P. & W. MacLellan Limited

The origins of P. & W. MacLellan Ltd. date to 1805 when Donald and Humphrey MacLellan opened a hardware shop at 178 Saltmarket, Glasgow. The partnership was short-lived and in 1809 Donald set up on his own at 5 The Trongate, as Donald MacLellan, hardware merchant, specialising in supplying pedlars.

When Donald retired in 1839, he passed on the business to his nephews Peter and Walter. The company became P.& W. MacLellan. The firm began to diversify and manufacture its own products. In the Glasgow directory of 1846, P. & W. MacLellan advertised as ironmongers, smiths, gasfitters, and bellhangers. The company began iron merchanting in 1848 and started making iron bridges. Construction of the firm's first bridge across Glasgow's River Clyde started in January 1851 and was completed in June 1852.

Around 1852, MacLellans converted their works into an iron warehouse and purchased premises at 10 Adelphi Street in Kinning Park, Glasgow. They named their premises the Clutha Iron Works. In 1865 the company purchased the Clydesdale Foundry in Paisley Road. In 1890 the business became P. & W. MacLellans Limited. The company was now one of Scotland's most significant businesses, employing over 3000 people.

During the First World War, the Clutha Works were given over to munitions production and producing steel wagons and tracks for transporting goods to the Front. Following the war the business expanded, taking over the Forth Shipbreaking Yard in Falkirk, but the company was hit hard by the recession of the 1920s, the Clutha works only remaining open by accepting contracts at virtually cost price.

The Second World War saw MacLellans producing more munitions for the war effort and the building of landing craft at the Clutha Works. The company continued to grow after the war; pipework was supplied to various hydro-electric schemes in Scotland along with overseas bridge building contracts and repair work to war-damaged factories.

Competition with Japanese and German iron and steel producers meant that P. & W. MacLellan Ltd. began to suffer severe losses from the 1960s. Although the late 1970s saw the company back in profit, demand for fabricated goods was weak and the Clutha Works closed down in 1980. The company concentrated on supplying fastenings to the building and engineering trades. In 1997, P. & W. MacLellan Ltd. became Haden MacLellan Holdings Ltd., changing its name to Infant plc in 2000.

P. & W. MacLellan was an early user of commercial overprints; they can be found on 1d Inland Revenue stamps (type of 1868-1881) and the 1881 1d Lilac stamps.

by Mark Matlach

The Blanefield Printing Company

 The Blanefield Printing Company was located in Strathblane, a small village in Stirlingshire, Scotland. The printing trade in Strathblane began in 1790, and by the 1850s the calico printworks employed around 400 people including 50 children. Employees worked 10 to 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. The Blanefield works had both machine and block printing. There was a dye house, a warehouse, a bleaching department and a drying department. The printworks had its own store and employees were expected to purchase all their groceries there. A man was posted at the gate house to see if any employee went into the shop opposite the factory, and if so they were fined. If times were hard at the printworks, the employees would be paid in goods obtained from the printworks store, thus tying them further to the company.

The Blanefield Printing Company 1880s

The Blanefield Printing Company was acquired by a syndicate of calico printers in 1898. The printworks was deemed unprofitable and promptly closed down. By 1910 the demolition of the works was practically complete and the population of Strathblane had fallen dramatically with a large number of houses left abandoned. No sign of the printing industry remains today.

by Mark Matlach

Thomas Borthwick & Sons Ltd.

Thomas Borthwick was a butcher from Edinburgh. In 1872 he invested his savings in chartering one of the new ships that had refrigerated holds and sailed to New Zealand. At that time, all the meat that was imported to the UK from New Zealand was transported pickled in brine. Upon his arrival in New Zealand, Borthwick bought mutton and lamb for a knock-down price, filled the refrigerated hold with the meat, and set sail for home. During the return voyage, the refrigeration broke down and the meat perished and had to be thrown overboard. The ship turned around and returned to New Zealand where another cargo of meat was loaded into the now repaired refrigerated hold. On returning to the UK, Borthwick made a large profit on the fresh frozen meat. This was the start of Borthwick's company which he went on to develop into a large meat wholesale and distributing business.

