Records of W Grant & Co (Agents) Ltd, timber and esparto merchants, Edinburgh, Scotland

Reference
- GB 248 UGD 237/1
Dates of Creation
- 1880-1971
Name of Creator
- W Grant & Co (Agents) Ltd (timber and espanto merchants: 1955-1999: Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland)
Physical Description
- [to be confirmed]
  There are no physical characteristics that affect the use of this material.

Scope and Content

Ledgers 1880-1884
Accounts 1880-1965
Journal 1955-1956
Cash book 1954-1956
Memoranda and articles of association 1955
Correspondence 1887-1971
Esparto reports 1928-1965
Press cuttings 1880-1907
Arbitration records 1913-1965
Records relating to Grant's involvement with the British Wood Pulp Association 1955

Administrative / Biographical History

W Grant & Co was founded by William Grant in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1880 as a timber and esparto merchants and agents. The company's main office was at 5 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh.

William Grant began his career with Hutchinson Brothers, timber merchants in Leith, Edinburgh. He left in 1872 for Sweden where he entered the sawmill of Nils Wilkstrom at Sundswall, where he acquired practical knowledge of the wood shipping business. W Grant & Co later became agents for many of the business connections he made in Sweden. Upon his return to Leith, William continued to work for Hutchinson Brothers, but in 1880, established himself as W Grant & Co as an agent for Baltic wood goods. The business also traded in wood pulp, becoming associated with many of the leading chemical and mechanical wood pulp factories. Grant also acted as arbitrator between shippers and importers.

In December 1955 , W Grant & Co (Agents) Ltd was incorporated as a limited liability company to acquire the business of W Grant & Co. The company's first directors were Leslie Renwick Grant, Amy Balmer Grant his wife, Ronald Dingwall Hodge, timber merchant, and Robert Alexander Henderson Morton, office manager. Leslie Renwick Grant had previously been a director of L R Grant Ltd , timber and esparto merchants, Edinburgh, which had gone into liquidation in 1940. He was also a director of William Sommerville & Son Ltd, producers of high quality printing and paper, Milton Bridge, Edinburgh, from 1934 until at least 1969.

W Grant & Co Ltd traded in wood and esparto, a tough wiry grass from northern Africa whose fibre is used to make paper and cordage. The company traded with Tunisia and Algeria

In 1999, W Grant & Co (Agents) Ltd was dissolved.

Arrangement

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.