Curtis+Fine+Papers

=Curtis Fine Papers Limited=

Company Number: SC001310 Date of Incorporation: 31 December 1883 Contact Details: Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2EG Operating Details: In administration (effectively in the process of dissolution, accounts are listed as overdue, ceased functioning in July 2008) Other names (if known): Culter Mills Paper Co (to 1967), Culter Guard Bridge Holdings Limited (1967- unknown), G.B. Papers PLC (to 24 December 1984), GB Papers Limited (to December 1992), James River Fine Papers Limited Function of Company*: Manufacture of Paper & Paperboard (2112) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Culter, Aberdeenshire, later Guardbridge, Fife Area of Operation: Exported from Culter and Guardbridge mills nationally and internationally. Also owned Dalmore Mill, Edinburgh.


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Two collections:

__Culter Mills Paper Co Ltd__

Held by: University of Aberdeen Special Libraries and Archives MS 3076

Scope/type: 50 boxes spanning 1865-1965

Conditions governing access/use: Listed as open

Related records: see below. William Sommerville & Sons (a subsidiary of Curtis Fine Papers, and previous owners of Dalmore Mill) is held at Loanhead Local Studies Library. Access must be arranged in advance with the Local Studies Librarian.

__Guardbridge Paper Company__

Held By: The University of St Andrews, NRAS 2770 (held as part of GB Papers Plc)

Scope/type: 6 bundles of items relating to Culter Paper Mills Ltd 1853-1977, including company agreements; articles of association; annual reports and accounts; various director’s reports.

Conditions governing access/use: These records are safe in storage at The University of St Andrews, but are not accessible at present (as of January 2011).

Related records: Within the same collection are records relating to Dalmore Mill, Edinburgh (owned by the Company) and Guardbridge Paper Company (which merged into the company in 1967). The focus of the collection is the records of Guardbridge Paper Company 1853-1888, and these holdings are considerable. The same access restrictions are in place for all these items.

Company History
Culter Paper Mills was founded in 1751 by Bartholomew Smith in the rural location of Cultur, just beneath the gorge of Culter Burn. Various companies worked on the lease for the site until Alexander Pirie and Sons of Aberdeen acquired it in 1864. They founded The Culter Mills Paper Co Ltd in 1865, trading in specialized paper products, and rapidly expanded the site at Culter into a large, well equipped facility. At this stage of the history, the company was effectively an subsidiary of the Pirie family’s business concerns, and all production went to other Pirie companies. In 1883 the company was reconstituted into a company of the same name that survived until the recent past (the term of the original company was only 19 years). However though this company had FL Pirie as a board member, it was effectively an independent concern from the Pirie empire. Throughout these changes, staffing and management of the mill remained consistent and continuous.

The new board regularly invested in new equipment for the mill, and output increased from 800 tons in 1865 to over 4320 tons in 1905. This product was at the high end of the paper market, including writing and printing papers, which later developed into the printing of tinted and cream writing paper, and enamelled paper for binding books and covering boxes. This emphasis on coated paper (which had a healthy profit margin) continued throughout the 1890s, and became the mills signature product. By the late 1890s Great North of Scotland Railway had built a siding at the mill that became Culter station, and by 1897 the mill was fully electrified.

In 1967 it merged with the Guard Bridge Power Co Ltd, to form Culter Guard Bridge Holdings Ltd (since 1981 a public limited company) and became a holding company for the Guard Bridge Paper Co Ltd, the Culter Mills Paper Co Ltd, Scotflow Ltd, Culter Guard Bridge Export Ltd, Smith and McLaurin Ltd and the Scanneg Group of Companies. The mills at Culter were demolished in 1981, and converted into housing and the focus of the company moved to the paper mill at Guardbridge, Fife. In 1984 Culter Guard Bridge Holdings Plc was taken over by the James River Corporation of Virginia. In 2008, following a series of difficult financial years the company went into administration. The mill at Guardbridge has subsequently been bought by The University of St Andrews.

For the early period of Culter Mills Company Ltd, please see J Neville Bartlett ‘Culter Paper Mills Company Limited’ in Northern Scotland Vol 5 1982.

Acknowledgments and thanks to The University of St Andrews Special Collections and Archive and The University of Aberdeen Special Libraries and Archive