As well as the larger implement and machine makers in the towns, cities and some larger villages, there were a large number of small businesses scattered throughout rural Scotland which served the farming community with implements and machines or repaired them. They included engineers, millwrights and smiths. Over time, some of them also started to stock a small number of implements and machines from other makers, and acted as local agents, a role that could transform their businesses.
One of these businesses was Thomas Fairgrieve, a millwright, engineer and cycle agent at the Cockholm Works, Stow, Midlothian. By 1914 Thomas was joined by his sons in his business, which became known as Thomas Fairgrieve & Sons.
The business made significant changes to its operating structure in 1938 which led to a change of name to Thomas Fairgrieve & Sons Limited. The company’s memorandum and articles of association provide information about its activities.
These are worth quoting:
“The objects for which the company is established are: (1) To carry on in Scotland and elsewhere the business of motor, electrical, mechanical, constructional and general engineers and merchants, agents for and dealers (wholesale and retail) in every kind and description of motor and other vehicles and appliances, water and aircraft, and appliances and utensils, accessories, requisites, implements and articles for use in or in connection with such businesses. (2) To carry on the business of motor garage proprietors, hirers, repairers, carriers of passengers and goods, contractors, general agents and technical constructors in the use of all motor vehicles and their appliances. (3) To carry on the business of manufacturers of, agents for, dealers in, makers and repairers of all classes of new and second-hand machinery, fittings and apparatus. (4) To carry on the business of manufacturers of, dealers in, hirers and repairers of wireless apparatus, electrical apparatus and appliances, television apparatus, receiving sets, transmitting sets, and all apparatus for the reception or transmission of wireless wares.
(5) To buy, sell, let on hire, repair, alter, and deal in implement parts, accessories and fittings of all kinds for wireless apparatus and all articles and things referred to in (3) here or used, or capable of being used, or capable of being used in connection with the manufacture, maintenance and working thereof. (6) To buy, sell, manufacture, repair, hire, deal in oils, and other metals or minerals, machinery, plant, implements, tools, and other material, apparatus, appliances, articles etc. (7) To carry out the objects of the company as principals, agents, trustees, or otherwise etc.
The company continued to operate until the mid 1970s.
The photographs were taken at the Borders Vintage Rally, Kelso, May 2014.
In 1890 the Scottish agricultural implement makers had an industry association – The Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association – which looked after their interests. The association held an annual meeting at the time of the Highland Show. The following is an account of its meeting in 1890. It provides information on their activities, membership, as well as progress made in recent decades.
“This Society held its annual meeting in the showyard of the Highland and Agricultural Society at Dundee last week. The annual report was laid before the meeting by the secretary, who reported that the Society had, financially, made good progress during the year. In the election of office-bearers, Mr W. Anderson (of Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen), was re-appointed president, and Provost Marshall (of Jack & Sons, Maybole), was elected vice-president. A special resolution was passed, expressed regret at the resignation of Mr J. M. McLeod from the office of vice-president. Mr McLeod, who has been so long and honourably connected with the form of Messrs Nicholson & Son, of Newark, retires having been recently appointed secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, London. He carries with him the good wishes of all the members of the Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association, in whose interests he has faithfully laboured since its foundation.
