William McCall & Son
Joiners
William McCall & Sons were joiners and builders, of 5 Balmanno Street, Glasgow. The business had been founded by William McCall Senior (born Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, c. 1801–1872). 1 By 1851, McCall was employing 55 men and had secured major contracts such as the new Post Office in George Square (Charles Wilson, 1852–3, then William Burn, 1854–7). 2
The 1850s saw McCall well established in the city's municipal life, as Deacon (1854) and Collector (1856) of the Incorporation of Wrights, 3 , and as builder of the 'banqueting hall and galleries' for the Queen's opening of Glasgow's Loch Katrine waterworks in 1859. 4 Supervised by City Architect John Carrick, McCall 'had to transport great masses of timber down the Clyde ... then along Loch Lomond' on rafts, then up hillsides on carts. 5 McCall built his own yard and workshops in Balmanno Street (now under Strathclyde University campus), and also put up warehouses in Glassford Street in 1857. 6 He collaborated again with architect Charles Wilson to erect his own family's holiday homes, 'Dalnaduidh' or 'Dalandowie' (now Dalandhui), at Garelochhead, in 1856–7, alongside 'Rockville', which William Junior later used. 7
McCall's sons, William Junior (c. 1840–1908) and Samuel Meuros (a Borders surname; c. 1838–1913) lived in Dennistoun, then a newly-built, middle-class district. 8 They continued the family trade, joining the Incorporation of Wrights (William was Deacon in 1879) and visiting Dalandhui and Rockville (where several of their children were born). 9 Their Ladywell woodyard caught fire in 1885, but damage was minor. 10 Samuel retired in 1898, and William in 1904, the business being continued by William Junior's sons, another William (born c. 1875), and Robert M. McCall (born c. 1876), who were still trading in the 1930s. 11
Notes:
1: Census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 17 July 2013]; death date, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 17 July 2013].
2: Census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 17 July 2013]; Glasgow Herald, 9 December 1853, p. 5; 29 May 1857, p. 5; 'Building Report: Glasgow General Post Office', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 17 July 2013].
3: J. A. Reid, The Incorporation of Wrights in Glasgow, Glasgow: James C. Erskine, 1900, pp. lxi, lxxix; Glasgow Herald, 10 October 1856, p. 5.
4: Paisley Herald, 22 October 1859, p. 3.
5: Paisley Herald, 22 October 1859, p. 3.
6: Glasgow Herald, 17 April 1857, p. 5; 1 May 1857, p. 4.
7: Glasgow Herald, 20 February 1857, p. 6; census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 17 July 2013]; 'Dalandhui House Gazebo, Shore Road, Garelochhead', Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk [accessed 17 July 2013]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1875–1932.
8: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1875–1932; census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 17 July 2013].
9: J. M. Reid, The Incorporation of Wrights in Glasgow, Glasgow: James C. Erskine, 1928, pp. lxxxvii, cxv; Glasgow Herald, 20 September 1879, p. 7; census data, www.ancestry.co.uk; death dates, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 17 July 2013].
10: Glasgow Herald, 26 March 1885, p. 4.
11: Edinburgh Gazette, 27 December 1898, p. 1408; 29 April 1904, p. 480; census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [17 July 2013]; Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1932–3, p. 415.
