MY GRANDFATHER’S LEGACY - THE NEWMILNS LACE INDUSTRY
I am very proud of the long association my family and I have had with MYB Textiles, formerly Morton, Young and Borland Ltd (MYB), the only company in the world which still makes genuine Nottingham Machine-made lace and Scotch Leno gauze woven cloth (Madras). MYB was founded in 1900 by my grandfather, Thomas Morton and his partner Alex Young and, for over 100 years, members of my family were closely involved in the business.
THE LACE TRADE IN THE IRVINE VALLEY
Alexander Morton was a successful entrepreneur running a large number of Madras looms in Darvel, travelling throughout the UK selling his products. In the late nineteenth century, he heard of the Nottingham Lace Curtain Machine which was capable of producing finely patterned lace in large quantities. He acquired a machine and brought it to Darvel where its success generated many lace mills throughout the Irvine Valley. The industry provided employment opportunities for dyers, finishers, yarn suppliers, cloth designers, wholesale merchants, machine builders, repairers and many more. At its peak, over 3000 people were employed in and around the industry.
After WW2 there was a boom in the lace industry and by 1945 there were 36 companies in the Irvine Valley producing Lace or Madras or both. These were halcyon days for the owners. The post war world-wide demand for lace was huge. However, demand began to ease off in the late 1950s with the invention of Terylene, a new polyester yarn which was much easier to care for than traditional lace. There was a brief reprieve in the late 1960s when a dress lace boom exploded, but the fashion business is extremely fickle and by the early 1970s demand had dramatically fallen.
By far the largest problem, however, was not the new product but the fact that many company owners had developed new habits during the boom times and money once used for maintenance and investment was now being used to finance an extravagant lifestyle and business could not be sustained once demand dwindled. The MYB Directors, however, were teetotal Church-goers who lived a frugal life, hence the Company retained its financial security. Sadly the decline continued, and now MYB Textiles, based in Newmilns, is the only Company in the world which makes genuine Nottingham machine-made lace and Madras woven cloth.
A LIFETIME IN THE LACE INDUSTRY
My involvement with the lace business began at a very early age. My brother, my sister and I were often left down at the factory by my mother, Thomas Morton’s daughter, to be looked after by the workers if my Mum needed to go shopping! We all became very familiar with the workers and the machines. Later I worked in the factory during my summer holidays from school. I was the only family member of my generation to go into the business.
I joined MYB in 1956 earning £5/week. After period of National Service, I re-entered the business in 1958 and felt wealthy with my wages of £8/week!
I was made a Co-Director of the Company in 1970, alongside Matt Young. I had a customer-focused remit and responsibility for securing orders. The Company was financially secure but, to be honest, at this point, we did not pay enough attention to the future of the business. We were cash-rich but nevertheless were losing money on our year-by-year business. In 1983, our Auditor warned that at the present rate, our business would cease to be solvent within two years unless we changed our way of doing business. I was married with a young family at this time and the prospect of losing the whole business was frightening. I took the decision to buy the Company; I saw this as the only way forward. When I took over control, MYB had 35 employees and 47 shareholders.
Becoming the owner of the Company meant a huge lifestyle change for me. I travelled widely to South Africa, Australia, NZ, US, Europe, building up contacts and securing orders for exports. The Company turnover doubled within 12 months.
On taking over the business, I introduced new working conditions for all employees - equal pay for women; working hours changed so that work stopped at lunchtime on Fridays; and every employee became a non-voting shareholder in the business. I am pleased to say that industrial relations were good across the Company, and I never had any industrial disputes or strikes to contend with. In short, I worked hard, travelled widely and shared the success of the Company with its employees.
However, my success was also due to the employment of three key people, Jean Piper, Tom Craig and Michael Litton.
Jean was Company Secretary and Financial Director. I had every confidence in her and she, essentially, ran the business whenever I was abroad.
Tom was a Management Consultant and was instrumental in changing the way we did business. He turned things around within a short time, so the business became profitable and its long-term future was secure.
Michael was an inventor and used one of the looms at MYB to develop a prototype seamless, porous airbag for use in the car industry. It’s amazing that the prototype for every airbag in every car in the world was developed on one of MYB looms in Newmilns! In return for the use of the loom Michael used his technical expertise to develop a bespoke technology which MYB adopted to weave their Scottish Madras fabrics. This new technology enabled a vast increase in production capability. MYB Textiles still remains the only mill in the world with access to this unique technology and enabled the company to maintain its strong market position.
Although as a Company, we had our ups and downs over the years, by 2001 business was on a very secure footing and we were turning over a healthy profit. At this time, one of my employees approached me about buying a share of the business. To cut a long story short, in the end he bought the whole business and in 2002 I retired secure in the knowledge that I had built up a profitable business, with a secure future for the Company and its employees.
THE ALLOWAY RAILWAY TUNNEL
It is wonderful to walk through theAlloway Railway Tunnel and see that the Newmilns Lace Industry has a place onthe Mural.
I remember travelling by train through the Tunnel when I was a boy. The occasion was a Sunday School Trip for pupils of the Newmilns Churches. We boarded the train at Newmilns Station, shepherded by the Sunday Schoolteachers, and as far as I recall, we didn't change trains at any point. I clearly remember going through the Tunnel as that was the highlight of the journey for everyone on board. I can't recall much about the return journey as many of us fell asleep after an energetic day in and around the rocks at Dunure!
Morton Dewar
You can watch a short film made by the Alloway Tunnel team when we visited MYB Textiles to film behind the scenes and interview Margo Graham, Design Director.
