Coltness Iron Co
Coltness Iron Works, Newmains, Lanarkshire.
of 138 West George Street, Glasgow.
Manufacturers of the Famous 'Coltness' Brand.
1836 Thomas Houldsworth of Farnsfield, M.P. for Nottingham, Henry Houldsworth's brother, bought the Coltness estate
1836 Company established.
1837 He established the Coltness Iron Works.
1845 'Monster Engine' for blowing ten furnaces erected at Newmains by Murdoch, Aitken and Co. 54-inch bore, 9 ft stroke, 31 ton beam, flywheel 30 ft dia. Designed for 60 psi steam pressure.[1]
1899 The company was registered on 10 July, to take over the business of a private company of the same name. [2]
1914 Iron and coal masters, steel and iron founders, chemical manufacturers, Portland cement manufacturers.[3]
1937 New Tube Works on the Clyde
1951 Coltness Iron Co was renamed Coltness Holdings and would be put into liquidation; a new company also called Coltness Iron Co was incorporated to hold the continuing businesses[4]
1951 Coltness Iron Co Ltd was formed to operate the assets not subject to nationalisation. Coltness Holdings Ltd was put into liquidation[5]
1952 Works at Newmains advertised for sale. Included steel foundry, iron foundry, engineering shop, smithy and colliery hutch department. [6]. Foundries at Newmains acquired by G. and J. Weir who intended to keep them working[7]
1952 Coltness Iron Co was listed as a public company.
1955 Coltness Iron Works closed.
By 1956 was known as a cement and brick manufacturer[8]
1956 Acquired J. and W. Somerville, old established maker of nails[9]
1964 Business became Coltness Industries Ltd. Chairman Lt. Col. J. F. H. Houldsworth. Group headquarters at Clive House, India Street, Glasgow.[10]
1964 Recognition that diversification may have been undertaken too fast; there had been production problems with Webster skirting heating made by J. and W. Somerville, whose main business was making nails; there had also been problems refitting high speed launches; demand for bricks had increased; several enquiries had been received from Eastern Europe for Beckett and Anderson hydrostatic machines[11]
1972 Coltness Group was reorganised into a divisional structure[12]:
- Coltness Fastenings
- Coltness Brickworks, with 4 brickworks in Scotland
- Coltness Securities
1973 Coltness Group acquired Pope and Pearson; transfer of the brickworks, Coltness Brickworks and Ernest Abrams (Brickworks) (acquired recently), to Pope's[13]
1977 Acquired by Aurora Holdings[14]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Stirling Observer - Thursday 16 January 1845
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Times Sept. 14, 1951
- ↑ The Times Dec. 2, 1952
- ↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 11 September 1952
- ↑ The Times Oct. 20, 1952
- ↑ The Times Feb. 18, 1956
- ↑ The Times Dec. 6, 1956
- ↑ Wishaw Press - Friday 22 May 1964
- ↑ The Times Friday, Jan. 1, 1965
- ↑ The Times June 1, 1973
- ↑ The Times Oct. 9, 1973
- ↑ The Times Aug 06, 1977
- Glasgow Men [1]