Old Photograph Funeral Robert Pullar Perth Scotland

Old photograph of the Funeral of Robert Pullar in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. Robert Pullar was born at Burt's Close in Perth on 18 February 1828, the eldest of nine children of John Pullar, born 1803, died 1878, a dyer, and his wife Mary Walker. His father founded the firm Pullars of Perth and was also at one point Provost of Perth. In the summer of 1828 the family moved to 36 Mill street in Perth. This was as a reaction to complaints regarding noxious smells while they were working at Burt's Close, Mill Street being further out of town. He was educated in Perth at Stewart's Academy in Atholl Street, Greig's Academy in Stormont Street, and at Perth Academy, also doing continuation classes in French and German. He was apprenticed under his father in 1841, a junior partner in 1848 and ultimately senior partner in the local family firm of Pullars Dyeworks. In 1857 the firm formed a relationship with the inventor William Perkin to be the first manufacturer to successfully introduce purple aniline dye. The firm also branched into dry cleaning, a technique he learned from Germany, establishing a plant in Tulloch in 1882. He was known as an extensive and generous donor to local charities and other local causes and a benevolent employer, although in the last year of his life there was a major strike in the firm when he refused to discuss wage rises. He was a J.P. for the County of Perth. He travelled widely in Russia, Scandinavia, America and the Middle East. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1880. His proposers were Sir James Falshaw, William Lauder Lindsay, John Duns and James Sime. At this time he lived at 6 St Leonards Bank in Perth and ran the North British Dyeworks on Kinnoull Street. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in the 1895 Birthday Honours. He died at home, " Tayside " on Isla Road, of a seizure on 9 September 1912 aged 84. He was buried with his wife at Wellshill Cemetery, Perth, close to his parents. The grave nears at the southern end of the terraced step midway across the southern east to west path.



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