John Lyle & Co Ltd (carpet manufacturers : 1853-1991 : Glasgow, Scotland)

Born in Kilbarchan, Johnstone, John Lyle started his employment at the Templeton carpet factory in Glasgow in 1839. In 1853, having become a factory foreman, John decided to leave and establish his own carpet and rug manufacturing business in Bridgeton, Glasgow. John Lyle & Co began trading from a factory in Crownpoint Road, Glasgow, and then moved to the Bloomvale factory on Fordneuk Street, Glasgow, in 1868.

Following the death of its founder in 1888, the company continued to trade. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the company had a shop in London and sales staff in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Australia and New Zealand.

In 1967, the company took on the Burnside Works in Brook Street, Glasgow, as a weaving factory in response to increased demand. However, business began to decline in the 1970s, and the factory closed in the 1980s. The company was finally dissolved in 1991.

From the guide to the Records of John Lyle & Co Ltd, carpet manufacturers, Glasgow, Scotland, 1883-1998, (Glasgow University Archive Services)