Edmund Pullar DL JP (26 October 1848–8 May 1926) was a 19th-century Scottish businessman and philanthropist. He ran the Bridge of Allan branch of the family firm of J & J Pullar Ltd later known as Pullars of Perth.

Life

He was born at 36 Mill Street in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on 26 October 1848, the youngest son of cloth manufacturer

John Pullar John Pullar (22 April 1803 – 16 December 1878) was a 19th-century Scottish businessman, and founder of J. Pullar and Sons (later J & J Pullar Ltd and Pullars of Perth). He went into local politics in later life, becoming Provost of Perth. He ...

(1803–1878) and his wife, Mary Walker. Around 1870 he moved to

Bridge of Allan Bridge of Allan (, ), also known colloquially as ''Bofa'', is a former spa town in the Stirling (council area), Stirling council area in Scotland, just north of the city of Stirling. Overlooked by the National Wallace Monument, it lies on th ...

with his brother Laurence Pullar to run the huge Keirfield Manufacturing Works on the south side of the town. Some time after 1885 he purchased the house of Westerton in

. It had been built in 1803 by Dr John Henderson of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

and in 1853 passed to General Sir

James Edward Alexander General Sir James Edward Alexander (16 October 1803 – 2 April 1885) was a Scottish traveller, writer and soldier in the British Army. Alexander was the driving force behind the placement of Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment. B ...

. In the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served as a Major (probably of the local

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

). Aged 65 at the war's outbreak, he did not see active service but probably knew many of the men sent to fight. In 1919 he donated a memorial plaque to Bridge of Allan to mark the arrival of a water supply in the town from Cocksburn Reservoir. The plaque stood on the edge of the reservoir but is now stored by the Dr Welsh Trust. In 1923 he paid for and organised the creation of Pullar Memorial Park in Bridge of Allan, to house a war memorial to the 81 men from the town killed in the First World War. He died at Westerton House in Bridge of Allan on 8 May 1926 aged 77 and was buried in Logie Kirkyard, east of

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, where his brother

Laurence Laurence is in modern use as an English masculine and a French feminine given name. The modern English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from Laurentum" ...

also lies. The grave lies against the north wall. The Keirfield site still exists but is now occupied by United Plastics and Closures.

Family

His illustrious older brothers were Sir

Robert Pullar Sir Robert Pullar (18 February 1828 – 9 September 1912) was a Scotland, Scottish Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. Life Pullar was born at Burt's Close in Perth, Scotland, Perth on 18 February 1828, the elde ...

, James Pullar and Laurence Pullar. He was uncle to Frederick Pullar. His wife Anne Pullar (1849–1919) was President of the Stirling Branch of the Women's Suffrage Movement. At this time Mrs. Lambert Brown of Stirling served as Vice President. She had a close relationship in this role with

Chrystal Macmillan Jessie Chrystal Macmillan (13 June 1872 – 21 September 1937) was a suffragist, peace activist, barrister, feminist and the first female science graduate from the University of Edinburgh as well as that institution's first female honours gradu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullar, Edmund 1848 births 1926 deaths People from Perth, Scotland Scottish philanthropists 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople