Robert McLaren & Co.

Robert Maclaren & Co. operated the Eglinton Foundry on the south side of the river Clyde for over 70 years. Robert Maclaren (1817–1889), son of a manager at Carron Ironworks, Falkirk, established his own firm when taking over his uncle's 'patent gas-tube and lap-welded' pipe company, Andrew Liddell & Co., of the Globe Foundry in Washington Street, in 1844. 1 Around twelve years later, the firm relocated to Eglinton Foundry, where business continued until 1931. 2

By 1888, the works covered an area of 26,000 square yards and employed between 600 and 800 men. Sixty per cent of the premises were given over to the storage of 'many thousands of tons of cast-iron pipes ... ready for shipment'. 3 By 1901, the Foundry was 'producing 30,000 tons of pipes annually for water, gas or electric purposes'. This growth in the manufacture of cast-iron pipes was attributed to increasing standards in domestic sanitation and power-supplies. The Foundry's production process and mould-drying ovens were semi-automated with hydraulic, gas and electric-power, and it had its own dedicated railway sidings and a five-ton travelling crane. The firm was innovative and introduced standardised pipe dimensions, which were subsequently adopted industry-wide. 4

Robert MacLaren Junior (c. 1860–1936) later took over the running of the firm and was also involved in Glasgow business life at a high level, serving as a a director of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the Glasgow Royal Exchange for 18 years. 5

The firm supplied pipes to Liverpool Council (1889), for Edinburgh's first electric street-lighting scheme (1893–4), and Glasgow's municipal water-supply (1898; controversially beating a possibly-lower American tender). 6 In the 1900s, it exported to Brazil, India, Argentina and to various Chilean coppermines. 7 During the First World War, the Foundry produced 'eight million fuse stampings' and worked with William Beardmore, of Parkhead Forge, to construct tanks. In the 1920s, a subsidiary firm, Eglinton Founders Ltd, was established with Beardmore as co-partner. Also in the 1920s, Robert Maclaren & Co. produced thermostats and temperature controls. In 1931, the firm was wound up; shortly afterwards a new firm was established under the same name with new investment. 8