Photograph by Thomas Annan of a portrait of James Stevenson (1786-1866). The painter was who was Norman Macbeth.
Stevenson was born in Paisley and with his brother Nathaniel (1785-1867) they managed a spinning mill at Calton and then another at Barrowfield, where they became partners with the Oswald brothers. In the 1820s James went to South Shields and became an alkali maker, manufacturing mineral alkali from common salt. He died in Edinburgh in 1866.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 920.041435 COR
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
alkali makers, cotton manufacturers, cotton merchants, cotton spinning, portraits, textiles