PAPER-MAKING IN ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 93 
used the fine post paper, made by the mill, which was equal in quality to 
any he had ever seen. It is elsewhere stated that the mill made use of the 
whitest of rags which required no bleaching. Lewis Smith succeeded 
to the business on the death of his father Richard, and, amid the difficulties 
of the times, carried it on till his death in 1819, when the long family 
connection ceased. For the next half-century there were various changes 
of ownership, with, however, no backward tendency, till in 1865 the 
Culter Mills Paper Company, Limited, was formed. In the intervening 
years the mill has been completely remodelled, and the number of modern 
making machines now stands at four, while a large coating plant has 
been installed, besides other new departments. 
Esparto writings, together with rag and wood-pulp papers, are the 
leading productions in a wide variety of types, and, in addition to an 
extensive home trade, a large export connection has been built up. 
During a period of over half a century the leader in these activities 
and developments has been Mr. J. L. Geddes, with whom for a number 
of years have been associated his sons, Mr. J. Fraser Geddes and 
Colonel G. P. Geddes, D.S.O. 
STONEYwoop Works—ALEx. Pirie & Sons, Ltp.—Stoneywood Works 
were founded in 1770 under the following circumstances: James Moir 
of Stoneywood had taken a prominent part in the rebellion of 1745, and, 
as a result, had to remain an exile in Sweden for sixteen years. Being at 
last allowed to return home, he found his estate in great disorder and 
endeavoured to redeem his affairs by promoting a number of different 
projects. Not many of these succeeded, but one was to have a far- 
reaching influence, viz. the lease by him of an island on the Don for 
setting up a paper mill. The lease was to John Boyle, bookseller, and 
Richard Hyde, dyer ; but within three years both had sold their shares 
to Alexander Smith, a chirurgeon-barber in Aberdeen. The daughter 
of this Alexander Smith married Patrick Pirie, merchant in Aberdeen, 
and through this union the connection of the Pirie family with paper- 
making was begun, a connection that is to-day maintained by members 
of the fifth generation of Piries. 
For the first quarter of a century the mill was only of moderate size, 
as an inventory made in 1796 shows that there were two vats ; the stock 
was some 500 reams of paper (all of the coarser grade), the raw materials 
20 tons, the value of the whole £500, and the number of employees 16 ; 
while the clientéle was purely a local one. About the year 1800, shortly 
after Mr. Alexander Pirie had succeeded, the white paper trade was 
taken up, which marks the beginning of the now famous ‘ Pirie ’ water- 
mark, examples of that time being still preserved. The hand-made process 
continued in use till 1822, when Mr. Pirie laid down his first paper- 
making machine; but he had the misfortune to see the mill almost 
swept away and the machinery badly damaged in the historic flood of 
1829. Nothing daunted, he restored the buildings and installed two 
machines, mostly for Writings and Printings. In 1848 large extensions 
took place, and in the main building the disused belfry of old Marischal 
College was erected, where it still remains. 
About 1856 the firm bought the neighbouring print mills at Woodside, 
