FAQ

William McEwan Letters

Before finding their home at the Scottish Brewing Archive at the University of Glasgow, the collection of letters relating to the Edinburgh brewer William McEwan (1827–1913) had been bought for their stamps by their previous owner at an auction of postal history. Realising, however, that they were written to William McEwan it was decided that the collection should be kept intact and the letters were finally acquired for the Scottish Brewing Archive in December 2002. It is remarkable that the letters have survived at all as William’s step-daughter, Mrs Greville, destroyed all her own correspondence and probably destroyed William’s as well.

The collection comprises almost 500 letters dating mainly from 1844 to 1860, thus covering the earlier years of William McEwan’s involvement in the brewing industry and the setting up of his own brewery at Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. Most of the letters were written to William McEwan by friends and family and they shed light on his life, friends, attitudes and career development. The letters cover the period from William leaving school to work in the office of the Alloa Coal Co (1843–1845); working in Glasgow as a clerk in T Y Paterson’s commission merchants’ office, (1845–1847); book-keeper in Mr Shaw’s spinning mill in Honley near Huddersfield (1847–1851); learning brewing at his Jeffrey uncles’ brewery in Edinburgh (1851–1856); then starting his own brewery at Fountainbridge.

The authors of the letters are his sisters Anne and Janet (married to James Younger, brewer in Alloa); his brother John (student, tutor in England, tutor in Germany but died in asylum); his Jeffrey uncles (Tom a farmer at Throsk, William a Minister at Riccarton, David and John, brewers in Edinburgh); and friends from Alloa, Glasgow and Honley. There are no letters from his mother, but her news is always conveyed by someone else – e.g. ‘mother says that you have to send your laundry by Friday’s cart […].’ A common theme from all the writers was a plea for William to write to them ‘we haven’t had a line from you in such a long time.’

The content of the letters touches on a variety of issues. They detail William McEwan’s life, friends, attitudes, career development over a 16 year period and show the importance of family members in shaping his career. Taken individually, some letters may just be full of Alloa gossip, but each letter has something to contribute to the whole picture. They show him developing from a teenage clerk in Glasgow living in lodgings on a very small wage, away from home for the first time and being fussed over by his mother and sisters; then developing business skills in Honley where he seemed to rise in status to office manager with a good salary. The letters are a very important source for the history of the McEwan family and also for Alloa local history.