Glasgow Distillers

[Pandabean]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction where one of my possible McDonald's would have worked.

In the 1861 Census John McDonald was a Labourer from Strath, Invernesshire. In 1871 he was a distillery labourer and was so for about six years till he died in 1877. Below is the census result of 1871.

Does anyone know where he would have worked and if records survive at all?

1871 cens 644-6 Ed 6 p 12 (St George)
127 New City Road.
John McDONALD, head, marr, 70, distiller, b Broadford, Isle of Skye
Janet McDONALD, wife, marr, 53, do's wife, b Stewarton, AYR
James McDONALD, son, 16, joiners apprentice, b Glasgow, LKS
Alexander McDONALD, son, 14, lithographers app, b Glasgow, LKS
Findlay McDONALD, boarder, u/m 24, manufacturers asst, b Broadford,
Isle of Skye


DC 1877. 644-12. 34 (Gorbals)
John MacDONALD (70) distillery labourer, d 12 JAN 1877 at 158 Hospital
St, Glasgow.
Married -
1st - Marion McINNES
2nd - Janet SCOULAR
pas - Donald MacDONALD (dcd) farm labourer & Ann McKENZIE (dcd)
Infmt - John MacDONALD, son, 16 Abercorn St, Glasgow.

[DavidWW]

Hi Andy

You need to lay your hands on a good history of (whisky) distilling in Scotland.

The problem that I see you having is how to tie your man into one particular distillery in Glasgow.

The dates are well after the introduction of the Coffey still (1830+), an innovation which revolutionised whisky production in Scotland, - allowing the continuous production of so-called grain whisky, as opposed to the batch production of single malt whisky.

At that date, I suspect that there were as many as 7 or 8 grain distilleries in Glasgow, - two of which survive, - Port Dundas, and Strathclyde. Malt whisky distilleries?, - quite possibly on the same sites as the post-1830 grain distilleries, as well as separate sites.

Records, - try the Mitchell in the first place. I've no idea of whether or not the majors such as Diageo have inherited archives that could also be of help to you.

David


PS
In checking on the date of the introduction of the Coffey still, - BTW
Aeneas Coffey was an Irishman, - aye weel, they are supposed to have taught Scots how to produce spirituous liquors from malted barley in the first place , - I came across the following, which rather tops Thrall's tag line


The famous historian and chronicler Raphaël Holinshed wrote the following about the results of distillation of malted barley in his "Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland" in the XVIth century:

"Being moderately taken,
it slows the age,
it cuts phlegm,
it lightens the mind,
it quickens the spirit,
it cures the dropsy,
it heals the strangulation,
it pounces the stone,
its repels gravel,
it pulls away ventositie,
it keeps and preserves the head from whirling,
the eyes from dazzling,
the tongue from lisping,
the mouth from snuffling,
the teeth from chattering,
the throat from rattling,
the weasan from stiffing,
the stomach from womblying,
the heart from swelling,
the belly from wincing,
the guts from rumbling,
the hands from shivering,
the sinews from shrinking,
the veins from crumpling,
the bones from aching,
the marrow from soaking,
and truly it is a sovereign liquor
if it be orderly taken."

[ChristineW]

Hi Andy

I know it's wrong to assume anthing with this genealogy thing - but, if your man's age is correct I think it would be fair to assume his work would be local to where he lived. Perhaps he worked here?

http://www.celticmalts.com/journal-a5.htm

However, as David says, there were quite a few distilleries in Glasgow - however, you could try the Scotch Whisky Association - the official body for 99% of Scotch distillers - (www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/) for historical information. If nothing else, they should be able to point you in the right direction, as there are one heck of a lot of books about Scotch!

Good Luck!
Christine

[Pandabean]

Thanks guys. I wonder if they will give me a free bottle as well if they find records?

I would have to check the 1851 & 1841 census to see if he was a distiller then as well.

Would it be worth getting a hold of some phone numbers and phoning around with the dates and name to see if they have any record of him at all?

Thanks for that little excrept David. I can guarantee that it does do most of those things.

[ChristineW]

Hi Andy
Telephone number for the Scotch Whisky Association is 0131 222 9200 and Diageo's number is 0131 519 2000.

