Title:
Living Linen Interview LL2_R00/86
Object name(s):
Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel; Sound Recording
Brief description:
Sound Recording on Reel: Blackstaff & Lamont. Library Transcript: Transcript. Summary: The Gillespie family were minor shareholders in Blackstaff. Mr Gillespie's grandfather, James, worked as a senior manager from 1900 until his death in 1951. In 1951 James' father, J Harold Gillespie, became joint managing director alongside William Boyd. It was always assumed that James himself would join the firm, which he did in 1954. He served a full apprenticeship in the firm, working in all aspects of the operation; from spinning and weaving to dyeing and thread making, and followed a flax spinning course at Belfast `Tech. Mr Gillespie also trained as an industrial engineer under the auspices of the company and was centrally involved in a long term time and motion study. Blackstaff was a vertical firm with sites in Belfast, Dunmurry, Dromalane and Lurgan. Their warehouse was in Mullhouse St Belfast. Dunmurry was a yarn processing works and Blackstaff had their suitings bleached at Moygashel. The sp inning and weaving operations were run independently and were free to buy and sell on the open market. The Lurgan Weaving Co, which was owned by Blackstaff, produced very fine handkerchief cambrics. The Springfield Rd factory specialised in suitings and heavier cloth. It was company policy to concentrate on linen, and the firm did little cotton, union or rayon cloth. Blackstaff was export orientated with 3 sales directors covering N America, S America and the UK. The UK Director was also responsible for Australasia. The firm had a New York office, an associated company in Brazil and an extensive network of agents. Although the company remained profitable Billy Boyd and his sisters wanted to realise their capital as they had no obvious successors. In 1963 Blackstaff was sold to L'industries. L'industries were partcularly interested in the thread works and also bought over the thread making business at York St, Campbell's and Wolfhill. The closure of the S American market was a major blow. The Italian market was pursued to compensate for this loss and the Brazilian company established as a way around the tariff barriers. Price was becoming increasingly important due to overseas competition and contracting demand. After L'industries bought the company Blackstaff took a third interest in Ballievey. In the late 1960s Blackstaff became quite innovative developing a successful line of fovelty and character merchandise. Buying exclusive licensing rights to print cartoon duvets and curtains was risky but it paid dividends. The workforce at Blackstaff contracted from 1,000 in 1954 to around 500 by 1963. The diverse product range also narrowed over these years. Mr Gillespie became financial director at Hilden and lost contact with Blackstaff for a number of years. In 1971 he was approached by Billy Luke and asked to oversee the closure of Blackstaff (now weaving only) and Doagh, which had been performing poorly. In partnership with a number of others Mr Gillespie formed Blackstaff Holdings and continued to run Blackstaff, Doagh and the retailers Wilson and Wood with the intention of securing their future and then selling them on. Wilson & Wood was revived by Mr Gillespie as a means of disposing of ends of lines and imperfects. Doagh yarns and Wilson and Wood continue to this day. Blackstaff Holdings still owns the Doagh mill site. The Ballievey interest was sold to Moygashel. Blackstaff was sold in 1991 and converted to industrial units. Mr Gillespie is still a director of Blackstaff and is based in N Wales with the paper and textile printing company Archive Printing.
Collection:
National Museums Northern Ireland
Object name:
Sound Recording : Magnetic Tape, Reel; Sound Recording
Object number:
HOYFM.R2001.10
Object production date:
16/11/2000
Object production person:
Gillespie, James S. (Mr)
Right holder:
National Museums NI
Text reason:
Collections online record

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/ed38d46c-560a-3d9e-8195-850b89e1a84e

Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/ed38d46c-560a-3d9e-8195-850b89e1a84e, National Museums Northern Ireland, CC BY-NC

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