Records of Wilson, Kay & Co, textile merchants, Glasgow, Scotland

Includes:

• Accounting records;
• Correspondence.

This company was initially a partnership called Wilson, James & Kay, and began life as a yarn and goods merchant. It had an office in Glassford Street, Glasgow, Scotland, and was at the heart of the cotton trade in the first part of the 19th century . The firm became agents for Gladstone, Wylie & Co of Calcutta, India and of Frith, Sands & Co, merchants, of Bombay, India. After 1852 , Wilson, Kay & Co acted as the agents for the sale of the goods of James Finlay & Co Ltd, textile manufacturers, tea planters, and merchants, Glasgow, Scotland. James Finlay & Co Ltd and Wilson, Kay & Co became intermingled, sharing premises at 22 West Nile Street, Glasgow, Scotland, and in 1858 , they amalgamated under the name James Finlay & Co Ltd. Alexander Kay's daughter, Margaret Morrison Kay, married John Muir (later Sir John Muir).

For more information, see The Staple Industries, The Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography, Vol.1., A Slaven (ed), (AUP 1990), and in particular, the entry for James Clark of Crossbasket and John Muir of Deanston, Perthshire.

Files arranged as received.

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Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents

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This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 248 procedures. Duplicates have been removed.

None expected

Material in other repositories: GB 059 Finlay Campbell & Co and Finlay Muir & Co (British Library: Oriental and India Office Collections)

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Description compiled in line with the following international standards: International Council on Archives, ISAD(G) Second Edition, September 1999and National Council on Archives, Rules for the construction of personal, place and corporate names

Scotland is the location of all place names in the administrative/biographical history element, unless otherwise stated.

Collection catalogued by members of Glasgow University Archive Services staff. Catalogue converted to Encoded Archival Description by Michelle Kaye, Archives Assistant (Cataloguing), May 2012. Additional material catalogued and converted into Encoded Archival Description by Peter Morphew, Cataloguing Archivist, January 2016.