More exploring of Blantyre business in the 1890’s. I like putting these snippets of research online, making it easy and accessible for anybody ever wanting to know about such businesses which existed 130 years ago. For the rest of us, it might not be the most interesting articles I’ve posted, but I have tried to put them into some historical context and it’s a nice record of who was trading at the time.
In Summer 1892, Lachlan Taylor was advertising in Blantyre. Lachlan was a plumber, gasfitter and brass founder. Plumbers were often gasfitters at the time, though particular care was needed with gas for the obvious safety implications.
Lachlan’s business operated in both Hamilton and Blantyre. In Hamilton at the former ‘Hamilton Brass Foundry’ and at Blantyre on Glasgow Road at ‘Clydeview’, Stonefield, a tenement which still exists on the south side of the road opposite the Thistle Credit Union. Established in 1832, some 60 years earlier, his family business was well known in Lanarkshire, advertising with lengthy ads in the Hamilton Advertiser.
His adverts promised quality repairs for modest charges. His bread and butter being pipes and drains smoke and water tested, put into good repairs. By the 1890’s Lachlan was fitting gas cookers and gas firers into homes in Blantyre and beyond and was dabbling in new emerging technology too…electrics!