The annual dinner of the Association was held on Tuesday, 29th July, in the Queen’s Hotel, Dundee. About forty gentlemen sat down. The chair was ably occupied by Mr W. Anderson, of Ben Reid & Co., president of the Association, and Mr J. M. McLeod was croupier. Amongst others present were-Mr Wm Wallace (Glasgow), Provost Marshall (Maybole), Mr J, D, Allan (Dunkeld), Mr Duncan (Murray & Blake, Banff), Mr Baxter (Aberdeen Lime Co.), Mr Turnbull (Carnock), Mr Elder (Berwick), Mr Hunter (Maybole), Mr Sinton (Jedburgh), Mr Pollock (Mauchline), Mr Jones (of J. & F. Howard, Bedford), Mr Du Pont (Walter A. Wood, London), Mr Samuel Edwards (Crowley & Co.), Mr W. Mather (Nicholoson & Son), Mr Harrison (Leigh), Mr Woodroffe (Rugeley), Mr Segar (Hornsby & Sons), Mt Barlord, Mr Waide (Leeds), Mr J. D. Sims (Ipswich), Mr Holden (Leigh), Mr Hattersley (Aylesbury Dairy Co.). Mr Thomas Smith (factor on Cluny estates), Mr R. Macdonald (factor on Ailsa estates), Mr C. Anderson, of N.B. Agriculturist. Following the usual loyal toasts, the Chairman (Mr W. Anderson) proposed “The Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association”. He alluded to the fact that he felt popular pleasure in giving this toast, as he had been connected with the Association from its formation, twenty years ago, and during that time he had attended the shows of the Highland and Agricultural Society without a break. He rejoiced to say that the Association had done good work, and he looked forward to greater achievements in the future. The progress and improvement in machinery had been marvelous, and he would take the opportunity of reminding the members that special interest attached to their visit this year to Forfarshire, which was the cradle of that most valuable invention in agricultural machinery – the reaping machine. After a few remarks as to the use that agricultural journalism has rendered to manufacturers of machinery, he threw out the suggestion which, he trusted, would be well received by the members of the press, that the trade in Scotland should have a journal specially devoted to their interests. He felt sure that implement makers would willingly support a monthly periodical which would be exclusively confined to the discussion of matters in which they were interested. In proposing the toast of their Association, he would couple it with the name of Mr McLeod.
Mr Mcleod, in replying, said he did not think he merited the honour of responding to this toast, and presumed that it fell to him to do so merely from his position as croupier. He was always glad to meet so many good friends from all parts of the country; and it always gave him pleasure to be present on these occasions. He then briefly touched on the work of the Association, and took the opportunity of informing the uninitiated that their affairs were continuing to prosper.
Provost Marshall, of Maybole, proposed, “The English Agricultural Engineers’ Association”. He humorously alluded to the respective merits of English and Scotch makers, and rejoiced that they all met together on such occasions in a friendly and brotherly spirit. Mr Samuel Edwards, of John Crowley & Co., briefly replied on behalf of the English manufacturers. Mr William Wallace, of Glasgow, proposed the important toast of the “Highland” and other Societies”. He strongly deprecated the site which the Society had selected for this year’s show, and trusted their Association would represent the matter to the Society in a forcible manner. He then pointed out the large field open to such a Society as the highland in furthering plans for benefitting the condition of the agricultural labourer, especially in the direction of having proper accommodation for labourers with large families. He coupled with the toast the name of Mr Ranald Macdonald, factor on the Cluny estates, who replied at considerable length, giving interesting details as to the position of the crofters whose families at one time supplied many agricultural labourers for the lowlands. Mr Woodroffe of Rugeley, in a few witty remarks, proposed “The Ladies”, to which Mr Sims, of Ipswich, replied.
Mr Du Pont, of the firm of Walter A. Wood, in a highly laudatory manner, proposed “The Press”, and pointed out the benefits that such Associations as the Scottish Agricultural Engineers derived from skillfully conducted agricultural journals. Mr C. Anderson, of Messrs C. and R. Anderson, proprietors of the N.B. Agriculturist, briefly returned thanks for the very flattering remarks that had been made, and trusted that in the future they would continue to merit the good opinion they had held in the past. At intervals throughout the evening Messrs Jones, Marshall, Dupont, Edwards &c, favoured the company with some admirable popular songs and the singing of “Auld lang Syne: concluded a very enjoyable meeting.”
The 1970s saw a number of major industrial strikes in Britain. These included Ford.
The Ford strikes of 1973 and 1975 had an impact on the supply of tractors in Midlothian and other parts of Scotland. One the tractor dealers reported the impact on their business in each of these years in their annual accounts which are now in the National Archives of Scotland.
