George Mason was born in 1839 in the town of Alloa, which was located in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. As early as 1853 Mason was a photographer and contributed to making stereoscopic transparencies popular in Edinburg. In 1863 he began working in the service of Mr. John Spencer, an optician and photographic apparatus manufacturer located at 30 St Enoch Square. After about six years of working for Mr. Spencer, George Mason became a partner in the business. In the following year,1870, George Mason took over as sole proprietor of Mr. Spencer’s general photographic dealing and retailing branch. He relocated the business to 39 Union Street and then to 180 - 186 Sauchieball Street, and in 1898 to 120 - 124 Buchanan Street, Glasgow where it remained. The George Mason & Co. business was comprised for the manufacturing of Optical, Mathematical, Chemical and Photographic Instruments, in addition to being a full stock dealer. It was once a boast of Mason & Co. that they held the largest stock of photographic goods in Britain. Mason was extremely active in the photographic community where he was on the board of the North British Dry Plate Co. and G.W. Wilson & Co. Limited. He was a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and was the Presidential chair of the Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom held in Glasgow. He was a regular contributor of articles to periodicals, especially the British Journal where he used the pen name of “Mark Oute†and several works of fiction under a second name of “Murray Russellâ€. Beginning in 1880, G. Mason & company published a monthly journal, which shortly became a popular quarterly Journal of Jottings called “The photographerâ€. The companies telephone number was 140 and their telegraphic address was “soda, Glasgowâ€. George Mason Died June 5th, 1891 at age 62. He was described to be in declining health for three years prior, generally confined to his house and showing signs of paralysis, lack of movement and vitality. After his death the companies remaining stock was sold to Rae Bros in 1902.
Ref:
1891 Glasgow and its Environs: Past and Present, p. 94
1898 June 3, The Photographic News, p. 359
1898 April, The Photographic Dealer, p. 98
1901, June 14, British Journal of Photography, page 375
1901, February 1, British Journal of Photography, p. 23
1863 Glasgow post-office directory page 277
1902 July, The Photographic Dealer, p. 174
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