The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-31
MILLIONAIRE WILL JOIN BRITISH AR
 CORPS FOR ACTION
Jack Coats, Member of Fam fly of Famous Thread Man. ufacturers-TOll Taken
 by Air Has Been Heavy

London. October s.-(special. Brit aims Royal flying corps is about to acquire a notable new recruit. I hear. young Jack" Coats, a member of the famous millionaire family of thread manufacturers, having just decided to become an airman. He is a nephew of George Coats, director of the Paisley firm which employs 10000 people and whose authorized capital Is s5o, 900. and, in peace times. he is an ardent yachtsman: Incidentally, he is nephew of Sir Tan Hamilton. the Brit ish commander at the Dardanelles, so that's all the more reason why he should wish to do his Dit
 r. Every body will hore that Jack F Coats may be spared, for the Reaper has been busy of late among the mem- bers of this colossally rich and pro- portionately philanthropic house. In less than two years, in fact, five of the most prominent of them have died, and the Exechequer benefited, in the way of death duties, to the extent of at least s5.000.000. The total sum left by them was well over $4o,0O0,0 The fortune of the late James Coats, who left sS.S6935O is the largest ever left by man without making a will.
 Several Have Been knighted
 One of the daughters of the house, formerly Miss Maud Coats, is now Mar chfoness Douro, having married the son and heir of the Duke of Wellington in 1909. Several of the male members of the family have received knight hoods. In a word. the rise of the Coats to power as the controllers of the thread trade of the world has been one of the most romantic in the annals of British commerce. 1t had it's origin in Paisley. the Inhabitants of which town have long been noted for their in- genuity and enterprise. A hundred years ago they were nursing the shawl trade, which was to make the name of the town a word to be known wherever woman lived. They were also experimenting with another industry, the thread trade. and trying to discover raw material which would be more ef- fective and more profitable than linen. They at last found it in cotton.
 Among those interested in the thread trade in Paisley at that time was one James Coats. In 1924 he ventured to begin business on his own account as a thread manufacturer, but on such modest lines that his factory was only some, so feet in length, while the en- zine, one of 12-horsepower was con siderably more than adequate for the needs of the business. Once started. however, the little business began to grow with leaps and bounds. Perhaps the most remarkable years of prosper ity were those which occurred during the management of the sons of the founder, Messrs. Peter and Thomas Coats the former of whom, by the way. was knighted by the late Queen vic- toria. Each succeeding year witnessed ever-increasing extensions of business and now the factories cover acres of ground, besides being so beautifully designed as to form one of the archi- tectural features of Paisley Great branch establishments exist, of course in the United States and in almost ev- cry European country, until now the firm of Coats is one of the largest and most influential in the world.
 Loyal to Home Town
 One of the finest things about the Coats family Is their loyalty to the town that has helped them to fame and fortune. The visitor to Paisley is greeted everywhere by evidences of their henefactions. Here is a museum and a public library, there an elabor- ately equipped conservatory. One dis trict boasts beautiful public gardens. in another the name of the school re- minds one that the donor was Coats. The most remarkable building of all however, is the Thomas Coats Memor- ial church. erected at a cost of over $500, 900 and declared to be the most beautiful nonconformist church in this country.
 Perhaps the most lavish of all the family in the direction of benevolence was the late James Coats, who died intestate. One day you would hear of his giving dinners for the unem- ployed. the next of his sending several hundreds of good books to a local school or to some remote village in the highlands or islands of the north which he had visited when yachting. And, in distributing libraries, the thread man went Carnegie one better. for he invariably sent with the volumes lec- turer to speak on Burns or Scott or whatever authors works bulked most largely among the volumes, and with the lecturer went an optician to fit spectac1es for the old people with fail- ing eyes
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