For 1973, they wrote: “During the first half of 1973 trading was very good, but following the Ford plant shut-down for three weeks holiday, and the Ford strike for 5 weeks immediately after, coupled with the strikes at Girling and Lucas factories, the supply of vehicles and spare parts from the factory were cut by approximately 50% with the result that trading in the latter part of the year was not as anticipated.“
In 1975 they wrote” “Following the annual shut down at Ford Motor Co. in August, the supply of new Ford vehicles virtually dried up due to strikes and industrial disputes at the various Ford plants, the result of which was no specific allocation of cars being made to dealerships during the latter part of the year.”
What do you remember about the Ford strikes of the 1970s and their impact on tractor supply?
The photographs were taken at the Deeside Rally, August 2017.
In the mid nineteenth century the name of Crichton was associated with Lonmay, Aberdeenshire. The millwright business of James Crichton grew into a thriving and very successful business. By 1919 James Crichton took the step to re-locate his business to Strichen. He had a number of reasons for doing so. As the Aberdeen weekly journal noted in its columns in June that year:
“Mr James Crichton, millwright, who was compelled to shift the site of his engineering works from Lonmay to Strichen owing to the growth of the business, the lack of accommodation for workmen, and the lack of accommodation for workmen, and the necessity for the works being in a more central position, has now got the works in full swing. As a considerable number of men are employed, this new industry should add to the prosperity of the village”.
By 1919 his business was a well-known one. For the 1921 Highland Show, James advertised his business as a “well-known-maker”, also with “a large selection of the latest and most up-to-date threshers all in motion”. He had agents throughout Scotland, all of whom were well known implement and machine makers or machinery agents: Inverness (James Ferries & Co.), Perthshire and Forfarshire (Ford & Paterson, Broughty Ferry), Glasgow (P. & R. Fleming, 16 Graham Square), Linlithgow and surrounding district (A. Newlands & Sons, Ltd), and the Lothians (W. R. Storie, Kelso). By 1922, the business had a depot at 60 Princes Street, Perth; by 1924, it was located at Horse Cross, Perth.
The business incorporated in 1925 to become Crichton’s (Strichen) Ltd, Strichen, and Perth. However, this change was short-lived, as it was voluntarily wound up from 1927. However, by April 1928 James Crichton had established himself as “James Crichton, engineer, Glasgow Road, Perth”, a name and address that continued to be known until at least 1931.
There were further changes. From 1934 James Crichton appears at as a millwright and engineer in Turriff. In the following year he advertised himself as “James Crichton Turriff … threshing machinery the outcome of 70 years’ experience”. By 1948 the business was referred to as “James Crichton, millwright and engineer, Chapel Street Works, Turriff, Aberdeenshire”. It was to move premises, and by 1953 the works were known as “Station Street Works”. That connection with Perth was not, however, lost. In 1949 the business was looking for business premises in Perth. By that time it had a number of long-service employees, such as William Finnie.
James Crichton died in September 1952. The displenishing sale of the stock and plant at the Station Street Works was held on 17 and 18 March 1953, also marking the closing down of the business. But that was not the end of the business or its name.
William Finnie, who had been the works manager for the last ten years acquired the Station Works and permission to carry on business from these premises as a millwright and engineer under the firm name of “James Crichton”, as well as the right to manufacture and supply spares to “Crichton” threshers. By 1969 the company was advertising as “James Crichton, millwrights, bodybuilders and engineers, Turriff”. Next time you see a Crichton threshing mill, you will see a long-established part of the Aberdeenshire tradition of threshing mill making.
The photographs were taken at Davit Vintage Rally, September 2019.
