34 Facts About David Dale

David Dale was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the 18th century.

David Dale was a successful entrepreneur in a number of areas, most notably in the cotton-spinning industry, and was the founder of the cotton mills in New Lanark, where he provided social and educational conditions far in advance of anything available anywhere else in the UK.

David Dale's family was not wealthy, but he did not experience the absolute poverty and near starvation of many of those involved in tenant farming.

David Dale arrived in Glasgow c as a clerk to a silk merchant and began his own small business in the High Street, importing linen yarns from France and the Netherlands.

The business grew rapidly and David Dale became a wealthy merchant in the city.

In 1783 David Dale had his own mansion built in Glasgow's fashionable Charlotte Street.

In 1783, there was an opportunity for David Dale to extend his reputation and influence with the establishment of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Archived 24 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, the first of its type in Britain.

David Dale became an important figure in the commercial life of Glasgow and remained an influential figure in Chamber until his death.

Employers like David Dale were seen as charitable and benevolent because they offered the chance of employment, board and lodging and the acquisition of transferable skills.

Much like Owen later on, David Dale was convinced that a good education was essential for all involved.

At one stage, the school roll totalled more than 500 pupils and David Dale was employing 16 trained teachers to teach more than eight classes.

David Dale summed up his view of the practical effects of employing the children:.

David Dale had a house in New Lanark but the day to day management was left to William Kelly, a skilled engineer and manager.

The main offices of the business were in St Andrew's Square, Glasgow and David Dale continued to live in Charlotte Street in the city.

David Dale divided his time between New Lanark, the Royal Bank and the offices in St Andrews Square.

David Dale was involved in a number of other cotton mills.

Not long after spinning began in New Lanark, David Dale built a new mill in Blantyre and a school for the apprentices.

David Dale sold the venture to James Monteith in 1792.

In 1788, David Dale went into partnership with Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle in a spinning mill in Catrine in Ayrshire.

David Dale was heavily involved in the design of these mills and within a few years, some 1,300 people were employed.

David Dale remained involved with the business until 1801 when the mills were sold to James Finlay.

David Dale remained involved long after all the others had left and continued to finance it until two years before his death.

David Dale became a director of the Glasgow Fire Insurance Company, which sold life insurance and annuities and had offices in George Street and Wilson Street.

David Dale owned a significant amount of property in and around the city, including lands and tenements in the Ramshorn area, Shuttle Street, Barrowfield, Ruchill and Parkhead.

David Dale was a director or manager of various charitable projects throughout the city, and newspaper reports of the time talk of his charity, his kindness, his benevolence and his good deeds and public works.

David Dale was a strongly evangelical Christian, a pastor in the Dissenting Church, preaching on Sundays in meeting houses all over the city.

David Dale donated to small charitable ventures on a regular basis.

David Dale was better known for some of his more public philanthropy and civic duties.

David Dale served as a Bailie and Magistrate in the city for two years, something which he found particularly time-consuming and onerous.

David Dale was involved in this project from its very beginning in 1788.

David Dale chaired the group which raised the funds, found the land and supervised the building work of this major city institution.

David Dale stood to gain nothing personally from this commitment.

When David Dale died at his home, Rosebank House in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire on 7 March 1806, huge crowds of mourners lined the streets of Glasgow.

David Dale was buried in the Ramshorn Cemetery in central Glasgow in a plot he had purchased some years before.