(I know Diageo has an 'Archivist department' which was based at their facility in Menstrie (Clackmannanshire) - but I seriously wouldn't hold out too much hope about them having any 'personal' records as they are probably far more interested in old bottles, advertising etc.)!

Unfortunately, the Scotch whisky Industry has gone through enormous change in the last 100 years (most especially around the WW2 time) and many small companies were either swallowed up by the big boys (Diageo - or DCL as it was then, Allied - or Long John Distillers, Chivas etc.) or they simply went out of business.

If you could narrow it down to a specific distillery (and please remember that some people referred to Breweries as distilleries too - and that's a whole different ballgame!!!) then you could probably progress this further.

Meantime, have a look at this - http://www.buxrud.se/lost.htm - which gives a flavour of the change the Scotch Industry went through and just how many distilleries disappeared in a relatively short period.

Cheers!
Christine

[Pandabean]

Thanks Christine.

On his wifes Death Cert he is down as a distillery maltman. But as we know an occupation can be recorded in many ways. So I have found out with this couples son who varies from a steamship stoker to a steamship fireman.

Any ideas what a distillery maltman is/does?

DC 1895. 644-8. 113. (Milton)
Janet McDONALD (70) d 1 FEB 1895 at 17 Church Place, Glasgow.
Widow of John McDONALD, distillery maltman.
pas - Joseph SCOULAR (dcd) grain miller & Isabella BRODIE (dcd)
Infmt - Alexr. SCOULAR, brother, 34 Susannah St, Alexandria.

If you could narrow it down to a specific distillery (and please remember that some people referred to Breweries as distilleries too - and that's a whole different ballgame!!!) then you could probably progress this further.

[Billmalc]

Any ideas what a distillery maltman is/does?

Hi Andy

Hopefully this link will help explain?

Haven't put a link on here before so if it doesn't work, try a google on "Distillery Maltman" I would think looking at the SWA sight would also help
http://www.thebalvenie.com/netscape/dis ... /text.html

All the best

Bill

[Billmalc]

Apologies Andy

Looks like I made a right pigs ear of the reply I sent

Hopefully you got the gist of it

Bill

(pig's ear straightened out - AndrewP)

[ChristineW]

(pig's ear straightened out - AndrewP)
Absolutely priceless

Bill's right, however, a Google search will give you all the information you want about any aspect of Scotch whisky production. In fact, there are so many of them you could be gone for some time.............!!

Bottom line is, though, although technology and working conditions have moved ever forward, the fundamental art of distilling has really changed very little since your ancestor worked in the Industry.

A distillery maltman today does essentially the same job that he probably did in the 1870's!

Cheers
Christine

[DavidWW]

The big difference in today's industry is that very few distilleries produce their own malt, witness Balvenie's comment "last traditional malt floor in use in the Scottish Highlands today" - I thought that there were a few more who still produce their own malt?, but maybe not using a "traditional malt floor". I'm sure there's one on Islay ?!

Instead, the malted barley is produced by a handful of maltings, - I used to know where they all are, but have lost track, but know that there's been closures. In addition, the distillery at Muir of Ord produces malt for other distilleries.

Distilleries specify a degree of "peating", i.e. the extent to which the amount of peat used in the drying of the germinated barley to halt the germination process results in the phenolic chemicals that give the typical Islay taste in the extreme!

Back then, however, given the cheap labour available to turn the barley during the 2 days or so when it was germinating on the floor of the maltings, after steeping, most if not all distilleries would produce their own malt.

BTW, single malts must be produced from 100% malted barley, but grain whisky only requires to use minimum 10% barley, unmalted. The reason for this is that it is not allowed in the production of Scotch whisky to add any material that helps convert starches to fermentable sugars. This job is done by enzymes present in the barley, which convert the starches in the grains that are use for grain whisky, - can't recall if there's a list of pemitted grains, but I know that maize and corn are regularly used, and wheat and rice are used as well, - it all depends on prices, and the fermentable sugars that can be produced from the various grains.

A maltman might mean no more than the labourer who did the backbreaking job of turning the malt, with special shovels. The person overseeing the malt production would more nnormally be called the maltster.

David