Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/215

Rh mills on properties where such facilities existed. He was instrumental in this way in the erection, amongst others, of the extensive mills at Catrine, on the banks of the river Ayr, and at Spinningdale, on the Firth of Dornoch, in Sutherlandshire. In several of the new works he had a pecuniary interest as co-partner. Besides the spinning of cotton-yarn at New Lanark, Mr. Dale was largely concerned in the manufacture of cotton cloth in Glasgow. In connection with Mr. George M'Intosh, and Monsieur Papillon, a Frenchman, he established, in 1783, the first works in Scotland for the dyeing of cotton turkey-red. He was a partner in an inkle factory; also in the Blantyre cotton-mills, and at a later period of his life held a large share in the Stanley cotton-mills.

He continued, meanwhile, his original business of importing Flanders yarn; and, in addition to all these sources of income, when the Royal Bank of Scotland established a branch of its business in Glasgow in 1783, he was appointed its sole agent, an office which he held till within a few years of his death, when, upon its business becoming much extended, an additional agent was named to act jointly with him. The individual who, some thirty or forty years before was a little herd-boy at Stewarton, was now sole proprietor of, or connected as a managing partner with, several of the most extensive mercantile, manufacturing, and banking concerns of the country, the proper conducting of any one of which would have absorbed the entire powers of most other men. Not so, however, with the subject of our memoir; for we find him successfully conducting, with strict commercial integrity, all the important enterprises in which he was embarked, together with others not included in this enumeration; besides devoting time and money to various benevolent schemes, and discharging the onerous duties of a magistrate of the city of Glasgow, to which he was elected, first in 1791, and again in 1794: moreover, every Lord's-day, and sometimes on other days, preaching the gospel to a Congregational church, of which he was one of the elders. Mr. Dale was eminently qualified to sustain the numerous and varied offices which he had thus undertaken; every duty being attended to in its own place and at the proper time, he was never overburdened with work, nor did he ever appear to be in a hurry.

The first erected, and at that time the only mill at New Lanark, was accidentally burned to the ground a few weeks after it had begun to produce spun yarn, for which there was a great demand. When intelligence of this event reached Glasgow, many thought that a stop would be put to all further operations in that quarter. Mr. Dale heard the intelligence with calmness, formed his resolutions, proceeded to the ground to inspect the ruins, and instantly issued orders to re-erect the premises which had been consumed. The new mill was speedily reconstructed, and the manufacture proceeded with fresh energy.

Although comfortable dwellings were erected at the village of New Lanark for the workers, and good wages and constant employment insured, great difficulty was felt in getting the spinning-mill filled with operatives. There was,