Name of a Scottish family, which established at Paisley the Ferguslie cotton-thread mills, as well as mills in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Russia and other European countries (now J. & P. Coats, Ltd.) and, with the fortune thence acquired, became munificent benefactors of their town. James Coats (1803–1845) and Sir Peter Coats (1808–1890), first and third sons of James Coats of Paisley, were the founders of the firm. The younger but eldest surviving brother was knighted in 1869, and his eldest son, Sir James Coats, 1st bart. (1834–1913), directed the fortunes of J. & P. Coats, especially in Canada and the States, his younger brother, Archibald Coats (1840–1912), being chairman of the company at Paisley. Sir James Coats was created a baronet in 1905 and died at Ayr on the 20th of January 1913. His son, Sir Stuart Auchincloss Coats, 2nd bart. (b. 1868), was for a time a member of the old firm and of the associated American and Canadian Thread companies. Peter Coats (1842–1913), third son of Sir Peter Coats, and brother of Sir James Coats, another director of the firm, died at Whitney Court, Hereford, on the 16th of September 1913. Sir Thomas Glen Coats, 1st bart. (b. 1846), second son of Thomas Costs of Ferguslie, younger brother of the founders of the firm, assumed by royal licence the surname Glen-Coats when created a baronet in 1894. He succeeded Archibald Coats as chairman of the firm and sat in the House of Commons for W. Renfrewshire from 1906 to 1910. His elder brother, James Coats (1841–1912), was the giver of the Coats libraries, 4,000 of which were sent to villages and schools in Scotland. Each consisted of a bookcase containing about 400 volumes, and the school-children were provided with satchels for carrying the books to and fro. Spectacles to the number of about 90,000 were also supplied under the direction of a qualified oculist, to readers who needed them. Similar libraries were sent to places abroad, such as Smyrna, Cairo, Jerusalem, etc. No endowment was, however, provided, and the libraries, at first much appreciated, fell into disuse. A younger brother, George Coats (1840–1918), also a director of the firm, was raised to the peerage in 1916 as Baron Glentanar. He died at Glentanar, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, on the 26th of November 1918, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Coats (1894–1971).