In 1890 Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen, opened a new premises in Aberdeen to enable it to grow its business and to undertake its work more efficiently and effectively. The North British Agriculturist sent one of its journalists to visit the new factory. It is worth quoting at length for the amount of information it provides on the company and its activities:
“We had the pleasure of recently inspecting the famous Bon Accord Implement Works of the Messrs Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen. This well-known firm, whose enterprise and excellence of workmanship have made the Bon Accord implements known and highly prized not only in this country, but wherever there are crops to be sown and harvests to be reaped, has for many years consisted solely of two gentlemen-Mr William Anderson and Mr Robert Garvie. The former gentleman is invariably found at the head of the firm’s stand at every agricultural gathering of any consequence in the three kingdoms; while the latter is found with equal regularity at the head of that garrison of industry, where the implements are produced by which the conquests of the firm are year by year extended. Mr William Anderson is the beau ideal of the implement exhibitor, as he is fully equipped not only with the suaviter in modo, but also with the fortiter in re. His naturally genial disposition is mated with a robust confidence in the dignity of his calling, and the very important use which the implement maker renders to the agricultural community. He pushes the sale of his goods on the invulnerable principle of giving good value for a good price; and the cheap-jack who wants to beat down the price, and buy first-class implements at the current rate for scamped work, invariably gets short shrift at his hands. He has always stood boldly out for the exhibitors of implements receiving more generous recognition from the leading agricultural societies than they have hitherto had, and his efforts in this way have been rewarded with considerable success. It is not surprising, therefore, that even his keenest competitors in the same line of business should have united, as one man, to honour him by appointing him president of the Society of Scottish Engineers, a position which he has held for the last three years. His partner, Mr Garvie, is not so well known to the outside public, on account of his sticking so closely to the factory work; but by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance he is justly esteemed as a high-souled knight of labour, whose ‘scutcheon is graved with numerous honours won on the field of engineering science.
The praise occupied by this firm are splendidly equipped, though by no means so extensive as one would have expected considering the amount of manufactured goods which are turned out every year, and the quantity of timber that has to be stored in order to be thoroughly well dried and seasoned. This apparent deficiency of accommodation, however, is due to the fact that machinery specially designed and specially constructed is here used to a quite unusual extent for the manufacture of the reapers, seed drills, &c. Just as in the latest product of dairy science, the Instantaneous Butte Maker, the new milk us fed in at the one-end and butter-milk come out at the other, or, as in the case of the fabled pig-dressing machines in Chicago, where the pigs are put in at the one end, and the hams, sausages, and bristles done up into brushes come out at the other, so here the wood and steel are fed into the machines and come out, not finished reapers or mowers certainly, but parts which are executed with the nicest mathematical precision, and only require putting together to complete the Bon Accord product. Most of these manufacturing machines, whose use saves time and labour to such an extent, and also ensures that each and every part shall be the exact counterpart of another, have been conceived and produced in the brain of either Mr Anderson or Mr Garvie. The greatest care is taken to ensure that none but wood and steel or iron of the very best quality shall be fed into these manufacturing machines, which, automatically as it were, turn out all the separate parts of the machines produced at the Bon Accord Works. The Bon Accord reapers and mowers, seed drills, and broadcast sowing machines produced by this firm are too well and favourably known to require description outside the Dark Continent. So, too, is their sharpener for reaping-machine blades, which is now justly regarded as an indispensable requisite on every farm. Every scythesman knows how tiresome it is to cut with a blunted blade, but when there was only the old plan of using the file to fall back upon, the ploughman were only too apt, to forget that the cutting with a blunted reaper blade was heavy on the horses as upon the scythesman. By the way, in these days when everything must be brought up to date, it might be a good plan for some enterprising firm like that under notice to bring the Nineteenth Century Art up to date by depicting Old father Time with a self-binder and a chronometer, instead of such out of date appliances as a hook and an hour-glass.
In addition to the purely agricultural implements by which the firm has become so well known, a large business is also done at the Bon Accord works in the production of garden railings and gates. This branch of the business is also conducted in a most exhaustive way, and all kinds of railings and gates are produced, from the humble railing and wicket that encloses the garden of the cottage villa, up to the costly railing and gorgeous gates that form a fitting off-set for the mansion of the peer. So greatly has this part of the business at the Bon Accord works, that a skilled artist is constantly employed in producing and elaborating designs for such railings and gates.
