Bartonshill Brick Company, Bargeddie, Glasgow. (Note – SBH – I am uncertain as to exactly when the brickworks were started but from the info below it appears to have been c. 1898).
Below – 1897 – Bartonshill No 1 Pit is the location of the Bartonshill Brickworks. They are not marked on this map but they are marked at this location in 1910 as disused brickworks.
1899 – Bartonshill Brick Company, Brickmakers, Bargeddie, Glasgow.
23/09/1899 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – Valuation Court – Bartonshill Brick Company asked that the valuation of £150 on their works should be deleted. Mr McLeish, writer, Glasgow. supported the appeal, which involved a legal question which is under appeal presently as to there being no lease, the terms of which are fixed, and as to brickworks being entitled to exemption as the subjects used are for the treatment of minerals. The appeal was dismissed and a case taken for appeal.
10/07/1901 – Kirkintilloch Herald – Bishopbriggs Brick Company. Intimation was ordered by the First Division of the Court of Session on Thursday of a petition by the Bisbopbriggs Brick Company (Limited) and John W. Gourlay, C.A, Glasgow, liquidator thereof, in which a supervision order is asked for. The company was incorporated in June 1897, with a capital of £6000 divided into £1 shares, of which 5000 shares were in issue and were fully paid up. The company was unsuccessful in its trading, and dividends have never been paid to shareholders. All the capital of the company has been expended, and sums obtained on loan from the bank and from certain shareholders from time to time have also been spent. The company is insolvent and its liabilities to its creditors largely exceed its assets. In these circumstances, resolutions were passed by the shareholders approving the proposal that the company should be wound up voluntarily but in order to prevent preferences being obtained by certain creditors, the liquidator considered that it was desirable that liquidation should be placed under the supervision of the Court.
22/11/1902 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – Brick kiln lodger – On Monday at Airdrie J.P Court John Murphy, miner, of no fixed residence. was charged with lying in a brick kiln at Bartonshill Brickworks, on Monday, 17th November, without the permission of the owner. On pleading guilty the accused was fined 7s 6d or five days.
03/10/1903 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – Young woman wanted with experience setting green bricks. Apply Bartonshill Brickworks, Bargeddie.
16/01/1904 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – Brick kiln sleepers – At Airdrie J.P. Court on Monday, Samuel Gray, William Burns, William McGillivery, and James McGuire, all tramps, labourers, were charged with lodging within a brick kiln at Bartonshill Brickworks on Sunday morning without the consent of the owner. They all pled guilty and were fined 7s 6d or five days each.
1907 – Bishopbriggs Brick Company Limited, St Mungo Street, Bishopbriggs and 65 Renfield Street.
10/10/1907 – The Edinburgh Gazette – Notice of dissolution. The copartnery of Bartonshill Brick Company, brick manufacturers, Bargeddie, of which the subscribers were the sole partners, has been dissolved as from and after the date hereof. All parties having claims against said Company are requested to lodge the same with McLeish, Johnston and Oliphant, Writers, 197 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, Agents for the said Company, within fourteen days from the date hereof, and all parties indebted to the said Company are requested to make payment to the said Agents within said period. John T Pettigrew.
G.W. Pettigrew, 41 Main Street, Coatbridge – Witness.
A.B. Johnston, 12 King Street, Coatbridge – Clerk – Witness.
