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1/ Kicking off our #StoriesFromTheStore with MS 1, William Pringle Laird. This is a small business collection of only 2 items; an invoice book (1851-1853) & a letter book (1917-1919). Laird was a seedsman, bulb importer, florist and nursery proprietor in Dundee.
/2 Laird worked from Union St in 1837, moving to Nethergate in 1845. He later opened nurseries in Blackness and in Monifieth, Angus. His invoice book gives an insight into what and with whom he was trading. Entries from 1857 include Clapton Nursery, London & Dicksons of Edinburgh
/3 The goods being traded included rhododendrons, apricots & nectarines. The business expanded to become W. P. Laird & Sinclair by 1861 and continued to thrive with offices in High St, Crichton St and City Square. It remained a Laird family business until the 1970s.
/4 This business collection, however small, gives an insight into Dundee's economic past. The highs & lows of buying & selling; how far & wide this Dundee business traded and the popularity of types of flowers, seeds, fruit & veg in the mid 19th century & again during WW1.
