Scottish Brewing Archive

• Revised by Wiebke Redlich, Archive Assistant (Hub), 20 March 2002
• 8 June 2005 Catalogue record converted to EAD2002, May 2005
• Administrative history revised by Iain Russell, April 2006

Administrative/Biographical History

William McEwan, the son of John McEwan, shipowner of Alloa, Scotland, was born in 1827. He served his apprenticeship with John Jeffrey, an Edinburgh brewer, and in 1856 he established his own business, the Fountain Brewery, in Fountainbridge in Edinburgh. He quickly established a large Scottish market and in the 1860s built up a successful colonial export trade. His sister married James Younger, an Alloa brewer, and one of their sons, William, joined his uncle’s business. When William McEwan entered politics in 1886, William Younger became the firm’s manager.

William McEwan & Co Ltd was registered in July 1889 as a limited liability company to acquire the business at a purchase price of GBP 408,000. The company acquired the trade and goodwill of Alexander Melvin & Co of the Boroughloch Brewery, Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh, in 1907. It merged with William Younger & Co Ltd, Abbey Brewery, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, to form Scottish Brewers Ltd in 1931, and that company merged with Newcastle Breweries Ltd in 1960 to form Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd. The Fountain Brewery was closed by S & N at the end of 2004.

Sources:
Richmond, Lesley and Turton, Alison (eds), The Brewing Industry. A Guide to Historical Records, (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1990).

Scope and Content

• Annual reports and notices to shareholders, 1930–1957
• Family papers, 1741–1870
• Financial records, 1856–1965
• Historical notes, 1939–1989
• Letterbooks, 1856–1912
• Licensed premises records, 1954–1958
• Memorandum and articles of association, 1889–1956
• Minute books, 1889–1951
• Minutes of members’ meetings, 1889–1955
• Patents and trademarks, 1894
• Photographs, 1907–1960s
• Production records, 1897–1979
• Promotional material, 1870s–1964
• Property records, 1899–1958
• Public relations, 1910–1991
• Records relating to directors’ meetings, 1924
• Records relating to members’ meetings, 1890–1955
• Sales records, 1881–1925
• Seal book, 1947–1963
• Shareholding records, 1889–1955
• Staff records, 1873–1939

Fonds-Level Description Compilation Details