John Croall & Sons were a Castle Terrace, Edinburgh firm of funeral undertakers and carriage hirers founded in 1850 [1] who expanded their business to include coaches, cabs and coachbuilding. In February 1897 the firm was incorporated as John Croall & Sons Limited. After 1960 ownership changed a number of times and the company was liquidated in 1992.
John Croall established his Castle Terrace, Edinburgh coaching and posting firm in 1820. His country seat was at Southfield in Liberton in the 1850s. [2]
Croall's four-in-hand coaches went to the ferry at South Queensferry and to Musselburgh races. The firm was awarded the Royal Warrant as "Postmasters in Scotland" in 1843. About 1907 they placed the first (motor) taxi-cabs on the streets of Edinburgh. [3] [4]
Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh, Thursday, 14 June 1849 reported: "Mr John Croall, the enterprising coach-builder and coach proprietor of this city, is now manufacturing an extensive series of mail coaches for the Emperor of Russia. Each coach weighs about twenty-two hundred weight, and is intended to be drawn by six horses." Four days later the story was continued: "Three have been completed. Although fifteen feet long, they are constructed in two chief compartments, calculated to carry each only two inside passengers, besides the capacious hind-boot for the mail-bags, and a fore-basket fitted with leather aprons and glasses, holding the guard, in addition to its two passenger occupants; whilst the driver only can be said to be mounted outside, being on the box. Thus the whole occupants of the capacious Russian mail travel in the most luxurious manner, amid Elysian padding and cushions, with their faces to the horses. The exterior panels are most elaborately painted, and varnished until they shine like glass, in the Russian Imperial livery of dark green, relieved with heads of gold, size etc. and adorned only with double crowned heads of the black eagle, with the sceptre and globe in its talons, the Imperial crest and shield representing the equestrian Peter the Great".
Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh, Thursday, June 18, 1849
The firm of Peter Croall & Sons who carried on business as coach builders at 126 George Street Edinburgh and Roxburghshire Coach Works at Kelso was dissolved on 28 May 1896. The partners had been John Croall and Robert Croall. [5]
The first directors were Robert Croall, Thomas Aitken and J. Hay Irons.
John Croall & Sons Ltd was incorporated in February 1897 to acquire and carry on the businesses of
In December 1909 John Croall & Sons Ltd purchased a controlling shareholding in the Chiswick, west London, coachbuilding firm H. J. Mulliner & Co. [6] which it held until 1959 when it disposed of it to Rolls-Royce Limited.
Coachbuilders, York Lane, Edinburgh (previously the premises of J & W Croall) [7] and Kelso but separate from John Croall & Sons [8]
They held a Warrant of Appointment with authority to use the Royal Arms, Croall & Croall, Edinburgh [9]
Partners 1915:
Croall & Croall were purchased in 1937 by Scottish Motor Traction Sales and Service Company Limited. [11]
H. J. Mulliner & Co. was a well-known British coachbuilder operating from Bedford Park, Chiswick, West London. The company which owned it was formed by H J Mulliner in 1897 but the business was a continuing branch of a family business founded in Northampton in the 1760s to hire out carriages. In December 1909 the controlling interest in this company passed to John Croall & Sons of Edinburgh. Croall sold that interest to Rolls-Royce in 1959.
Major Charles Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, 20th Earl of Waterford, 5th Earl Talbot, KCVO, styled Viscount Ingestre from 1868 to 1877, was a British peer. Unusually for a wealthy nobleman of the period, he began several businesses connected with road transport, with mixed success.
Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group. Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., which had itself traded as 'Eastern Scottish' since the 1960s. Following privatisation in 1990 the company traded as 'SMT' reviving the original name of the company. It operated until 1994, when it became part of GRT Bus Group plc.
Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator in south eastern Scotland and parts of Northern England. The company was formed in 1985 and operated under the identities Lowland Scottish, Lowland and First Lowland / First SMT, until 1999 when the company's operations were combined with the operations of Midland Bluebird in a new company, First Edinburgh Ltd. As of 26 March 2017 these operations were transferred to West Coast Motors.
Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator formed in June 1985 as a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group, created from part of W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd. The company operated as Midland Scottish until 1991, when it was renamed Midland Bluebird in preparation for privatisation.
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John Daniel Hertz Sr. was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder, and philanthropist.
Walter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish builder of bus and coach bodywork based in Falkirk. The company was formed in 1947 to continue the coachbuilding activities of W. Alexander & Sons when their bus service operation was nationalised. After several mergers and changes of ownership it now forms part of Alexander Dennis.
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Thrupp & Maberly was a British coachbuilding business based in the West End of London, England. Coach-makers to Queen Victoria they operated for more than two centuries until 1967 when they closed while in the ownership of Rootes Group.
A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. Mail was held in a box at the rear where the only Royal Mail employee, an armed guard, stood. Passengers were taken at a premium fare. There was seating for four passengers inside and more outside with the driver. The guard's seat could not be shared. This distribution system began in Britain in 1784. In Ireland the same service began in 1789, and in Australia it began in 1828.
Kelso Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Kelso, Scotland. It is frequently described as "Britain's Friendliest Racecourse". It was voted the Best Small Course in Scotland and the North of England in 2007, 2012 and 2014 by the Racegoers Club. In addition to staging Scotland's most valuable hurdle race, the Morebattle Hurdle, Kelso stages a comparatively high number of Class 1, 2 & 3 races over jumps.
Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was a Scottish bus operator founded in 1905 that ran services for most of the 20th century.
The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948.
West Coast Motors is a bus, coach and ferry operator, based in Campbeltown, Scotland. The company also operates under the name Borders Buses in the Scottish Borders and formerly under the Glasgow Citybus brand in Greater Glasgow.
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H. V. Burlingham was a British coachbuilding business based in Blackpool, Lancashire from 1928 until 1960 when they were taken over by London-based rivals Duple Motor Bodies. Duple initially renamed Burlingham as Duple (Northern) but in 1969 they closed their Hendon factory and concentrated production in Blackpool. Duple coach bodies were built in the former Burlingham premises until Duple itself was liquidated in 1989.
Arthur Mulliner was the 20th century name of a coachbuilding business founded in Northampton in 1760 which remained in family ownership. The business was acquired by Henlys Limited in 1940 and lost its separate identity.
Duncan & Fraser Limited was a vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1865 in Adelaide, South Australia that built horse-drawn carriages and horse trams, and subsequently bodies for trains, electric trams and motor cars, becoming one of the largest carriage building companies in Australia.
Borders Buses is a local and regional bus operator based in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England. It operates services in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and Scottish Borders in Scotland, as well as Cumbria and Northumberland in England. It is a subsidiary of West Coast Motors.
