing 20 teeth, are much the same as have been described in the Reports from other counties. It is found necessary, both for reducing stiff ground, and collecting the roots of weeds, to give the teeth a considerable evil forward, so as to stand at an angle of from 70 degrees to 75 degrees with the plain of the harrow. There are others heavier, commonly called brakes, of different weights and constructions, according to the fancy of the owner, and the purposes for which they are intended. Of late, pairs of jointed harrows have been introduced, each having three bills, and the pair connected by joints, by which, while they are kept together, they are allowed to ply to the surface; the teeth area also placed so as not to follow one another directly in the line of draught. These are drawn by a pair of horses, and have been found to be very executive.
The roller is an important implement in the culture of the fields. Besides smoothing the surface, and bruising clods, to forward pulverisation, the use of it can never be too much recommended for condensing open soils, in the droughts which frequently succeed in seed time. Even in the heavy soils, which are for the most part but too solid, the application of the roller is of great importance, during the droughts of the spring. By pressing down the mellowed clods around the roots of young grass and wheat, the plants are re-animated, and a fresh luxuriancy soon appears. By compressing the surface of fields sown with spring corn, which, however solid they may naturally be, heave with the spring drought, the interstices are closed, the moisture retained, the roots of the corn fastened, and the progress of the vermin which prey upon them checked. The rollers here are offer stone, or of solid timber, and very rarely of cast iron, this last being too dear for common husbandmen; but the most approved rollers, and which are now getting pretty much into general use, and hollow cylinders built of wood, the circumference clothed round with strong plank; the diameter is about three feet, and the roller is divided into two equal parts, which turn round on an iron axis. The largeness of the diameter makes the draught so easy, that one horse can pull as much weight as two could do of solid stone, and the division of the roller into two parts facilitates the turning, the half on the inside moving back, while that on the outside comes forward.
The drilling implements are, the turnip drill, and one which, by changing nut upon the axis which turns round at the bottom of a hopper, sows wither beans or smaller grain. Both of these sow only one drill at a time, and are used chiefly in the upper part of the county, the heavy sold lower down being less adapted to the drill husbandry. The instruments used for horse-hoeing, are small ploughs of different constructions, all of them very simple.
It is needles to describe the spade, the hand-how, the wheel-barrow, &c simple instruments which, in the hands of the dextrous and intelligent labourer, are perhaps not much less important than all the machinery which has yet been invented for cultivating the ground.
An instrument composed of two sticks joined by a pin, and resembling the smith;s tongs in appearance and use, is applied to pull thistles and docks in the corn fields; but the dock-iron is the fittest instrument for clearing grass grounds of docks. In all cases where the hoe cannot be used, if smaller weeds appeared to prevail so much as to injure the crop, women and children used to be employed to pull them with the hand; but from the scarcity of such hands, and the high price of labour, this is almost given up. Husbandmen now, when annual weeds appear to prevail much among the spring corn, harrow the ground while the weeds are young, and their roots have not taken a deep hold.
The carts of this county are still mostly of a plain and simple construction, at the same time light and strong; but, of late, many alterations ane new constructions have been introduced, which probably tend much more to increase the expense than to add to the conveniency. Indeed, refinements of this kind seem to be unwisely followed in the constructions of many implements of husbandry, and particularly in carts, harnessing, &c so that a horse seems to groan under a load of iron and leather, without any good purpose being served. But the iron axle ought certainly to be excepted, as it compensates in durability, and diminution of friction, the expense of purchase and the weight it adds to the carriage. The general effect, however, of all such refinements, is to abstract a part of the stock of husbandmen from its proper employment. Carts are drawn by a single horse, experience having evinced that, in this way, the animal is capable of the greatest exertion.
The sickle is almost the only instrument used in reaping. Several mowing instruments have been introduced, but soon given up, and now that thrashing-mills are coming much into se, it is probable the use of the sickle will be still more confirmed, as corn thus reaped is in best order for thrashing in the mill.
Every farm has manners, and there are now a good many thrashing-mills in different parts of the county. Where these are wanting, a considerable part of the corn is thrashed with flails by the farm servants, in the winter mornings, by candle light.

Haven’t farm implements and machines changed significantly over the last two centuries!

The photographs of the wooden implements were taken at the Strathnairn vintage rally, 2015.

Did you ever keep a diary? Farmer’s diaries are a great resource for remembering the past and our agricultural history. They record a wide range of activities and events, including details of the weather (and especially backward seasons), tasks undertaken, the delivery of new implements and machines, and notable events that happened on the farm. Some diaries have short entries, while others are more descriptive.

My father kept a diary of his activities in western Midlothian in the 1950s and 1960s. It is straight to the point, having very short entries which describe exactly what he was doing and the key events on the farm: “painting baler”; “leading in”, “start digging potatoes”, and “finish digging potatoes”.

