A. & J. Scott
Painters
A. & J. Scott, house painters and decorators, Glasgow, originated as Scott, Mitchell & Co. in the 1850s. 1 Archibald Scott resigned c. 1863, and went into partnership with his brother James, who had been working in Kirkcaldy. 2 However, Archibald died only five years later.
From the late 1870s, the firm traded from 245, and later also from 247, Sauchiehall Street. 3 By 1881, James employed between 30 and 40 men, and 10 boys, including George W. Sellars (brother of architect, J. W. Sellars), who later founded his own firm, George. W. Sellars & Sons. By this date, James's and Archibald's sons had returned to Kirkcaldy to follow the family trade there. 4
When James died in 1890, the running of the firm was taken on by his son John, who had attended the South Kensington School of Art. 5 Advertising material dating from 1891 describes Scott’s showroom displays of Japanese, French and embossed wallpaper samples, and emphasises their skills in wood staining and in painting canvas in imitation of tapestry. 6 In the 1900s, A. & J. Scott moved to West George Street, and after John's retiral in the 1920s, his own son continued the firm. 7
John Scott was president of the Glasgow Federation of Master Painters in 1899–1900, and was actively involved in technical education for trainees, and in establishing common professional standards in Glasgow. 8
The firm worked on Ibrox and Kilmalcolm United Presbyterian Churches, St Andrew’s Halls in Glasgow, and Gartnavel Asylum (now Royal Hospital) during the first installation of electric light there. 9 They exhibited at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888, and claimed to make each project ‘a thing of beauty and a joy for – as long as paint lasts'. 10
Notes:
1: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1855–1923; Glasgow and Its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, p. 91.
2: Census information, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 23 August 2012]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1855–1923.
3: Death information, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 23 August 2012]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1855–1923.
4: Census information, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 23 August 2012].
5: Will information, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 23 August 2012]; Glasgow and Its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, p. 91.
6: Glasgow and Its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, p. 91.
7: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1855–1923; Edinburgh Gazette, 19 February 1937, p. 162.
8: Glasgow City Archives Collection: TD194/3(1), Scottish Amalgamated Society of House and Ship Painters Membership Card, Working Rules; TD194/1/2(1), Standard Rates of Glasgow Master Painters Association, p. 13.
9: Glasgow and Its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, p. 91.
10: Glasgow and Its Environs, London: Stratten & Stratten, 1891, p. 91.