23/11/1907 – Coatbridge Leader – Action against a local firm. In the Small Debt Court, Airdrie, on Tuesday, before Sheriff Glegg, proof was led in an action at the instance of Messrs Pettigrew & Jeffrey, partners of the Bartonshill Brick Company, Bargeddie, against James Beattie, Main Street, Calderbank, for £2 10s, being the amount of a loan granted by pursuers to the defender and still unpaid. The defender lodged a counterclaim for £8 10s, which be claimed as a month’s wages, and denied that the sum sued for was a loan, but was only on account of his wages. Mr Bell, for the pursuers, stated that the loan had been admitted, and the evidence would now be with regard to the wages. Mr Beattie said he was in the employment of the pursuer from February 1907. His remuneration was £2 10s per week, with five per cent of the profits. He was paid £2 10s a week until the 1st June. Sometime before the 1st June, the works at Bartonshill were stopped but be remained for a period in the employment of the pursuer. His duties after the 1st June were similar to what they were before that time. He despatched bricks and also tried to sell them. The works at this time were not in progress, but they were working off the stock. He continued in the employment until the 20th July. There, was no change in his wages until the 1st June, when the pursuer handed him some money and said that was all he could spare in the meantime until he had settled with the Bishopbriggs Brick Company who were negotiating for the purchase of the works. Pursuer never made any new arrangement with him regarding the wages, and be continued in the employment until the 20th July. He now claimed the balance of wages, amounting to £8 10s. The Bishopbriggs Brick Company took over the works on 29th July, and he was employed by them. He thought the works stopped in May of this year. He was off ill when the weeks stopped, and on the 18th May, pursuer paid him £2 10s. About the end of May pursuer told him he had sold the works. The pursuer did not give him a month’s wages in lieu of notice. By the Sheriff – How long were you off ill? – Fourteen days. Were you ever paid £2 10s after the end of May? – Yes; until the 13th June. Cross-examination continued – I was ill in the middle of May, and I was paid £2 10s until the 13th of June. I was never told at any time that I was dismissed. After being ill did you work as formerly ? Yes; looking after the work. Did you work the same kind of work and as many hours as before? – No: but I had to look after the kiln for a fortnight, all the time it was burning. I also dispatched bricks and tried sell them. I always got my pay regularly until the middle of June. Until the change in the work ? – There never was a change in the work. Why should you borrow money from the pursuer and give him a receipt if he was owing you money? – Pursuer said be had not sufficient for money for himself. If he was owing you more than £2 10s, why did you acknowledge that it was a loan? I thought. it was a loan. Is it the case that the first demand you made for wages was in a letter dated 28th October? – Yes. That was when I was being pressed for repayment of the loan. In that letter, you state that you are surprised at the request seeing there was a balance of £8 10sa in your favour? – Yes. That is the first time I made a demand for the wages due. In the month of May, I was looking out for a situation elsewhere. It is also the case that pursuer did all he could to get me a situation, and on the 27th May he wrote out a reference for me. That letter was given to me at my request. By the Sheriff – When did you return to work after being ill ? – I returned on a Monday in May. Was that after you heard that the works were, sold, or before?—There was a talk about the works being sold before. The pursuer did not tell me until well on in June that the works were sold. The works would be going full, on the 1st June when you only got £1 10s?—He said, that was all the money he had got. I never got any receipt for my wages. After June 13th did you claim your £2 10s? – I expect I did. Alex. Robertson, engineman, said he was employed as a watchman by the pursuer. Beattie was also in the employment of the pursuer. It would be about the end of July that the Bishopbriggs Brick Company took over the works. Cross-examined – Was the 13th of May the last date on which the works were in the pursuer’s hands? – l could not give the exact date. It would a week or two after the purchase was accomplished that I was told the works had been sold. After the 13th of May he asked what Beattie was doing there. There was certainly a difference in his hours after the 13th May. He was only there a few hours during the day. There was nothing to keep him there. Mr Maxwell, manager of the Bisborbriggs Brick Company, said the company purchased the works but there was some delay in taking over the business. They decided to take over the business after a satisfactory lease was obtained. It would be two months after the start of the negotiations that they obtained entry. Cross-examined – On the 20th of May I was at the brick works. I saw Beattie, the foreman, there, and he was evidently looking for a situation. I believe he, asked me for a situation that day. Mr Pettigrew, the pursuer, said the works were sold on the 22nd May. The works were stopped on the 13th May and Beattie left off on Saturday, the 11th May. On the 18th May, 1st, 8th, and 15th June Beattie received £2 10s a week. He received