The diary is a helpful record for the use of particular implements and machines. His diary for October 1958 notes that he had a baler which he was painting on 4 October. It must have been new on the farm in that year as the harvest was being cut by both binder and combine harvester. Indeed, on 1 and 2 October my father was re-stooking grain, while on 7 October, “combine comes-finishes 11th”. He must have been using a contractor with a combine harvester as all the grain was cut by binder in the following year. It was one way to trial these new machines!

The entry for 8 November records that he was bringing a tipper trailer from Gardener’s Crescent. This was the Rosemount Works of Alexanders of Edinburgh Limited, one of the main machinery dealers that dealt with farmers to the west of Edinburgh, and in the Edinburgh area. Alexanders had started up as Alexander & Co. motor agents, in Lothian Road, Shandwick Place and Nottingham Place, Edinburgh, around the end of the First World War. It was a Ford agent, for both cars and tractors. It took part in the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s tractor trials in 1922 – marking it out as one of the early companies interested in tractors for the farm in Scotland. My father (and grandfather) used Alexander’s for many years after the last war: it had its dealer plate on the side of most of our Ford tractors, and we purchased a good deal of implements and machines from it as well.

The summer of 1958 was a backward one. October saw my father re-stooking sheaves in the early days of the month, combining in early October, as well as undertaking the usual task of digging the tatties. But the end of the month was spent baling hay and straw. leading the harvest was not completed until 25 October.

The diagram on the left hand page – that was a map of the stackyard with its roads and stacks. My father was meticulously working out how the year’s harvest was to be set out in the stackyard.
If you have a farming diary, have a look through it and see what it says about the farming practices and implements and machines that were being used in particular years. Its surprising the memories that come back. Even talk about the diary with the younger generations. I’m sure that the old diaries will come to have an even greater significance with them in bringing yesterday’s farming back to life.

Scotland was an important centre for the manufacture of corn rick stands. A number of the makers were well-known, and included Thomas Gibson & Son, Bainfield Ironworks, West Fountainbridge, Edinburgh.

Thomas Gibson & Son started life as another company: Gibson & Tait, iron and wire workers, smiths, and agricultural implement makers at Bainfield; it was operating under that name in 1868. It was renowned for its manufactures, being awarded a silver medal for its collection of gates, fencing and other manufactures at the Highland Show in 1870. In the following year it won a medium silver medal for its collection. A further silver medal was to come in 1872 and 1873.

The partnership between Messrs J. Charles Tait and Thomas Gibson was dissolved by mutual consent on 7 November 1873, leaving Mr Gibson, free to carry on the business of the company. By the late 1860s Thomas Gibson was operating under a new name: Thomas Gibson & Son. It was a name that was to continue until at least the First World War. During that time the company remained a Bainfield, but also had a premises at Gibson Terrace from at least 1901.

The company undertook a wide range of trades and manufactures. From the mid 1870s it was an agricultural implement maker and agent, engineer, engineer and machine maker, iron bedstead maker, iron bridge builder, iron fence manufacturer, iron fence and hurdle manufacturer, iron founder, iron gate and palisading manufacturer, iron girder builder, ironmonger, ironmonger and smith, iron railings and ornamental gate manufacturer, iron roof manufacturer, iron and steel bridge builder, iron and wire fence maker, smith, wire cloth, wire netting and fence manufacturer, and wire fence manufacturer. Its trades are reflected in its manufactures. They included ornamental iron and wire summerhouses, entrance gates, field gates, continuous fencing, turnstiles, hurdles, tree guards, corn rick stands, horse rakes, fodder racks, feeders, wheel barrows, stable racks, iron and wire chairs, garden chairs, potato baskets and wire netting.

The company had started to make iron corn rick stands by 1875. These were a framework of iron spars which interlocked together in an octagonal shape which had a stool at each corner and one in the The stools were designed to ensure that rats did not climb up them: they were mushroom shaped with an overhang which was to be difficult for rats to climb over. They were made in a number of sizes (as were those from other makers). It continued to make a selection of them until 1919.

As with Gibson & Tait, Thomas Gibson continued to exhibit at the Highland Show, also winning awards for his manufactures. They included a silver medal for a wrought iron field gate in 1874 and iron hurdles for sheep pens in 1885; a minor silver medal for its general collection in 1875 and 1876. Thomas widely advertised in the Scottish agricultural press, notably the North British Agriculturist.

Allan Brothers, engineers, 102 West North Street, Aberdeen, were engineers well as a gas engine manufacturer, mechanical engineer, oil engine manufacturer and a machinery oil merchant and refiner.

By 1901 Allan Brothers had moved its premises to the Ashgrove Engineering Works in Back Hilton Road, where it continued its activities until the mid 1950s. The company held its final winding up meeting in February 1957.

