Gray's Carpets Ltd (carpet manufacturers : 1876-1974 : Newton-on-Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland)

In 1876 William C. Gray started producing carpets on two hand looms in a little shop in Carrick Street in Ayr. As production grew the company required larger premises and moved to a site in Newton-on-Ayr in 1877. It was on this site that the new factory would be built by the beginning of the 1880s. It appears that production increased in both amount and variety during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1880 Gray developed the Seamless Kidder Carpet. William C. Gray & Sons were producing such styles of carpet as 'Brussels Loop', 'Wilton Pile', 'Plain Weave Art Squares', and 'Chenille Axminster'. In 1886 Gray patented the Akbar Carpet, which was explained as a square produced with two beams.

In 1918 William C. Gray passed away and left the company to his three sons, Andrew Jardine Gray, Charles Smith Gray, and William Crawford Armstrong Gray. Andrew Gray was made chairman with his two brothers assisting him. The company continued to grow and in 1926 it was decided that William C. Gray & Sons was to trade as a limited firm. By 1928, only 10 years after the founding father of the company William. C. Gray had passed away, his son Charles Smith Gray also died.

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