Arrow Shanks and People

Shanks provided a workplace for many local people for over a century. As well as the manufacturing side of the business, there were also departments for design, sales and eventually even positions as overseas agents, who took the Shanks name all over the world. Often, people who started as factory workers could work their way up to become designers, executives and even company directors. Members of the Shanks family were highly respected, and some became Provosts once the town had attained the status of burgh. A full history of the company is available in the Barrhead Library.

An undated photograph of the staff of the Victorian Pottery, (ref:bar19b_1725_rec596)

A 1926 photograph of the 'Kiln Men' of the Victorian Pottery, (ref.neg_b1571_rec387)

There were a variety of skilled and semi skilled workers employed in both of the Shanks sites in Barrhead.

A brass polisher at work in the Tubal Foundry   The glaze spraying process at the Victoria Pottery

A machine operator

The bath enamelling process

Workers in the Biscuit Warehouse at the Victoria Pottery

Workers pause for a photograph in the factory

The sheet metal assembly line in action

Workers at the Tubal Works undertaking the chromium plating process