Records of David & John Anderson Ltd, textile manufacturer, Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland

• Corporate records, 1897-1940;
• Legal records, 1910-1911;
• Financial records, 1862-1909;
• Staff records, 1914-1924;
• Sales and marketing records, 1923-1947;
• Public relations records, 1949-1952;
• Non-corporate records found within the deposit, 1890-1931.

The firm of Anderson & Lawrie was founded in 1822  by David Anderson, the son of a Stirlingshire manufacturer in Scotland. Anderson took Alexander Lawrie as his partner and they specialised in gentlemen's neckwear. In 1839  Lawrie retired and David Anderson's brother joined the firm, then known as David & John Anderson . By the 1870s  , David & John Anderson's headquarters were located at 84 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, Scotland, with works at Atlantic Mills, Bridgeton, Glasgow. The firm became a private limited liability company in 1911  , with an authorised capital of £200,000 equally divided between £1 preference shares commanding a 5 percent dividend and ordinary shares of the same denomination. At this date, the managing director and new chairman of the company was David Blyth Anderson ( 1872-1944  ), grandson of the founder. After 1911  , the company absorbed the Glasgow firm of Lambie & Readman and formed links for a time with an English textile manufacturer and finishers, Wm Hollins & Co Ltd , Pleasley Mill, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

A new company, David & John Anderson (London) Ltd , wholly owned by the Glasgow parent company, was set up to act as the company's agents in London and to oversee the export market in goods such as high quality shirts, made up from Anderson fabrics. High quality and diversity of fabric and workmanship remained the hallmark of the business rather than quantity of output. However, by the time of David Blyth Anderson's retirement in 1937  , the firm was struggling, with no dividend on either its ordinary or preference shares being paid. There was a short-term return to profitability during the years immediately after the Second World War (1939-1945) but this did not last. David & John Anderson Ltd , with headquarters, at 26 Walkinshaw Street, Glasgow, was taken over by the House of Fraser Ltd in 1959  .

This material is arranged into 7 series as shown in the scope and content. Within series items are further divided into sub series which are ordered in a way that is intended to reflect company strucuture.

Open

Gift : D & J Anderson Ltd, Bridgeton, Glasgow : prior to 1966

Digital file level list available in searchroom.

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)1650) and London (NRA10854)

No known copies

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

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

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

Records deposited with Economic History Department, University of Glasgow, prior to 1966. Management of the collection transferred to Glasgow University Archives in 1975.

None expected

See source list on Textiles available via the Glasgow University Archive services home page at http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk

Material in other repositories:

GB 243 TD187 Journal, cash books and sales books 1826-1851 (Glasgow City Archives)

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

No known publications using this material

This material is original

Fonds level descriptions compiled by Alison Jasper, Archives Assistant, 6 May 1998. Lower level descriptions compiled by Glasgow University Archive Services staff. Converted to Encoded Archival Description by Andrew Semple, Administration Assistant, 3 September 2001. Fonds level updated by Jenny Cooknell, Assistant Archivist, 3 November 1999 and Lesley Richmond, Acting Director, 3 March 2000. Catalogue updated after relisting by Neil Hargreaves, Archives Assistant, 4 November 2000. Catalogue edited by Michelle Kaye, Archives Assistant, 18 July 2012.