A number of the Scottish implement and machine makers became companies limited by guarantee during their years of operation and trading. This transition, made under the companies Acts, involved the transfer of a business to a new legal structure, directors and shareholders.

Ben. Reid & Co., Aberdeen, was one such companies that made this transition to a company limited by guarantee. It did so in 1900, and Ben. Reid & Co. Ltd, was incorporated on 26 April 1900. It was a well-known Aberdeen firm of agricultural implement makers, seedsmen and nurseyemn, already having been in business in the mid 1840s, and exhibiting at the Highland Show from 1858.

The company’s Memorandum & Articles of Association provide insights into the transfer of the business and the activities that the new one would undertake. It states:

“Objects of the company established are:
1. To purchase and acquire (1) from Benjamin Reid & Company, seedsmen, nurserymen and florists in Aberdeen, and William Gibson and Alexander Hay, seedsmen and nurserymen there, the individual partners of and Trustees for that firm, the heritable property, leases, stocks in trade, plant, machinery, implements, working tools and appliances, funiture, goodwill of the business, and gooder assets of that firm, on 31st October 1899, as specified in the Minute of Agreement hereinafter referred to; and (2) from Benjamin Reid & Company, engineers and agricultural implement makers, of Bon Accord Works, Aberdeen, and the said William Gibson and Alexander Hay, the individual partners of and trustees for that firm (whose business has been carried on as a concern separate form that of the firm first above mentioned and under different conditions of partnership), the heritable properties, lease, stock in trade, plant, machinery, working tools and appliances, furniture, goodwill of business, patent and other trade rights, trade marks and trade names and other assets of that firm, on 31st October 1899, as specified in the Minute of Agreement hereinafter referred to, and for the purposes above narrated to adopt and to cary into effect the Minute of Agreement above referred to, being a Minute of Agreement dayted the 25th day of April, 1900, entered into by (first), the said firm of Benjamin Reid & Company, seedsmen, nurserymen, and florists, and the said William Gibson and Alexander Hay, the individual partners of that firm, as individuals and as Trustees for it, and (second) the said firm of Benjamin Reid & Company, engineers and agricultural implement makers, and the said William Gibson and Alexander Hay, the individual partners of that firm, as individuals and as Trustees for it, on the one part and Robert Gordon Wilson, architect in Aberdeen, as Trustee, acting provisionally for this company, on the other part, this company taking the place of the purchaser, thereunder, a copy of which Minute of Agreement is set forth in the schedule of the company’s Articles of Association, and alos to enter into any new agreement with the said two firms of Benjamin Reid & Company or either of them, and the partners and Trustees for these firms or either of them, as such parties and Trustees and also as individuals. …
1. To carry on all or any of the businesses of wholesale and retail seed merchants, nurserymen, arboculturists, horticulturists, florists, fruiterers, farmers, graziers, live stock breeders, gardeners, foresters, seed growers, grain merchants, dealers in and producers and manufacturers of manures and feeding stuffs, and producers of all kinds of farm, nursery and garden produce.
2. To carry on all or any of the businesses of agricultural and general engineers, locomotive builders, bridge builders, agricultural and horticultural builders and implement makers, manufacturers of gardeners’ and foresters’ tools, implements and machinery, and of motor cars and other vehicles,a nd of gas, oil and electric engines, and of wagons and steam road rollers, and of salt and sand distributors for tramways, and of all kinds of fencing, wire-netting and wirework, and of all other kinds of machinery plant. tools, instruments and appliances, cartwrights, millwrights, wheelwrights, founders, moulders, workers, fitters and finishers or iron, brass, copper, and any other metals, blacksmiths, carpenters, joiners, painters, decorators, general builders, architects and draftsmen. …”
The capital of the company was £50,000, divided into 15,000 preferred shares of £1 each, and 35,000 ordinary shares of £1 each. The company had power to increase or reduce the capital.
The company continued in business for a few years thereafter. The company made an extraordinary resolution to wind up the company on 4 February 1907. The final winding up meeting was held on 10 May 1909.

The photographs were taken at the Fife Vintage Agricultural Machinery Rally, June 2015.

A well-known Banffshire implement and machine maker was Auchinachie & Simpson, Mid Street, Keith. It was already undertaking its business at that address by 1868; it continued to be associated with that address until at least the First World War. After 1920 the company, as Auchinachie & Simpson Ltd, was located in Keith, Morayshire. However, it passed a resolution to voluntarily wind up the company on 12 September 1923. It held its final winding up meeting on 25 February 1927.

