John Somerville & Co. Ltd Ceramic Matchstriker

John Somerville & Co. Ltd ceramic matchstriker dating from the 1900s.

Originally a Wine & Spirit Business

The firm of John Somerville & Co. was founded as wine and spirits merchants in Quality Street, Leith, in 1853.
It expanded into whisky broking and blending and acquired a controlling interest in two Highland whisky distilleries, Dalwhinnie and Glendronnach.

Expansion Into Brewing

In 1897 the Company made a further move into brewing by merging with a recently formed partnership of Blyth & Cameron, who a short while earlier had built the substantial North British Brewery in Duddingston.
Alexander Blyth was a director of John Somerville's wine & spirit business whilst Malcolm John Cameron was the head brewer of the new North British Brewery.
The Company was registered as John Somerville & Co. Ltd in 1897 to amalgamate the two firms. John Somerville became the new chairman and Alexander Blyth and Malcolm Cameron became joing managing directors.
In 1906 Malcolm Cameron left the Company and by 1909 both John Somerville and Alexander Blyth had retired.
Control of the Dalwhinnie distillery was passed to James Munro and Son Ltd in 1905, and the Glendronnach distillery was sold to Captain Charles Grant in 1920.

Sale of the Brewery

The North British Brewery was acquired by neighbour William Murray & Co. Ltd in 1922 which continued to operate it as its No 2 Brewery.
Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd, later named United Breweries Ltd, took over William Murray & Co. Ltd in 1960.
It closed the No 2 Brewery in 1963.

The manufacturer's mark states - Wm Brownlie Ltd James St Bridgeton Cross Glasgow