nothing for the next week. On the 29th June he got £2, and the next week, 4th July, £1. That was the last payment he received. He told Beattie a day or two before the 18th May that his services as foreman would not be required. He told him he was going to close the works and dispense with everybody. There were certain little odd things to do after the works were closed, and he paid defender for doing these. Beattie’s duties when the works were going was to be there the first thing in the morning and the last to leave at night, and he was to repair any machinery after that. After the works were stopped he came at any time, and some days he never put in an appearance. When he received the last payment he asked if he could not be kept on until the Fair and pursuer said no, but he would try and give him some help. When he got that loan from him, the defender said he was in straightened circumstances. At the end of May, Beattie came with a newspaper to him and showed him an advertisement with reference to a situation which he wanted to apply for, and pursuer wrote out an application for him. Cross-examined – The works stopped on the 13th May and on the 18th he had an interview with Beattie and told him that everybody would require to be dispensed with. Was he not your manager? No: I was manager. He was foreman. There was no engagement between us. I allowed him to continue in my service until 15th June, But you paid him £ 2 10s up to the 15th June ? – Yes: but his services were not worth that. I had a surplus stock and I was trying to work it off. The Sheriff said it was evident to Beattie himself that the works were closed, and there was to be a change of masters, and the man could apply and did apply. for other work. The only other point was that he stated he did not. get sufficient notice, but undoubtedly he did, for be was paid £2 10s a week till the 15th June, for a month after the works were stopped. He was also paid for a period during which he was doing no work at all. He thought it was perfectly clear that he terminated his engagement at that time. He repelled the counterclaim and gave a decree for the sum sued …
31/10/1908 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – Painful accident. On Monday forenoon a little girl named Georgina Pope, six years of age, daughter of Francis Pope, miner, Rhinds Row, Baillieston met with a nasty accident while playing at the end of the haulage rope on Mainhill Farm, Baillieston belonging to the Bishopbriggs Brick Company Limited. Her right leg was jammed between the haulage rope, which was in motion, and the terminus wheel, and she sustained a large flesh wound near the ankle. She was carried home and attended by Dr Gibson, who ordered her removal to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Below – 1910 – Bartonshill Brickworks disused.
21/01/1910 – Milngavie and Bearsden Herald – Local Builders Affairs. William Stevenson, builder and brickmaker and trading inter alia as Bishopbriggs Building and Joinery Company at Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, examined in bankruptcy before Sheriff Balfour in the County Buildings, Glasgow on Monday. Bankrupt stated, in answer to Mr Walter Neilson, trustee, that he started business on his own as a builder in 1874. He took over the Bishopbriggs Company about October 1907. The capital put into that business was all borrowed, and he had since repaid the loan. He was also interested in the firm of Stevenson Brothers and in the Bishopbriggs Brick Company, he had 1000 shares and was a director. These shares had been transferred to the bank in respect of an overdraft on behalf of Stevenson Brothers. His holdings in South African and other companies had also been deposited with the bank against advances. He had an interest in a large number of properties and would supply a note of all transactions of such. The value of the furniture belonging to him in his house at 55 Dixon Avenue was £28 odds, and he had also some furniture of little value in a house of which he was a tenant at Rothesay. Bankrupt accounted for his insolvency owing to the depreciation which had taken place of late in the value of property. The Bishopbriggs Joinery Company had been carried on at a loss. By a creditor – He had been sequestrated before, in the spring of 1889, and got a discharge. He was short of money for the last three or four years. His loss on the brick and joinery business he estimated at about £2000 and the losses on his stock exchange transactions would come about the same amount. The examination was adjourned.
Many thanks to Elisabeth Piskolti from Switzerland. Elisabeth’s great grandfather was John Pettigrew. Elisabeth states:-
John Twaddle Pettigrew – Bartonshill Brick Company
John Twaddle Pettigrew was born 11 April 1856 in Drumgelloch, Lanarkshire, Scotland, he was the eldest son of Robert Pettigrew. In the 1881 census, John Pettigrew’s occupation was a colliery bookkeeper and on the birth records of his five daughters, his occupation was listed as a clerk, ironwork clerk, works clerk, engineering bookkeeper, and secretary of work. It would appear that he purchased the Bartonshill Brick Company sometime after 1895 as in the 1901 Census his occupation is given as brick manufacturer. He sold the company in 1907 before immigrating, with his family, to New Zealand in December 1907. He died in New Zealand on the 29 May 1928 having retired as managing director of Thomas Brown Ltd, a company involved with the coal industry.
