North British Locomotive Company

In 1894, Hugh Reid became senior partner of Neilson, Reid & Co, locomotive builders, (founded in 1876) Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland. He was convinced of the advantages of industrial concentration and in 1903 helped to negotiate the amalgamation of Neilson Reid & Co with its major Glasgow competitors, Sharp, Stewart & Co Ltd and Dubs & Co.

The resulting limited company was known as the North British Locomotive Co Ltd. The first chairman of the company was William Lorimer, chief partner of Dubs & Co while Hugh Reid became deputy chairman and managing director with overall responsibility for the organisation and management of the new company. Amongst the first directors of the new company were sons of William Lorimer and Henry Dubs. The valuations of the constituent companies were £466,000 for Neilson, Reid & Co, £313,000 for Dubs & Co and £240,000 for Sharp, Stewart & Co Ltd.

North British Locomotive Co Ltd retained the premises of each of the amalgamated companies – the Hyde Park works established by Neilson, Reid & Co and the Atlas works of Sharp, Stewart & Co, both in Springburn, and the Queen’s Park works established by Dubs & Co at Polmadie, Glasgow. It was the biggest locomotive builder in Europe at the time, with 60 acres of works and nearly 8,000 employees. At its peak, production was averaging 447 completed locomotives per year.

During WW1, the company produced shells of all sizes, shell forgings, portable pill boxes and sea mines. A large part of this work being undertaken by women, who according to the company, maintained a high productivity, standard of work and good labour relations throughout the years of the war. It also manufactured aeroplanes, trench Howitzer carriages, tanks, military bridges, artificial limbs and machine tools as well as continuing to produce locomotive engines, some for specialised military use such as the movement of guns and ammunition. The total invoice value of the output during the war was approximately £16,000,000.

During these war years, the company gave over a portion of their administration building to the Scottish branch of the British Red Cross Society. The resulting Springburn Hospital, offering 400 beds, was opened for the reception of patients on 24 December 1914 and remained open until 21 May 1918.

Artist’s Response

Having been given this story I looked into what the company made; the unusual combination of First World War aircraft and artificial limbs stood out. I’d recently had an operation in hospital so medical things were on my mind; there was a zigzag of stitches across my head which gained me attention. I know someone at college who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which was originally known as shell shock and that is associated with World War One soldiers. I read about artificial limbs and looked at images of how they have developed through time. 100 years ago a lot of troops had their legs and arms amputated, not so much because of the original wound but because the time that had passed between getting injured and operated on meant that the infection had spread.

I looked at artists, concentrating on those from the period and also artists who worked in woodcut, as that’s what we were to do. I found Christopher Nevinson’s prints this way; I had not heard of him before, but discovering things or people you didn’t know is always interesting. My images of women working in a factory and a biplane are indebted to him.

Kate Elliot
City of Glasgow College

Kate was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and her blood consists of black and white stripes. She is currently studying Printmaking at the City of Glasgow College, where she enjoys producing multi-colour drypoint images. As well as studying printmaking, Kate also spends her time volunteering for the National Trust for Scotland, British Heart Foundation, and Take One Action Film Festival.

Kate’s inspirations and influences range far and wide, including artists such as Ian Hamilton Finlay, Shirin Neshat and Vilhelm Hammershoi, music by Tom Waits, Spiritualized and Idlewild, authors Rebecca Solnit, George Orwell and Michael Bond (who wrote Paddington Bear stories).