In 1892 Thomas Borthwick moved his company to London. In 1895 his sons became partners in the company, which took the name Thomas Borthwick & Sons Ltd. in 1904. The company went on to establish freezing works in New Zealand and Australia. Branch offices were established in Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Borthwicks also had several ranches in New Zealand and Australia and practically controlled the trade from the livestock market in Australia to Britain.

Today Thomas Borthwick & Sons Ltd. continues in Australia as a leading meat processing company which exports its products worldwide.

Despite the long history of the company, I am unaware of any overprints on stamps other than the ones shown and SG 506a.

by Mark Matlach

Kearley & Tonge

Hudson Ewbanke Kearley, son of a master builder was born at Uxbridge, in the county of Middlesex, in the year 1856. Educated at Cranleigh, H. E. Kearley had intended to enter the Civil Service, but failing to pass the necessary examination, he began a commercial career with a firm of coffee merchants in Fenchurch Street, London, on the 1st January, 1872.In September of the same year, he obtained a job with E. Tetley & Sons, Tea Merchants, of Mincing Lane. After experience in their office and sale room, he became, as he said, "a full-blown traveler of the firm" in the summer of 1874

About that time the main ideas upon which he subsequently based his commercial policy began to take shape in the mind of this astute and enterprising young man. He felt that "middlemen" had too large a part in the general scheme of distribution and that consumers would benefit by a method of direct supply. He noticed also while traveling in tea for Tetleys that--to use his own words--"there were a multitude of small shopkeepers who would have sold tea if they could get it. They could not, however, get it from the regular wholesalers like Tetleys, because they did not place big enough orders."

While still at Tetleys, he started to sell tea on his own account to small retailers, under an arrangement he made with Tetleys to purchase all his supplies from them. Thus began "Kearley & Company." It proved so successful that in 1876 a Mr. Heseltine, an influential member of Tetleys, offered to put money into the enterprise. That offer was accepted, a deed of partnership was executed, Kearley left Tetleys, and transfered "Kearley & Co., "to a poky little office at 10 Sparrow Corner, Minories, London, with a staff of two, a man and a boy--the man being Mr. H. J. Evans, afterwards one of the three Governing Directors. Two years later the business moved to better premises in Crutched Friars, again, in 1881, to Bury Street, St. Mary Axe, and finally in 1884, to Mitre Square.


Such progress had been made that in 1880 Heseltine left Tetleys and became an active partner, when "Kearley & Co." became "Heseltine & Kearley". Soon afterwards, they were joined by Mr. G. A. Tonge who had been an apprentice at Tetleys. The business was carried on as "Heseltine, Kearley & Tonge" until 1887, when Heseltine retired and the style "Kearley & Tonge" was adopted.

The year 1878 saw the opening at Brentford of the first of the retail branches. Others quickly followed and it is recorded that from 1880 branch after branch was opened in town and country. The early branches traded under the name "International Tea Co." The price list dated 1st January 1889 which is the earliest on the files, shows that by that time there were 200 retail branches--a truly remarkable growth in approximately 10 years.

by Paul Green

Allied Industrial Services Ltd.

Initial Services Ltd. had its roots in an enterprise launched in 1903 to provide a linen rental supply service, a concept virtually unknown in Europe at that time.

The major development in the history of Initial occurred in 1968 when it merged with Allied Industrial Services Ltd., another company engaged in the textile maintenance industry. Their activities overlapped to some extent, but were broadly complementary.

Allied owed its origins to a business founded in 1864 to operate a laundry service collecting, washing and drying rags used for cleaning industrial machinery. In 1900 this enterprise merged with two other businesses and in 1914 the company commenced the manufacture of its own cloths. The company's services were diversified by the introduction of a cleaning cloth rental service, and in 1928 it entered the work wear rental business.

