Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 133,789 pages of information and 211,900 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
John Bennie
From Graces Guide
of 151 Moncur St,. Star Engine Works, Glasgow.
1865 Lift business established by John Bennie (1849-1906)
1890 Fitted passenger and luggage lifts at the South Station Hotel, Glasgow[1]
1899 A local building firm led by Archibald Fergusson constructed an outside lift shaft at Strachur Manor House for the Plowden family. Bennie was engaged to supply the lift machinery but due to an untimely death in the Plowden family, the job was abandoned. Whether the lift was installed and subsequently taken out again or whether it was never installed at all, is unclear. Eventually floors and ceilings were made in the shaft on each floor so that it became a stack of walk-in cupboards. In the early years of this century the doors and door frames were removed and the openings bricked up so that there is now no access to the shaft. It stands empty, still in place at the back of the house to this day.[2]
1902 Slipway engine/winch, Balloch Slipway, Loch Lomond. Now preserved. [3]
1927 Co-operative agreement with competitor Marryat and Scott[4]
1934 Messrs Marryat, Scott and Fletcher formed John Bennie Ltd to acquire the lift business[5]