Potier, Stewart & Hardie
Suppliers' agent
Potier, Stewart & Hardie were somewhat obscurely described as 'agents for building specialities', based at 93 Hope Street, Glasgow. 1 The firm was established by Walter Potier around 1900, and acted as agents and a 'branch office' for various structural components manufacturers, such as 'Cundiff & Pointer, glass stainers; Mellowes & Co. Ltd, patent "Eclipse" imperishable roof glazing; Goodall, Lamb & Heighway Ltd, artistic matelpieces in wood' and 'Curfew, Armoured Iron Door Co.' 2 After a short-lived partnership, Potier retired in 1905, and George Hardie and Robertson Buchanan Moncrieff Stewart (1856–1905) continued until Stewart’s death that same year. 3
Stewart's grandfather, a prosperous Glasgow merchant, had married twice, making Stewart the 'half' nephew of two wealthy drapery warehousemen. His uncles were Alexander, of Ascog Hall, Bute, and Ninian Bannatyne Stewart, of Ardvar and Keil). Ascog and Ardvar were projects of John Honeyman. However, R. B. M. Stewart's more modest circumstances saw him working as a building trades agent in 1901. 4
The firm's longest-running client (c. 1901 – after 1923) was probably the Bostwick Gate and Shutter Co., 'makers of ... patent collapsible steel gates ... hoist enclosures, patent locked wire ... corrugated metal lathing (fireproof) [and] automatic ... gearing'. 5 They also represented switchboard makers, prismatic pavement light companies, and mosaic, tile and decorative wall cladding firms at various times. 6
Notes:
1: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1894–1923.
2: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1905–6, pp. 237, 515, 328, 1098.
3: Edinburgh Gazette, 7 April 1905, p. 381; birth and death information, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 4 September 2012].
4: +"PotSte Har.14">'Stewart & MacDonald, Manufacturers ... Buchanan Street, Argyle Street... Glasgow', Glasgow and its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, pp. 47–49; James MacLehose, 'Alexander Bannatyne Stewart (1836–1880)', Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men, Glasgow: James MacLehose & Co., 1886, Chapter 86 (Unpaginated), Glasgow Digital Library, www.gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen086.htm; Ascog Hall, Ardvar and Keil, Building Reports, Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk, [all accessed 12 August 2012].
5: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1894–1923.
6: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1894–1923.
