A selection of brooms made by John Ferguson & Sons (Glasgow) from their trade catalogue from the 1940s. The firm supplied all types of industrial brushes to order - filled with bristle, hair, nylon or fibre.
The firm of McDonald & Ferguson, brush makers, was founded in Bell Street in 1817. The partnership was dissolved in 1841, after which John Ferguson carried on the business alone. A strict teetotaller, he was described as an honest, hard-working Victorian businessman who took a personal interest in the needs of his customers. He built up a small business into a sizeable undertaking.
The firm had a number of addresses in Glasgow before settling in York Street in 1888, where it remained until it moved to Hillington Industrial Estate in the 1940s.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 679.606541435 FER
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
bristle, brooms, brush makers, brushes, fibre, hair, Hillington Industrial Estate, John Ferguson & Sons (Glasgow), McDonald & Ferguson, nylon, teetotallers, trade catalogues