Hocken Digital Collections

Reid and Gray Limited : Records

Details

Reference NumberARC-0695CreatorReid and Gray LimitedDescriptionThe collection includes correspondence (some dating from the founding years of Reid & Gray Limited), financial records, catalogues, and ploughing manuals; also papers relating to salaries and wages, stock and orders, ploughing matches, and the history of Reid & Gray Limited and the Gray family; and an extensive set of photographs.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyReid & Gray Limited was the largest firm of agricultural implement manufacturers in the southern hemisphere. The firm was founded by Robert Reid and James Gray in Oamaru in 1868, and their double-furrow plough soon became the most popular in New Zealand. By 1873 Reid & Gray had moved to Princes Street, Dunedin, and from here the firm sent ploughs and a wide range of other implements throughout the country and as far afield as South Africa and South America. Following the death of Robert Reid in 1882, James Gray continued to preside over a thriving firm, supplying eight branches around New Zealand and, by 1912, selling Reid & Gray's 20,000th plough. James Gray died in 1922, by which time his youngest son George had been managing the firm for ten years. George Gray re-established the firm at a new factory at Burnside, Dunedin, in 1928, when steam power was replaced by electricity, and implements were developed to suit tractors. In 1937 George Gray retired and his sons Trevor and Alan took over as chairman of directors and company secretary respectively. Alan Gray later became managing director, and on his retirement in 1963 the NMA Company of New Zealand Limited, which since 1937 had held a half-interest in Reid & Gray, purchased the firm and renamed it MacEwans Machinery Limited.
(Notes from: 'Gray, James' in 'Southern People - A Dictionary of Otago Southland Biography', ed. Jane Thomson, Dunedin, 1998; and 'Newstime - House Magazine of the N.M.A. Group', September 1964, pp.29-38).

Photograph

Austral Vacuum in use by Labrook [Ladbrook?] Gore

John Gray traction engine

Dunedin premises of Reid and Gray from Princes Street

Dunedin premises of Reid and Gray from Crawford Sreet, showing frontage, warehouse, and office

Gore premises, Reid and Gray

Invercargill premises, Reid and Gray

Oamaru premises, Reid and Gray

Second Ashburton premises, Burnett Street, Reid and Gray

First Palmerston North premises, Reid and Gray

Blenheim premises, Reid and Gray

Waipukurau premises, Reid and Gray

Christchurch premises, Reid and Gray

Invercargill and Gore staff, Reid and Gray

James Gray's private residence, corner Manor Place and Lees Street, Dunedin

Reid and Gray machinery (Wests' Hydraulic)

Reid and Gray machinery

Reid and Gray workshop interior

Reid and Gray woodworking shop

Reid and Gray employees

Reid and Gray paint shop and show room

Reid and Gray office, Princes Street, Dunedin

Reid and Gray employees

'Bicycle showroom, A. Thompson, salesman'

'Dunedin premises of Reid and Gray from Princes Street

Depicts Or Relates To

SubjectsAgricultural machinery - Trade and manufactureFarm equipmentBusiness enterprises - DunedinManufacturing industries

Digital Collections

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Reid and Gray Limited : Records

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