The founder of the largest agricultural trailer manufacturer in the UK – Charles James Marshall – has died at the age of 81.
Charles, who founded Marshall Trailers in 1952, was born in Torphins in 1934 and the second youngest of five children.
Following his father’s death, when he was seven, he moved with his family to the Rosemount area of Aberdeen and after leaving Rosemount Secondary School he took on an apprenticeship as a joiner with well-known building firm Coutts and Fraser while at the same time serving his compulsory national service.
Born out of a fear of ever becoming redundant from his job, Charles set about finding additional income streams and he started making small wheelbarrows in his garden shed, which he then sold at the farmers mart on a regular basis.
Any spare time was spent making these small barrows, and he soon broadened his manufacturing skills to make hen houses, rabbit hutches and eventually began fitting kitchens in people’s homes.
During a holiday to his uncle’s dairy farm in Strichen, Charles discovered the growing need for trailers to work alongside tractors and it was there that the first ever Marshall trailer was made.
The trailer was made on used wheels, which he borrowed on the basis that the tyre supplier would be paid if the trailer sold, otherwise his wheels would be returned. The first trailer sold immediately and demand for more trailers grew quickly as tractors became commonplace on farms across the north-east.
Trailers were first made in the back garden of Charles’ mother’s tenement in Aberdeen, and in the early 1950s production moved to the company’s present site at Chapel Brae on the A96.
The deposit to buy the cottage and land at Chapel Brae were lent to Charles by his mother, and he managed to secure a bank loan for the remainder.
Ten years after founding the business, Charles married his wife Maureen Strachan, who was a schoolteacher in Aberdeen at the time, and the pair built their house at Hillcrest alongside the original cottage where his mother had lived.
Over the years several other houses were built as the business grew, and the couple had three children – Lorraine, Charles and Kenneth. Both sons worked with their father and remain involved within different branches of the Marshall business enterprise today.
Nowadays the company sells trailers all over the UK and machinery has gone as far afield as Canada, Iceland, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
As part of his work, Charles enjoyed meeting people and attending agricultural events, such as the Highland, Turriff and Keith, shows to promote the business and at one point he served as a director of the Royal Highland Show.
Charles’ love of farming led to him buying farms when funds became available, and the Marshall enterprise now extends to a farming operation and farm shop, as well as the machinery business.
Charles jnr and Kenneth, and their respective children, now run both the machinery and farming side of the operation with Charles and his sons Charles Peter and David focused on machinery, and Kenneth and his wife Moira and their daughters Christine, Julie and Shona working on the farm and farm shop.
All of Charles’ nine grandchildren worked alongside him and he was a firm believer that the busier one was the less time there was for bickering.
In recent years, Charles took a step back from Marshall Trailers and began work renovating farm buildings and house building.
A keen gardener, he supported the Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen and won the occasional award for his own garden.
He enjoyed spending time with family and took pride in all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Charles is survived by his wife, Maureen, children Lorraine, Charles and Kenneth and their partners David, Agnes and Moira, and grandchildren Claire, Emma, Charles, Laura, Christine, Eilidh, David, Julie and Shona, as well as great-grandson Harry.
His funeral takes place on Monday, July 25, at Newhills Parish Church, Bucksburn, and thereafter at Newhills Cemetery.
