Records of Craig & Donald Ltd, engineers and machine tool makers, Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland

Scope and Content

  • Cost ledger 1958
  • Register of directors holdings 1948-1963
  • Financial records 1968-1973
  • Catalogues 1881-1912
  • Journal 1895-1968
  • Share records 1912-1938
  • Invoice books 1913-1957
  • Day books 1911-1948
  • Order books 1889-1946
  • Job order books 1912-1959
  • Cost books 1874-1938
  • Shipping specifications 1916-1944
  • Inventories of works 1899-1928
  • Correspondence 1922-1952
  • Wage books 1906-1945, 1963
  • Time sheets 1904-1944
  • Miscellaneous correspondence, insurance and family papers 1709-1973
  • Machine photographs 20th century
  • Advertisements 20th century
  • Other catalogues c1900-1930

Administrative / Biographical History

Craig & Donald Ltd , engineers and machine tool makers, were founded in 1836  in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The company's works were located at the William Street, Johnstone, and produced machines for punching, shearing, and straightening iron plates for ships. By the 1870s, they were turning out large numbers of punching and shearing machines, bending rolls, and plate-edge planers, and output continued to rise until the early years of the 20th century.

In 1937  , the company came together with 4 other engineering and machine tool makers to form Scottish Machine Tool Corporation Ltd . These companies, namely James Bennie & Sons Ltd, Glasgow; Loudon Bros Ltd, Johnstone; James Bennie & Sons Ltd, Glasgow; and James Allan Senior & Sons Ltd, Glasgow; all retained their separate autonomy, even though they had amalgamated. Joint catalogues were produced under the name Scottish Machines Tools Corporation Ltd yet machines were branded with the name of their own manufacturer. In the late 1960s,  Scottish Machine Tool Corporation Ltd became an associate of Wilkins-Mitchell, forging equipment manufacturers, and in 1982  it went into liquidation.

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

Access Information

Open

Acquisition Information

Gift : Strathclyde University Department of History : Glasgow 1987

Other Finding Aids

Digital file level list available in searchroom

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)2556) and London (NRA26837)

Alternative Form Available

No known copies

Conditions Governing Use

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the University Archivist

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

Appraisal Information

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

Custodial History

Unknown

Accruals

None expected

Related Material

GB 248 UGD 175/1 Records of Scottish Machine Tools Corporation Ltd

GB 248 UGD 175/2 Records of James Allan Senior & Sons Ltd

GB 248 UGD 175/3 Records of Loudon Bros Ltd

GB 248 UGD 175/4 Records of G & A Harvey

GB 248 UGD 175/5 Records of James Bennie & Sons Ltd

GB 422 Engineering drawings by Craig & Donald Ltd (Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester)

For contact details of all repositories with a GB code, see the Archon repository search page

Material in other repositories: no material associated by provenance

Bibliography

Hume, John R,  'Shipbuilding Machine Tools', Butt, John & Ward, JT (eds),Scottish Themes: Essays in Honour of Professor S G E Lythe(Edinburgh 1976)

Additional Information

This material is original

Revised by David Powell, Hub Project Archivist, 11 December 2002