The company undertook a number of trades. From the mid 1870s it was an agricultural implement maker, general implement dealer, machinery broker and dealer, mechanical engineer, smith, and smith and farrier. Its manufactures included ploughs, harrows, seed sowing machines, grubbers and manure sowers. It was also an agent for a number of key Scottish and English makers, which allowed it to sell a wider range of manufactures, including mowers, reapers and binders, which had a huge impact on north-eastern farming. Its agencies included those for W. N. Nicholson & Son, Newark on Trent, Walter A. Wood, London, Macdonald Brothers, Portsoy, Harrison, McGregor, Leigh, Lancashire. D. M. Osborne & Co., London.

The company was a forward-looking one, advertising and promoting its manufactures at the Highland Show from 1876 onwards until 1923. It was awarded a silver medal for its collection by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1876. It entered its manufactures at a number of the Society’s high profile trials, including the trial for three tined-grubbers in 1885, grass seed sowing machines in 1887 and manure distributors in 1899. It was an advertiser in the North British Agriculturist from March 1870 until July 1911.

We learn a good deal about the company when it became incorporated in May 1919. A prospectus, issued in May 1919 outlines how the company developed, and its aspirations for the future:

“This company has been formed for the purpose of acquiring and carrying on the business of Auchinachie & Simpson, agricultural implement makers and engineers, Keith.
The business of Auchinachie & Simpson is one of the oldest of its kind in the north of Scotland, having been established in 1866, since which date it has been continuously carried on with success. The firm has a wide connection in the north of Scotland and elsewhere. For some years immediately precedung the War, it was developing a connection in the Colonies, and there is every reason to expect that this trade can be resumed and further developed.
Mr James Auchinachie, who has been connected with the business for the last 53 years, and who for the last ten years has been a sole proprietor of the firm, is vendor to the promoters.
It has been decided to convert the firm into a limited company with the view of securing additional capital for the development of the business, for the erection of additional premises if and when necessary, and also with the view to stimulating interest in a local industry.
The vendor has made an offer to sell to the promoters his whole assets, including the goodwill of the business, for the sum of £2300, which will be open for acceptance for three months from the 10th of March 1919.
The business will be taken over with right to profits since the 10th of March 1919. The company will acquire the firm’s property in Mid Keith, held in feu (£300), the whole machinery, fittings, and plant, utensils, office furniture, and others connected with the business (£612 5 6), the whole stock in trade (£864 2 7). output between the date of the above offer (10th March) and date of valuation (20th march) less expenses £145), patent rights, trade marks, designs, patterns, valued by promoters (£178 11 11), and goodwill (£200).
The business in the past has been profitable and successful and that the vendor’s sole reason for disposal is advancing age. Looking to the engineering reputation of the firm acquired and maintained for many years, the numbers of orders on hand, and the large demand for agricultural implements both at home and abroad, shareholders may reasonably expect a profitable return on the capital employed.
The 76 shareholders included a cross-section of the local community, including a manufacturing chemist, plasterer, cattle dealer, farmers, a chartered accountant, grocer, wooden manufacturer, bank agent, solicitor, sadler, hairdresser, collector of taxes, advocate, bookseller, lecturer in agriculturer and a veterinary surgeon. Most of them – some 45 – were from Keith; few others were from outwit north-east Scotland.

The first a.g.m. of the limited company showed that it was making mixed progress. The business was carried out under the management of Mr Robert Boyd, who had been in the employment of the firm for over 20 years. However, two key figures died: James Auchinachie and James McWilliam. The company adopted the policy of equipping the company with the best plant available, so as to provide for economical production and a greatly increased output. New premises were erected inballoch Road, Leith, at a cost of around £2500. New plant was also purchased. The firm’s reputation for high quality continued to be fully continued. The productions of the company continued to be held in high regard by the agricultural community and the company had a large number of orders in hand.
The fortunes of the company changed and by September 1921 the company was making a significant loss (£924). There were further losses in following years, such as 1923, which led the company to resolve to wind up.

Auchinachie & Simpson: a key maker in Keith, and north-east Scotland.

The photographs of the hand drawn byre scraper were taken at the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum, August 2014.

In recent weeks we have posted the details of the key Scottish agricultural implement and machine makers in 1949 and 1964. Today, we post a list of the key makers from 1970. A number of the key names are missing, but a number still remain.

The remaining makers include:

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported Scottish agricultural implement makers Facebook in 2017 (and in previous years). I have really appreciated all your support and enthusiasm.

I’m looking forward to the vintage tractor and machinery rally season in 2018. It isn’t too many many months until the new season starts!

We often think of the large threshing mills that travelled around the farms, or that were stationed in the stackyards, as the only ways that threshing was undertaken within living memory. Threshing mill makers were well-ware of the potential of having smaller mills that could be used on the smallest farms and by crofters.

Back in the 1870s millwrights were starting to develop smaller thrashing machines that could be operated by foot power. In 1876 at the Highland Show, Shearer Brothers, Maybank Works, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, showed for the first time their “foot power thrashing mill” that it described as a “new invention”. It won one of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s medium silver medal.