Textile business bankrolls high life

The children in the film are thought to be Mr Fraser and his wife’s Argentinian grandchildren, home from boarding school for the holidays.

Mr Fraser was former managing director of Alpergatas, a textiles manufacturer in Argentina, but returned to Scotland to retire at Cairnie Hill, Arbroath.

Douglas Fraser and Sons from Arbroath was established in the early 1830s before expanding their business into Argentina after Mr Fraser’s youngest son, Norman, invented a machine for plaiting jute to make candlewick in 1881.

The firm was looking for ways to diversify and through a Basque entrepreneur with links to Argentina they identified an opportunity for mechanising the production of jute-soled shoes called Alpargatas using this technology.

The business in Argentina took off and spawned sister companies in Uruguay and Brazil and it became a vast enterprise.

Simon Fraser, whose grandfather Norman was Douglas Fraser’s youngest son, said: “My understanding is that the Fraser brothers acquired a French steam car and decided they could build a better one.

“The principal engineering enthusiast was my grandfather, Norman, who constructed the engines in his workshop at Ogilvy Place, buying in the bodywork, and supplying the cars to his brothers.”

The film can be seen on the BFI player.