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Peter Tait was born in 1818 in the Shetland Islands, either in Lerwick or the rural district of Tingwall, came to Limerick in his early teens, and married into the Abraham family of Limerick. In 1852 Tait founded the Limerick Clothing Factory, one of the first mass production textile factories in Europe using the new sewing machines, from which he sold shirts and other clothing. With the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 Tait won contracts to supply the British army with uniforms. By the time of the civil war he had a large factory in Limerick and another factory in London near Blackfriars Railway Bridge. This factory had painted on it in enormous letters "Tait and Co Army Contracts". After the war in December 1866 Tait was elected mayor of Limerick for which he served three terms. Taits clock was erected in 1867 as a tribute to the then Sir Peter Tait, Mayor of Limerick. The clock itself is a Gothic octagonal tower clock, with four faces. In 1868 he resigned from his third term to focus on his shipping interests. In December 1868 he was defeated as a Conservative candidate for Parliament in Limerick in a brutal election campaign. Sir Peter Tait retired from business and left Limerick around 1875 leaving the factory to be run by his son. The factory was renamed the Auxiliary Forces Clothing and Equipment Company. Sir Peter Tait went to Salonica in Greece to establish a Turkish cigarette factory. The venture however proved unsuccessful and Tait died in poverty at the Hotel De France in Batoum, Russia on December 11 1890 aged 62. He bequeathed his belongings of books, furniture and linen and the sum of £50 to his wife Rose. |
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