James Allan (1837-1892)
James Allan (1837-1892)
1892 Obituary [1]
JAMES ALLAN was born at Johnstone, near Glasgow, in 1837. He came to Coatbridge about 1846, and shortly thereafter entered the employment of Messrs. Wilson & Co., Dundyvan Ironworks. At a later period he acted for a time as an engine-driver on the then newly-opened Monkland Railway.
He learned the business of tubemaking in the service of the Caledonian Tube Company, and in 1860 he was offered and accepted an important situation with Messrs. Marshall and Wylie, of Glasgow Tube Works. In 1869, Mr. Allan leased the Coats Tube Works, Coatbridge, where he started business on his own account. His enterprise in these works turned out so successfully that in 1879 they were found too small, and he accordingly built the Victoria Tube Works, Coatbridge, which were specially adapted for the manufacture of iron and steel boiler tubes, and for boiler tube ferrules.
In 1883 Mr. Allan founded the Woodside Steel and Iron Works for the manufacture of tube strips and plates.
He accompanied the Iron and Steel Institute to the United States, and was much interested in what he saw. In returning from America he had the misfortune to be a passenger on board the Ethiopia. On the voyage this vessel broke her shaft in mid-Atlantic, and was for several days in imminent danger, the voyage altogether occupying twenty-four days.
His death took place on 19th March 1892.