Turkey red

The third major firm in the Vale of Leven was the oldest, William Stirling and Son and in 1876 the firm finally passed out of Stirling hands into those of John Mathieson Jnr and following his death only two years later to his brother Sir Donald and Alexander Wylie. By 1886, the nine works employed 7,000 people who earned £255,000 a year. They dyed and printed 150 million metres of cloth and 9,000 tonnes of cotton yarn in the same year and dominated world production with orders for India, Morocco, Japan, China, West Africa, South America and the Philippines.

Its chair until 1922 when he retired was John Hyde Christie. He had joined the newly formed John Orr Ewing Co as the first qualified chemist in the Vale in 1856, became a partner in 1873 and senior partner in 1887. The remaining two works, Dalmonach in 1899 and Ferryfield in 1906, joined the larger Manchester based Calico Printers Association.

Despite their market share the firms were still not immune form global events and the American Civil War (1861-65) reduced cloth supplies to Scotland from 8,700 tonnes in 1861 to 366 tonnes in 1864. The knock-on effects to profits is clear with Archibald Orr Ewing's profits dropping from £104,187 in 1867 to only £66,927 in 1870 and not regaining their former heights until 1874. By then West Africa and India in particular had became major exporters of raw cotton and the major market for imported finished goods, an over dependent trade that would continue until 1930.

Following the deaths of the Orr Ewing brothers, the election of Alexander Wylie as Member of Parliament and growing competition from Japan, the three major companies put years of rivalry and competition behind them to form the United Turkey Red Co Ltd. (UTR) in December 1897.