The implement works of Messrs Reid & Co., are the only works of the kind in the Granite city. This is not surprising considering the standing which this firm have acquired in the implement trade. At the same time, the north-east of Scotland is far from being a preserve of theirs any more than the rest of the country is. Indeed, it is probable that their constituents are as numerous in any other part of Scotland as they are in Aberdeenshire, and their foreign trade is also a vast as well as a growing one. Altogether, it may be safely said, alike as regards the quantity and quality of the products turned out by this firm, and the unique position which the partners hold in the estimation of the agricultural public, the Bon Accord works are an institution of which the city of Bon Accord may be justly proud.”
An informative account on a great Aberdeen company!
In a number of posts we have looked at threshing machines that were housed at the farm steading. Portable threshing machines were also also popular in some districs of Scotland, as also England.
Henry Stephens, the well-known agricultural writer, wrote about the use of portable threshing machines. He makes an interesting comparison between the threshing system in Scotland and England. His account is worth quoting at length:
“The portable form of threshing-machines prevails in England. As a rule, there is no threshing-machine of any kind in English farm-steadings. The threshing is done by traveling machines owned by companies or individuals, who may have several machines at work in different parts of the country at one time. Several leading firms of implement-makers have given much attention to the manufacture of portable threshing-machines, and now the farmer has ample choice of machines of the highest efficiency. These portable threshing-machines are usually worked by steam traction-engines, which also draw them from one place to another. In some cases portable steam-engines are employed in working the machines, but then horses have to be used in taking the machine from farm to farm.
In a modern portable threshing machine, the operations of threshing, dressing, and bagging, all going on simultaneously. The machine is supposed to be working in the stackyard. The stacks of grain as they get filled have to be conveyed to the granary-but that is easily done. The disposal of the straw entails more labour. It is usually formed into a large stack at the rear of the threshing-machine, and the conveyance of the straw from the shakers to this stack is, in most cases, accomplished by means of elevators, which can be lengthened and raised in the pitch as the stack increases in height.
The number of persons required to work these portable threshing machines varies according to the operations performed and the speed of the machine. Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies, point out that the economy of threshing must depend in a great measure on the proper distribution of the hands employed, and state that the force, when straw-elevators are not used, should consist of eleven men and boys, to be engaged as follows: “One to feed the machine; two to untie and hand the sheaves to the feeder; two on the corn-stack to pitch the sheaves on to the stage of the threshing-machine; one to clear the straw away as it falls from the straw-shaker; two to stack the straw; one to clear away the chaff from underneath the machine, and occasionally to carry the chobs which fall from the chob-sprout up to the stage, to be threshed again; one to remove the sacks t the back of the machine as they are filled; and one to drive the engine. The feeder, on whim very much depends, should be an active man, and should have the control of the men stationed near the machine. He should endeavour to feed the drum as nearly as possible in a continuous stream, keeping the corn uniformly spread over the whole width. The two men or boys who untie the sheaves should stand on the stage of the threshing-machine, so that either is in a position to hand the feeder a sheaf with ease, but without obstructing the other. The men on the stack must keep the boys or men on the stage constantly and plentifully supplied with sheaves, which must be pitched on to the stage, so that the boys can reach them without leaving their position. The main who removes the straw from the end of the shaker should never allow it to accumulate so that it cannot fall freely. The man whose duty it is to clear away the chaff and cavings from underneath the machine must not allow these to accumulate so as to obstruct the free motion of the shoes; he must watch the basket under the chob-spout, and as soon as it is full, empty its contents on to the stage, in a convenient position for the feeder to sweep the same, a little at a time, into the drum to be threshed over again. The man who attends to the sacks must remove them before they get so full as to obstruct the free passage of the corn from the spouts, otherwise the clean corn may be thrown out at the screenings-spout.
When a large quantity is being threshed at one time, additional hands may be required to take away and stack the straw. It is better to cart the sheaves to the threshing-machine than to shift its position in the stackyard. The engine-driver, during threshing, should be as prompt as possible in attending to the signals for stopping and starting, and he should carefully attend to the bearings of the drum-spindle and other spindles of the threshing-machine.
