Embedded Files
B - Bonnets and James Taylor Brown.
Stewarton has been known as "The Bonnet Toun" ( Town) for centuries and although it is recorded that the Bonnet Trade of Stewarton existed in 1650 (over 370 years ago) it is likely that woollen bonnets were being knitted in and around the town long before that.
The knitting of bonnets was not confined to the townspeople as it took place in the surrounding countryside in farms and cottages, (hense the name " Cottage Industry") which frequently appear in old records including Cutstraw, Lintbrae, Little Corsehill and Nether Robertland. Farmers turned to bonnet making during the winter when it was almost impossible to work on the land.
The bonnets were all knitted by hand using a leather belt around the waist and the knitters used 3 needles, one fixed into the belt and the other two held in each hand (just as your Gran or Mum would do today). When the bonnets and caps were finished, they were taken to be firmed and dyed to the required colour.
The bonnet makers of Stewarton organised themselves into a society called the Bonnet Guild of Corshill and when this was formed there were 57 bonnet makers in Stewarton. By 1868 that number had dropped to just 18.
Towards the end of the 18t Centuary the Industrial Revolution had arrived in Stewarton which transformed the manufacturing methods. This virtually put an end to the original Cottage Industry,
The first Bonnet making factory set up in Stewarton in 1820 was Robert Sim on the banks of the Annick at Robertland Mill and this firm existed until 1987. Originally Makie's were a spinning and dying business however in 1842 Robert Mackie set up his firm called T. Mackie and Sons as a bonnet making business originally in Home Street,
In the 1960's there were 10 bonnet makers , 3 woolen spinners and 8 agents to the manufactures in Stewarton employing a considerable number of people.
It was not just bonnets that were made in the District, Mackie's also made carpets for a while. In the Sim factory they also made Balaclavas, Ski and Bob caps for the sportswear retailers.
In 1960 the Mackie factory in Holm St. was destroyed by a large fire and they moved into their new factory in Bridgend where they are still in operation today
.
The belt and needles, with the larger Kilmarnock bonnet on the left and an official Stewarton Bonnet Guild bonnet on the right.
Group of hand bonnet knitters
1868 - Stewarton Bonnet Makers
Barclay & Downes - Dean Street
Currie, Brown & Co - High Street
Deans, Currie & Co - Holm Street
James Gibson - Kirkford
William Laughland - High Street
Robert Mackie & Co - Holm Street - last to survive ***
Alexander Picken - Vennel Street
John Picken - Bridgend - house - 6 Bridgend Street
Picken & Wilson - High Street
Pollock & Borland - Rigg Street
R. B. Robertson - High Street - house - Nether Robertland
Alexander Rodger - Dean Street
James Rodger - Dean Street
Robert Sim - Annick Cottage; 9 Kelvingrove Street, Glasgow; Office - 14 Queen Street Glasgow - 2nd last to survive*
Stewarton Bonnet Company - Holm Street
David Wyllie & Son - Dean Street
Wyllie & McDowell - Townhead
William Wyllie and Company - 1 High Street
B - James Taylor Brown 1868 – 1925
Brown was born in Kilmarnock in 1868 and moved to Stewarton in1870, living with his parents at Draffenlea cottage on Loudoun Street.
Until he was 28, the artist worked for his sister in her draper’s shop in the town, later opening his own shop in Main Street selling newspapers, books and confectionery, with his art studio at the rear.
Brown devoted the remainder of his life to painting and was fortunate to have the guidance from the group known as ‘the Glasgow Boys,’ whose work recently spearheaded one of Kelvingrove Art Gallery’s most successful exhibitions.
Taylor Brown’s work was exhibited in the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, and included scenes of Rowallan Castle, Robertland Estate, Ballantrae, Dunlop Kirk, Prestonpans shore and the Millhouse, Stewarton. The Stewarton and District Museum exhibit a number of this paintings
He died aged just 57 and was buried in Stewarton cemetery beside other members of his family in an unmarked grave.
Google Sites
Report abuse