Firm’s debt to Scotland

Michelin want to close their Dundee factory despite the French company’s roots in Scotland.

Glaswegian scientist Charles Macintosh used rubber in 1823 to make waterproof Mackintosh raincoats.

His niece Elizabeth Pugh Barker then brought rubber to the attention of her French husband Nicolas Daubree.

He and his cousin Aristide Barbier started using it for a range of products made by their farm machinery business.

This later became the Michelin company set up by Barbier’s grandsons, Edouard and Andre Michelin.