. The Paisley thread industry and the men who created and developed it, with notes concerning Paisley, old and new . ut others were quite honourable competitors. The Directories of Paisley which are preserved in the FreeLibrary begin at 1784. There is then a blank till 1812, anda further blank between 1814 and 1820, after which date onlyan occasional volume is awanting. From these imperfectmaterials we gather some interesting details, but the readermust remember that we only state such facts as are found inthe existing Directories. The total number of so-called thread manufacturers is onehundr
. The Paisley thread industry and the men who created and developed it, with notes concerning Paisley, old and new . ut others were quite honourable competitors. The Directories of Paisley which are preserved in the FreeLibrary begin at 1784. There is then a blank till 1812, anda further blank between 1814 and 1820, after which date onlyan occasional volume is awanting. From these imperfectmaterials we gather some interesting details, but the readermust remember that we only state such facts as are found inthe existing Directories. The total number of so-called thread manufacturers is onehundred and seven, but of these more than half only appearfor one or two years, and probably were not really manufacturersat all. Some businesses have evidently been carried on by the Other Thread Manufacturers 55 same family for two or three generations, with only a slightchanee in the name of the firm. In other cases, firms of thesame name have apparently been created so as to keep separatecertain classes of products, or to provide an opening for a timefor some of the younger branches of the family. In other cases. Jaisley IHOJr THE A«UEnrcT. amalgamation or absorption has taken place, while the originalname of the firm has still been retained in the Directory. Somefew are manifestly mere imitators, seeking to benefit by thelabours of more able men. There are twenty-three firms ofthread manufacturers given in the Directory for 1784, and onlythree in that of 1906-7—and even these three are now in realitycombined into one, 56 The Paisley Thread The family which has been longest connected with the threadtrade is that of Clark, dating (as far as the Directories state)from 1784 to 1906-7, a period of a hundred and twenty-threeyears. But, as the first James Clark was born in 1747, hewould be thirty-seven years of age in 1784, and so it is possible
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