James Finlayson

James Finlayson (1771-1852) was a Scottish Quaker who, in effect, took the Industrial Revolution to Tampere, Finland.

James Finlayson was born 1771 in Glasgow, Scotland and became a self-trained engineer. In 1817 he moved to St. Petersburg to found a textile factory with the backing of the tsar Alexander I of Russia.

In 1819 Finlayson visited Finland that, at the time, was under Russian rule. During his religious mission to sell bibles he visited Tampere. The next year Finlayson received a permission from a Finnish senate to build a factory in Tampere using the water power from the Tammerkoski river, again with the backing of the tsar. He moved to Tampere with his wife Margaret Finlayson.

At first Finlayson had to import machinists from England to train new workers. The first factory was completed 1823 with the aid of state loan. He manufactured machinery suitable for a textile industry but in 1828 switched from machine manufacture to cotton mills. He also founded a Quaker orphanage.

In Marc 1 1836 Finlayson sold the factory to Georg Rauch and Karl Samuel Nottbeck in the condition that they would retain his name in the factory. New owners complied and founded Finlayson & Compagnie. Finlayson worked in an advisory capacity for a couple of years before he moved back to Scotland.

The former industrial blocks in Tampere still retain the name Finlayson.