James Ingleton & Co.
Plumbers
James Ingleton & Co., plumbers and gasfitters, was founded by Ingleton, a former handloom weaver. He left this declining trade in the 1850s, when he retrained as a master plumber. 1 In 1865, Ingleton took over his previous co-partnership of Ingleton & Phillips, retaining their premises in George Street, Glasgow. 2 He patented improvements to the design of water closets in 1869, and undertook the plumbing for David Thomson's Govan Free Church in 1872. 3 Ingleton died in 1886, and thereafter his business partner James Anderson took over. 4
In the 1900s, the firm advertised as sanitary, ventilating and heating engineers. By 1920, they listed the Mitchell Library, Ochil Hills Sanatorium, Pettigrew & Stephens Department Store and the Royal Technical College, Glasgow among their previous contracts. 5 They also had a speciality in large country houses, including Skipness, Carbisdale and Airthrey Castles, and Craigmaddie, Dargavel and Carfin Houses. 6
James Anderson was chairman of the Glasgow Council for the Registration of Plumbers (a quality assurance scheme) in 1893, and active in judging trade shows and furthering the technical education of apprentices. 7 In 1898, he was convenor of the professional exhibits accompanying the Scottish Plumbing Congress, where his own apprentices won prizes. 8 James Ingleton Junior, and James Cunningham eventually joined the firm, which continued in George Street under various partners until the mid-1960s. 9
Notes:
1: Census data, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 19 February 2013].
2: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1850–1911.
3: London Gazette, 19 November 1869, p. 6228; Glenn Brown, Water Closets: A Historical ... Treatise, New York: Industrial Publication Company, 1884, p. 89; Glasgow Herald, 5 January 1872, p. 4; 6 January 1872, p. 3.
4: Wills search, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 19 February 2013];Glasgow Herald, 22 October 1886, p. 1.
5: Advertisement, 'Glasgow Business Advertising', Robert Pool's Glasgow Collection, www.flickr.com [accessed 19 February 2013].
6: Advertisement, 'Glasgow Business Advertising', Robert Pool's Glasgow Collection, www.flickr.com [accessed 19 February 2013].
7: Glasgow Herald, 21 June 1893, p. 6.
8: Scotsman,, 29 August 1898, p. 9.
9: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1850–1911; Edinburgh Gazette, 30 April 1929, p. 451; 2 April 1935, p. 302; 10 May 1963, p. 338; 23 February 1965, p. 129; Scotsman, 31 July 1937, p. 6.