Steam or oil-engines are fast taking the place of horse-power in working threshing machines. Where the supply is plentiful, water still holds its own, and will continue to do so, for it is the cheapest of all motors for the purpose. But the horse-wheel is gradually disappearing, and, for threshing purposes, the windmill may be said to have gone.
The steam engine, in its various forms is suitable for farm work. Steam power possesses two important advantages: it is always at command and can be completely controlled. By the use of steam the threshing may proceed continuously as long as may be desired; while, except in the rare cases in which the force of running water is sufficient to drive the mill-wheel, the threshing for the time ceases with emptying of the “mill-dam”. Experience has abundantly proved that threshing machines dependent on water derived chiefly from the drainage of the surface of the ground, frequently suffer from a short supply in autumn, and late in spring or early summer, thereby creating inconvenience for the want of straw in the end of autumn, and the want of seed or horse-corn in the end of spring. Wherever such casualties are likely to happen, it is better to adopt a steam-engine or oil-engine at once.
The other advantage is also important. Water or horse power cannot be so nicely governed as steam or oil, and, as a consequence with these powers, irregularities in feeding-in the grain or variations in the length of the straw are apt to make the motion of the corn-dressing appliances irregular, which, of course, causes imperfect dressing.”
What a great account! It would be interesting to note what were the districts in Scotland where the travelling mill was prevalent.
The photographs were taken at Farming Yesteryear, Scone, September 2017.
Who were the English companies that exhibited reapers at the Highland Show in the late 1850s until 1910?
There were 58 English exhibitors that displayed reapers at the Royal Highland Show from 1858 to 1910. A significant number of them exhibited at only one or two Shows and show districts. This gave them a local to a regional presence in Scotland. Some also attended the Show over a longer period, also visiting a number of show districts. Some 16 exhibitors attended more than 6 shows. One of them, R. Hornsby & Sons, Grantham, did so for 39 shows. Those exhibitors that exhibited in all 8 districts sought out and established a national presence in Scotland: they were manufacturers that had a national and international reputation for their reapers including H. Bamford & Sons, Uttoxeter, Brigham & Bickerton, Berwick on Tweed, Harrison, McGregor & Co., Leigh, Manchester, R. Hornsby & Sons, Grantham, and Picksley, Sims & Co., Leigh, Manchester and Samuelson & Co., Banbury.
The English exhibitors’ use of the show districts provides an insight into how they made their machines available in Scotland. While they had a distinct pattern of exhibition throughout them, it differs in many respects from the pattern used by the Scottish exhibitors and the ranking of the show districts set out by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. These differences can be attributed to a number of factors. The most important was the geography of the country and the distance of the show districts from the Scottish-English border. The Inverness Show District was the least frequently visited show district by the English exhibitors: it was located furthest from the Scottish-English border; it was also principally a stock rearing county and had the smallest implement department of all the Show Districts. The Stirling and Perth shows, located centrally in central Scotland, attracted an average number of English exhibitors. Even more accessible were the Edinburgh and Glasgow Show Districts, also the most successful ones, which also attracted the highest number of exhibits in the implement department, as also throughout the Show as a whole. The Edinburgh Show District had the largest number of English exhibitors of reapers, though the Glasgow Show District had the third highest.
The show districts adjoining the Scottish-English border – Kelso and Dumfries – each had large numbers of English exhibitors and were ranked second and fourth for the exhibition of reapers by English exhibitors, higher than those for the Scottish exhibitors of reapers, and those assigned by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. They were the most easily and readily accessible districts, as exhibitors located in the north of England had only a short distance to travel to exhibit their machines. Some of them also used the Show as part of their circuit of agricultural shows during the summer months, and did not make recourse to it in any other year: Andrew Thompson, Berwick on Tweed (1863), and Moffat & Robertson, Cornhill on Tweed (1880), only exhibited at the Kelso Show while William Trotter, Newcastle (1860), and Thomas Reay, Carlisle (1903), only exhibited at the Dumfries Show.