Allied was floated in 1934; the business continued to expand, and made several significant acquisitions, notably:

• In 1958 the Scottish laundry group of A. Bell & Sons Ltd. was acquired with its laundry, dyeing and dry cleaning businesses and its interests in industrial and hotel linen supply services
• In 1961 Allied purchased the cleaning cloth business of Saul D Harrison Ltd. in Rochdale
• In 1962 General Industrial Cleaners Ltd, also in the workwear business, was acquired
• In 1965 Allied purchased an interest in Metlex Industries Ltd., a manufacturer of bathroom equipment.

The merger of Initial Services and Allied formed a group of companies with assets of £26 million employing some 6,000 full-time and part-tune employees at 170 premises. It brought together major companies in complementary markets. Initial Services specialized in 'clean work' such as towels and coats while Allied dealt principally in 'dirty work' (boiler suits and cleaning cloths).

by Paul Green

Bobby & Co. Ltd.

Bobby were a well-known English department store with branches mainly along the South Coast with 'outposts' in Southport & Leamington - generally well-heeled towns. They used the poster artist Gregory Brown on many occasions during the 1920s and 1930s such as this 1923 Christmas poster.


Bobby's were founded in Margate in 1887 and were bought by Debenhams in 1927. The name vanished c1972.

The history of Debenhams starts with a business opened in Margate during 1887, when a Mr. F. J. Bobby bought an already established drapery store. In 1900 it became a limited company and expansion followed through the years with stores in Leamington Spa, Folkestone, Eastbourne, Torquay, Cliftonville, Bournemouth, and Exeter. In Exeter, it was the business run by Green and Son on the High Street that was taken over by Bobbys in 1922.

When Mr. Bobby retired in 1927, the business was sold to Debenhams and his son became chairman of the group. Branches were added in Southsea, Reading, Worthing, Worcester and Totnes. During 1937, considerable improvements were made to the building and they became the largest store in the High Street. A restaurant was added with an in-house orchestra that would play during dinner and tea.

by Paul Green

Binns Ltd.

George Binns acquired Thomas Ellerby's draper's and haberdasher's store at 176 High Street, Bishop's Wearmouth, Sunderland, England, in 1811. After George Binns's death in 1836 the business passed to his eldest son, Henry Binns, and in 1865, when Henry retired the business passed on to his son Joseph John Binns, trading under the name of H. Binns, Son & Co. In October 1884, Joseph John Binns decided to move the business from the High Street to a residential thoroughfare at 38-39 Fawcett Street, Sunderland.

A limited liability company was incorporated on the 9 April 1897 under the name of H. Binns, Son & Co. Ltd. with registered offices at 39 Fawcett Street, Sunderland.

In 1922, H. Binns, Son & Co. Ltd. established the first branch of Binns on High Row, Darlington, England, when the business and premises of Arthur Sanders Ltd, department store, were purchased and developed. In 1922, Joseph John Binns died and was replaced by John Simpson as chairman of the company.

In 1923, Thomas Jones & Co, department store, Middlesborough, England, was acquired and, in 1924, the purchase of property from W J Reed enabled the company to develop the Fawcett Street premises in Sunderland. The expansion of H. Binns, Son & Co. Ltd. continued throughout the following years with the acquisition of Gray Peverell & Co. Ltd., department store, West Hartlepool, England, in 1926; Fowler & Brock Ltd, department store, South Shields, England, in 1927; James Coxon & Co. Ltd., department store, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in 1929; F. Robinson & Co. Ltd., department store, with premises in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, and Dumfries, Scotland, in 1934, and Robert Maule & Son Ltd, drapers, Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, also in 1934.

In 1934, the name of the company was changed to Binns Ltd and in 1948 the registered offices of the company were changed to 8/10 Holmeside, Sunderland.

In early 1953, a bid by House of Fraser Ltd, department store retailers, Glasgow, Scotland, was opposed by the board of directors of Binns Ltd, following a revaluation of the company's property. However, in April 1953 after a bitter takeover battle Binns Ltd became a subsidiary of House of Fraser Ltd with Hugh Fraser assuming the position of chairman. The registered offices of the company were changed in that year to 35/42 Fawcett Street, Sunderland.

By 2002, Binns Ltd was a non-trading company with registered offices at 1 Howick Place, London, England. In the same year five Binns stores were trading for House of Fraser Plc.

by Paul Green