Records of J & J Murdoch Ltd, lithographers and label and show card specialists, Glasgow, Scotland

• Journal 1937-1963
• Annual accounts and reports 1959-1966
• Administration records 1953-1965
• Shareholder records 1936, 1954
• Financial statistics 1950-1961
• Company histories 1944, 1965

In 1844  , Robert McAulay set up a lithographic business in Glassford Street, Glasgow, Scotland, in partnership with a Mr McKinlay. In 1856  , the business was sold to William Murdoch and John Porter who traded under the name Murdoch & Porter . In 1863  , Porter resigned from the partnership and was replaced by John Telfer and the firm became known as Murdoch & Telfer . Telfer left the business and William took his son, James, into partnership. William died in 1869 and James managed the business, until his own death in 1911, but took his sons, John and Alexander, into business within him in 1894  and 1904  respectively. The Murdoch family did much to expand and develop the business. In 1844, the company operated 3 or 4 hand presses before William purchased one of the first litho-cylinder printing machines which operated until 1897.

The company moved to Argyll Street, Glasgow, in c1898 and then moved again to McAlpine Street, Anderston, Glasgow, in 1900. About this time, the company began to specialise in label, show card and poster production. In 1913, the company moved again to Albion Street in the city centre. The company gradual began to expand and between 1900 and 1920 increased its turnover by a factor of 20, and specialised in producing labels for the mineral water trade in both Scotland and England. By 1966, the company was supplying labels to various mineral water and food manufacturers, including Beechams Foods Ltd, Brentford, Essex, England.

In 1969  , the company, by then known as J & J Murdoch Ltd , was acquired by E S & A Robinson Ltd , a packing firm based in Bristol, England. The company was put under the control of another Robinson subsidiary, John Laird & Son Ltd , printing packaging and paper bag manufacturers, Glasgow, Scotland. It would appear that J & J Murdoch Ltd ceased trading in the 1970s  along with John Laird & Son Ltd .

The Robinson Group. A Short History of the E S & A Robinson Group (Bristol, 1965)

This material is arranged into series, which consist of numbers of items related by format and/or function. Within series, the items are generally arranged chronologically.

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Permanent loan : August 1986

Indefinite loan : November 1991 (Additional deposit)

Digital file level list available in searchroom

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)2943)

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GB 248 UGD 232/1 Records of John Laird & Son Ltd

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