The English exhibitors obtained their reapers from a number of sources. More than half of them, including the largest and leading manufacturers, manufactured their own machines, while a further 4 also manufactured machines from a patent or another design. They also displayed machines from other English manufacturers, and as with the Scottish exhibitors that displayed machines from other Scottish manufacturers, their numbers were also small. That practice was also limited to the 1860s and 1870s, and by exhibitors in the north of England, of which five of them were from Berwick on Tweed, Carlisle and Liverpool, and for machines procured from a limited number of manufacturers. Only one exhibitor had a machine from a Scottish exhibitor: Brigham & Bickerton, Berwick on Tweed, displayed one from John Watson, Ayr, at the Kelso Show in 1872.
Despite the growing importance of American and Canadian machines, especially from the 1890s, only 16 English exhibitors displayed their machines. They did so for a small number of manufacturers, exhibiting their machines at a few shows exhibited American machines at only one show). The Canadian and American manufacturers were to pose a significant challenge to the English manufacturers. Only the English companies could compete with the American makers up to the 1880s, when they too were driven out of the market’. Their pattern of exhibition contrasts with the 76 Scottish exhibitors of these machines.
The photographs were taken at the Strathnairn Rally, September 2016.
The last time that steam ploughing was carried out in Perthshire was at the Morris Leslie vintage event at Balbeggie, Perthshire, at the weekend. Before that the county probably had not seen steam ploughing for at least a century. In Fife the contractor Sam Hird, originally from Kincardineshire, had purchased engines in 1925 and were amongst some of the last pairs in Scotland. Others were recorded in Ayrshire in 1925 for a couple of years. In East Lothian there continued to be some steam ploughing into the 1950s.
In Perthshire there was not a strong tradition of steam ploughing. Its practice can be traced back to the beneficial work of Lord Kinnaird of Rossie Priory who saw the benefit of it when it was becoming an economic proposition. He introduced it into his estates for the benefit of his tenants. The first engine he purchased was one in 1863 which was rebuilt three years later. He is also recorded as having purchased engines in 1872.
There were a small number of other farmers who worked with steam ploughing in the county: James Playfair of Coupar Angus in the early 1870s. That family was noted for its enterprise, and”business character”. There was also James Adamson of Blairgowre, in the mid 1860s.
The purchase of these engines and their arrival in the districts where they worked was noteworthy and attracted the attention of the local press. On 4 October 1872 the Dundee Courier noted that: “James Playfair esq of Isla Bank, having some time ago got one of the above machines from Messrs Fowler & Co, Leeds, it was on Tuesday for the first time put to work on a field in the Haughs. Being the first machine of the kind in this district, it attracted the attention of a goodly number of onlookers during the course of the day. The plough did its work very satisfactorily. The agriculturists who were present expressed themselves highly pleased with the quantity and quality of the work performed by the machine.”
Even in the early 1880s James Playfair continued to add to his steam ploughing tackle. He purchased a subsoiler which he could use for reclaiming land. In 1884 he purchased a grubber and an elevator from the recently defunct Kincardineshire Steam Ploughing Company Limited, the most successful steam ploughing company in Scotland.
While we do not know when Playfair’s tackle was sold, we do know that the last set of steam ploughing tackle in the county was sold in 1893. This was a set sold at a displenishing sale at Maggotland, adjoining Inchture Station, tenanted by Mr John Scott, formerly and for many years the manager to the late Lord Kinnaird. The Dundee courier records on 4 August 1893 that “a speciality of the sale was a set of steam tackle, specially adapted for carse farming. It was first offered in the sump, but the final offer being considered inadequate, it was decided to sell the material in lots, The engines brought from £27 to £31, and though the gearing, ploughs, harrows, grubbers &c were sold at low prices the lot brought more than double what was offered for them in the sump”.
