The Horse and Cart

W H Malcolm Ltd was established by Walter Hattrick Malcolm as a family business.  The business began from small beginnings with a domestic coal round and its assets were a single horse and cart. They owned two Clydesdale horses, a white one named Charlie and a brown one. The coal was transported in and around the Kilbarchan and Linwood area of Renfrewshire, Scotland.  The horse and cart may seem a very old-fashioned method of transport, but it was probably one of the most efficient door to door, modes of haulage when you had a good Clydesdale horse like Charlie involved.

In the 1930’s the business joined the mechanised age when they purchased their first ever motorised vehicle which was a Morris 30cwt load carrier but still they maintained the use of horse pull traction right up until the mid-1940’s. Walter Malcolm is pictured holding the reins whilst in Thompson Street, Johnstone.