INDUSTRY

TURKEY RED

Turkey Red, named because the process was believed to have been invented in Turkey, was introduced to Scotland in 1785 by George Macintosh, who invited a French chemist, Pierre Jacques Papillon to Scotland to explain the dyeing process. They set up the Dalmarnock works, along with David Dale and began production of long-lasting red dyed cloth. The process used ammonia, sulphuric acid, sheeps’ dung and bulls’ blood.

Henry Montieth bought the factory from them in 1805 and became famous for his red and white spotted hankies, which became known as “Monteiths.” The popularity of the dye increased dramatically. Children were a source of very cheap labour. In 1839, Levensbank, Milton and Dillichip Works employed 100 children below the age of 12, Alexandria Works employed 104. By 1850, Dalquhurn was using 130,000 gallons of bulls’ blood in the dyeing process every year. By the end of Queen Victoria’s reign the Vale was dyeing velvet and calico as well as cotton and yarn and had turned into a specialised industry.

Other dyers moved to the Vale, by 1860, the three largest were John Orr Ewing, Archibald Orr and William Stirling. Between them they employed 6000 workers who produced 25,000lb of yarn and 10,000 pieces of cloth per day. Their buildings covered ten acres of ground. At this time the population of the Vale was 120, Bonhill was the main settlement, hardly more than a hamlet, Alexandria, Jamestown and Renton didn’t exist. By 1891 all of these settlements were established and the population in the Vale was 19,635.

People who lived in the Vale were ruled by bells. Bells rang before work to announce that the factory gates were closing, bells rang for breakfast and lunch breaks and then again at the start of shifts. If a worker missed getting in the gates, the were deprived of 15 minutes’ pay, or quartered. If you lost more than an hour’s pay, you were sacked.

From 1860 there was a growing realisation that the printing and dyeing industry in the Vale was vulnerable to events abroad. The American Civil War (1865-65) reduced imports of cotton into Scotland dramatically and created a period of major hardship for the Vale. However new markets were discovered in India, Morocco, the Philippines, Japan, China and South Africa.

Business became profitable again and, by the 1880’s, there were fifteen Turkey Red companies in the Vale, all using the natural dye extracted from the madder plant. It was at this time that the German factories started manufacturing synthetic red dye, which was much cheaper. In the 1890’s India imposed restrictive taxes on imports of cotton. In response the major factories merged to form the United Turkey Red Company Limited and began experimenting with new artificial colours.

An important figure in the new company was John Hyde Christie, formerly a chemist, manager and then partner in the firm of John Orr Ewing and Son, he managed the new company through its early years. Three of his sons came into the business, Henry Christie became chairman in 1924 and his brother, John F Christie Jnr invented a faster process for dyeing with Turkey Red. All this was too late, from the peak of its success in the Victorian Era, the invention of synthetic dye gradually eroded the need for Turkey Red and the industry’s gradual decline ended in 1960 when the Calico Printers’ Association took over
the last remaining factory, The Craft, in 1960.