Steam ploughing took a long time to return to Perthshire. The engine was Master, an 1918 John Fowler & Co (Leeds) Ltd engine, owned by the Cook family of Leven, Fife. This engine and its partner Mistress can be seen at the Scottish National Ploughing Championships at Bowhouse, St Monans, Fife, 26-27 October.
The photos were taken at the Morris Leslie vintage weekend, 20-21 September.
If you were a farmer in Perthshire or the surrounding counties from the 1930s to the early 1950s and you wanted to purchase a Caterpillar tractor you might have thought about purchasing one from L. O. Tractors Ltd of Perth.
L. O. Tractors of St Catherine’s Road, Perth, were already operating as an agricultural tractor distributor in 1938; they continued in business until at least the end of 1950. Local directories also record them in 1939 as an engineer, iron founder and millwright, as well as an agricultural tractor distributor. Their agencies included Caterpillar and John Deere.
In 1948 they exhibited at the Royal Highland Show a range of Caterpillar track type tractors, as well as equipment for them made by The Birtley Co. Ltd, Birtley, Co. Durham, tractors and agricultural machinery manufactured by Deere & Co., Moline, Illinois. They also sold the “Angus” single and double row potato diggers, also sold by Jack Olding & Co., Herts.
If you are looking through old issues of the North British Agriculturist and the Scottish Farmer, you might notice the distinct adverts of L. O. Tractors. The company was also one of the small number of advertisers in the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. (http://archive.rhass.org.uk/…/transactions-of-rhass-…/610883) Powerful adverts to advertise powerful tractors!
American makers of harvesting machinery started to play an increasing role on the Scottish harvest field from the late 1860s. By the 1890s there were some large names present in the Scottish fields: W. A. Wood, New York, McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., Chicago, Plano Manufacturing Co. Chicago, Johnston Harvester Co., Batavia, New York, D. M. Osborne & Co., New York, Adriance, Platt & Co., New York, W. Deering & Co., Chicago. In the first decade of the twentieth century another name appeared: International Harvester Co.
Scottish makers of reapers and mowers started to sell American machines, usually binders, to augment or replace their own lines which were losing popularity. In the 1890s they included Thomas Brown & Sons, Duns, Auchinachie & Simpson, Keith, and Alexander Jack & Sons, Maybole. By the following decade they also included J. D. Allan & Sons, Dunkeld.
Some the Scottish makers had more than one dealership of American makers, sometimes changing over the years. Alexander Jack & Son, Maybole, had four between 1888 and 1910: Walter A. Wood (1888, 1891); Adriance, Platt & Co (1895, 1896, 1897); Deering Harvester Co., (1898, 1899, 1900); and McCormick (1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910). The large maker and dealer A. & J. Main, Glasgow, had two between 1873 and 1910: Walter A. Wood (1873 to 1893) and William Deering & Co., Chicago, from 1894.
Some of the American companies had a small number of dealers. between 1897 and 1910 Adriance Platt & Co., had 8 dealers: they ranged from large businesses such as John Wallace & Sons, Graham Square, Glasgow in 1893-94 to small, localised ones, such as John Robertson, implement maker, Conon Bridge, Ross-shire in 1901. All were located in significant grain growing areas, or agricultural centres such as Errol, Stirling, Maybole, Lockerbie, Conon Bridge, Dundee, and Glasgow.
One of the more popular American companies was W. Deering & Co – Deering Harvester Co., Chicago. Between 1895 and 1910 it had 17 agents in Scotland. Perhaps the most important was A. & J. Main & Co., Ltd, Corn Exchange Buildings, Edinburgh, agent from 1894 to 1910. Andrew Pollock, Mauchline, was agent from at least 18897 to 1910. Alexander Jack & Son, Maybole, was agent from 1895 to 1900. A good number were agents for only short periods of time.
American makers of combine harvesters were to play an important role in the Scottish harvest field. They included Allis-Chalmers and McCormick. There are still a few of these “vintage” combines around. One of these is to be seen at the Strathnairn vintage rally, usually held at the end of September.
The photographs were taken at the Strathnairn Vinatge Rally, Daviot, September 2014.
