29. Robert Paterson and family
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29. Robert Paterson and family | Robert Paterson (1820-1882) and family were merchants who provided preservatives, an essential items for Victorian households.
Before the days of refrigeration the technique of pickling in vinegar was one of the few real means of preserving food for any reasonable length of time, ensuring basic foods could be made available out of season. The conscientious housewife would pickle eggs in the summer months when they were plentiful, for winter use. This process also applied to tongues, hams, fruit and vegetables. Sheets soaked in vinegar were used to ward off infections from sick-rooms and after a long, tiring day the sniffing of vinegar could also help relieve headaches. These uses were wasted if the vinegar was not pure and merchants who sold it unadulterated were hard to find. However Robert Paterson had a good reputation for selling an honest product. His name appears regularly in the Post Office Directory from 1851 onwards. |
In 1868 he was joined by his son Campbell and began to diversify into sauces, ketchup and fruit wines. Eight years later, following the death of its founder the Paterson Company was catapulted to fame with the first instant coffee: Camp Coffee (an essence of coffee-beans, chicory and sugar poured from a distinctive bottle). The origin of Camp Coffee is believed to have come from a request from the Gordon Highlanders to Campbell Paterson for a coffee drink that could be used easily by the army on field campaigns in India.
The regular process of grinding and brewing coffee beans was too complicated and time consuming for a military field kitchen. The creation of a liquid Camp Coffee provided a simpler method. The label of the product is said to bear the portrait of Sir Hector MacDonald, a hero of many wars in India. The Charlotte Street factory was founded in 1891 and the product proved so successful that three large additions were made between 1893 and 1908, in Charlotte Street and Greendyke Street. The Glasgow works closed in the 1970s and Camp coffee is now produced in Paisley.
30. Janet Jack, Bridget Ward and Margaret Jack Adams
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29. Robert Paterson and family | Janet Jack, Bridget Ward and Margaret Jack Adams lost their lives on the morning of 11th October 1895, in a fire at Higginbotham’s and Company Ltd, Calico Printers, McNeil St, Glasgow. The works covered a large area extending from McNeil Street to the River Clyde and had been the scene of several fires. A workforce of around 800 people, mainly women, was employed there at this time.
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It is thought that the fire started in the drying box. Cloth which came from the printing tables was passed through the drying box then on through an aperture and carried along the underside of a wooden floor. It was here that the cloth came within inches of the gas pendants, which lit the factory below. The blaze took hold very quickly passing through the three buildings fronting McNeil Street, shooting upwards to the top storeys and the roof. At first it was thought that everyone had escaped from the building, but soon the startling news spread that three women were missing; namely Janet Jack (36) of 271 Cumberland Street, Bridget Ward (18) of 263 Caledonia Street and Margaret Jack Adams (15) of 50 Old Dalmarnock Road. On entering the partially destroyed building the fireman discovered the remains of three bodies, which were taken to the mortuary at the Southern Police Office.
31. James Goldie
The noted builder James Goldie (1844-1913) was born in Hutchesontown. He was educated at Gorbals Parish School. After leaving school at the age of 13, he spent the next six years acquiring knowledge of surveying at the offices of Shields and Duff, measurers, before he entered his father’s business in 1863. The work of Goldie and Son was linked to the growth of the City and at least two of the buildings they were responsible for can still be admired today - Fairfield's Yard at Govan and Templeton's Carpet Factory, now a business centre. Templeton's Carpet Factory, built in 1888 was designed by William Leiper.
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29. Robert Paterson and family | Goldie’s intention at Templeton’s factory was to mimic the brilliant colours of the carpets woven there and reflect these hues in the exterior of the building, particularly the section derived from the Doge's Palace in Venice. The colours chosen were crimson, red, deep blue, sand, white, green and yellow and the textiles equally varied: brick, terracotta, enamel, sandstone and glazed bricks. This was Goldie's masterpiece and for many years bricklayers’ apprentices were brought to study the techniques he had used.
Tragically on the 1st November 1889, during a heavy gale the back gable wall of the building collapsed killing 29 girls and injuring a further 22. |
After 1899 Goldie's interest changed to the politics of business and he became Dean of the Incorporation of Wrights and the following year he was elected Collector of the House. In 1903 he became Deacon-Convenor of the Trades House. After his term in office as Deacon Convener, Goldie became manager of the Royal Infirmary and many other charitable institutions. One significant post was that of Honorary President of the Building Trades Exchange which organised the great Scottish National Exhibition of 1911, held in Kelvingrove Park and which attracted some nine and a half million visitors.
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