Springfield Mill
at Polton, Midlothian, on the River Esk
1742 Production started, using rags as raw material (2nd oldest in Scotland).
1756 Business transferred to Robert Fleming & John Hutton (Merchant).
1776 Business failed. Managed by Frances Strachan W.S. Trustee for the Creditors.
1787 Mill business bought by Frances Strachan.
1791 Robert Cameron became a Partner.
1794 Mutual Help Society formed. Involved 5 local Mills. Employees paid weekly with contribution matched by Employers. This provided sick pay for workers though "No person under the implication of any crime could receive help from the fund."
1803 Frances Strachan died. Robert Cameron assumed full control.
By 1821 Mill was managed by George Bertram. Mechanical pulp maker patented by Robert Cameron.
1828 Robert Cameron died. His younger son, John, became the new owner.
1832-36 George Bertram initiated a series of technical improvements primarily related to the drying process.
1842 Air drying machine installed which allowed the paper to be sized and thus take ink by a continuous process (The first in Scotland). (The air drying technology devised and implemented by Bertram assured the future success of Bertrams in Edinburgh).
c.1850 The rotary screen was invented.
1856 Business failed. Now owned by Bank of Scotland.
1858 The Mill leased to James Durham & Sons.
1862 Business failed, despite contempoary reference to ‘20 tons of fine paper produced weekly’.
1866 The buildings lay empty until acquired by William Tod who also owned St Leonard’s Mill in Lasswade.
1867 Production restarted. Raw material changed from rags to Esparto grass. First paper made was for "The Scotsman Newspaper".
1895 Financial reconconstruction. Springfield & St Leonard’s run as separate businesses.
1898 Firm formed into a Limited Company.
See Also
Sources of Information
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