Custodian: University of Glasgow Archive Services

Reference: UGD 13/7A/8/3

Colourful labels identified bales of cloth treated by Dunbartonshire firm United Turkey Red Ltd and destined for distribution in south-east Asia. This one, showing heraldry, was designed for Diethelm & Co. Ltd, a multinational company established in Singapore in 1887 and in Bangkok in 1906, with headquarters in Zurich.

Swiss entrepreneur Wilhelm Heinrich Diethelm joined Singapore trading house Hoogtland & Co. in 1871 and later established his own company from it. The labels include text in Arabic, Chinese and Thai reflecting the multicultural markets served by his firm.

United Turkey Red Co. Ltd, bleachers, finishers and dyers of Alexandria, was formed in 1898 through the amalgamation of John Orr Ewing & Co., Archibald Orr Ewing and William Stirling & Sons. The firm specialised in Turkey-red dyeing and exported cloth around the world, in particular to India.