William McGeoch, Kemp & Co.

Ironmongers

McGeoch, Kemp & Co. was founded by experienced ironmongers William McGeoch (born c. 1842) and William Kemp (c. 1851–1919) and opened for business at 157–9 Buchanan Street, Glasgow around 1891. 1 Kemp had previously co-owned Moir & Kemp, house furnishers, smiths and gasfitters. 2 McGeoch was a partner in his family’s firm of William McGeoch & Co., a major supplier of ship's lamps, and agent for various brands of screw, enamel nameplates and electrical components. McGeoch, Kemp & Co., 'house furnishing ironmongers', shared William McGeoch's prominent advertisement inside of the front cover of the 1893–4 Glasgow Post Office Directory.

Kemp bought over the company on McGeoch's retirement in 1902, continuing as 'William Kemp & Co. ... late McGeoch & Kemp' until at least 1918. 3 William Kemp Junior, an 'ironmonger’s assistant' in 1901, was sufficiently senior in 1910 to be listed as a company member in his own right. 4 The firm began advertising as ‘electrical engineers’ around 1905, and William Kemp Junior was still trading from 157–9 Buchanan Street as an electrician and ironmonger in 1920. 5

Notes:

1: Death and census information, www.ancestry.co.uk and www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 28 and 31 July, 1 August 2012]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1884–1920.

2: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1884–1920.

3: Edinburgh Gazette, 2 January 1903, p. 11; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1884–1920.

4: 1901 census information, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 2 August 2012]; Glasgow Post Office Directory , 1910–11.

5: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1884–1920.

'Mackintosh Architecture' led by The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; with additional support from The Monument Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; and collaborative input from Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.