🥃 The Other Brother - Pattisons' Whisky
- Jun 22
- 3 min read
It was about this time last year, at the Crowdfunders’ tasting in Edinburgh, that I was asked (by Mark Davidson a.k.a The Jolly Toper) if that was it; now having finished the book, was I going to ‘put the Pattisons to bed’?
And the honest answer is, I don’t think I ever can.
Not only because I’ve invested so much time in researching them – I feel I know them better than I know some members of my extended family – but also because I think there’s still so much more to tell.
New material is constantly being added to archive collections, affording folk like me the opportunities to continue delving deeper. Such is the case with this week’s email...
In April 1901, brothers Robert and Walter were (spoiler alert) arrested. Walter was staying in North Berwick at the time but Robert was with other members of the family at their mansion house – Ardhallow – halfway between Dunoon and Innellan.
We can see from the 1901 Census, which was taken just a few days before the brothers’ arrests, that Robert was living at Ardhallow with his mum, Elizabeth; his brother, John; his sisters Madge, Betsy and Bessie together with his cousins (from his mother’s side) Josephine and William - but more about him later.
If truth be told, the police officers came close to arresting the wrong person. They noted that another gentleman was at the premises; someone who resembled Robert Pattison so closely that they thought he was their man.
That gentleman must have been Robert’s brother, John, and ever since reading that, I’ve been doggedly trying to find a photo of him to see if a) he did resemble Robert or b) the dibbles were just incompetent.
And finally, I have that photo.
Here’s John (right) next to Robert (left). What do you think? Is the resemblance uncanny? Or should Detective Sergeant McLean and Superintendent Fraser – the arresting officers – have gone to Specsavers?
John Peterswald Pattison, to give him his full name, accompanied Robert with the police officers on the trip back to Edinburgh where the latter faced the charges against him.
And then shortly afterwards, in November, after his brothers had already taken up residence in Perth prison, John thought it would be a great idea to set himself up as a whisky merchant. Pattison & Mitchell – the Mitchell was none other than his cousin, William – was located in Dublin Street just off York Place.
But by 1903, ‘Mitchell’ was dropped and John had applied for a licence to sell booze at his new premises in South Fort Street in Leith under the name Pattison & Co.
How on earth he thought Leith – or, indeed, the world – would be ready for another Pattison whisky firm is beyond me. Anyway, it was still clearly way too soon because the business was a total failure.
John himself must have played a key role within the company of Pattison, Elder & Co, given that he signed this letter.
But it appears as though he spent a significant amount of time based in London, running Pattisons Ltd’s office there. And in addition, he was the president of the South London Licensed Victuallers’ and Beer Sellers’ Trade Protection Association – which is hardly a name that rolls off the tongue easily.
Despite the long-winded title, the association was an incredibly powerful one, exerting a great deal of political influence regarding matters concerning the alcohol trade. According to newspaper reports of the time, John Pattison was a popular president. This degree of popularity may, or may not, have had anything to do with the large amounts of money donated to the association by Pattisons Ltd 😉
There’ll be more information about John Peterswald Pattison’s whisky affairs, as well as details of what he did next, for paying subscribers in tomorrow’s follow-up email.
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