William Younger & Co. Ltd Round Black Backed Steel

William Younger & Co Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the 1930s.

William Younger I Early History

The history of William Younger & Co. Ltd is complex, with its origins dating from 1749.
In that year William Younger founded a small brewery in Kirkgate in Leith.
William married Grizel Cochrane Syme in 1753 and they had three sons, Archibald Campbell Younger, Richard Younger, and William Younger II.
Their father died in 1770 and Grizel remarried a Leith brewer, Alexander Anderson.
In 1772 Alexander employed Archibald as an apprentice, and also trained Richard and William II.
Alexander Anderson died in 1781 and Grizel took over the running of the brewery, trading as Grizel Younger Anderson.
She was assisted by Archibald Younger until she retired in 1794.

William Younger II First Brewery Ownership

William II opened his own brewhouse within Holyrood Abbey precinct in 1796. He focussed his attentions on penetrating the London market.
After he had extended his existing brewhouse William II acquired the Abbey Brewery of James Blair which was situated on a narrow lane between Canongate and the Abbey known as Horse Wynd in Holyrood in 1803. The purchase included a malt barn, kiln house, stables, and dwelling house.
Archibald Campbell Younger, established his own brewery in the precincts of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse in Croft-an-Righ.
In 1786 Archibald Younger acquired a second, large brewery, in Croft-an-Righ, and in 1783 he opened a new, and even larger brewery, in the North Back Canongate.
The site later disappeared when Waverley Station was built in 1868.
In 1806 William Younger II and Archibald Younger collaborated to brew a porter for the Scottish market, and sold it through a separate firm, A.C & W.Younger.
In 1808 William II employed his brother-in-law, Robert Hunter, and the business traded as Younger and Hunter.
After the death of Robert Hunter in 1818, brewer Alexander Smith joined the firm.
In 1819 Archibald died and his brewing business was sold by William II to George Hastie.

William Younger & Co. & William Younger III

Both Grizel and Robert Hunter died in 1821 which resulted in William II consolidating all the family interests under the title William Younger & Co.
In 1825 and 1829 William II purchased land neighbouring his brewery and developed the site into the Abbey Brewery, the name Younger's would become chiefly associated with.
In 1836 he expanded further into the Canongate and was joined in partnership with his son, William Younger III, and Alexander Smith and his son, Andrew Smith.
By the 1840s William Younger & Co. was trading across Scotland and exporting to North and South America, India and Australia.
After the deaths of William Younger II and Alexander Smith in 1842, their sons. William III and Andrew Smith carried on running the business.
William Younger IV joined the partnership in 1849 followed by his brother, Henry Johnston Younger, in 1852.
William Younger III retired in 1851, and died in 1854, leaving Andrew Smith and William Younger IV to run the business.

William Younger IV Holyrood Brewery

In 1858 Andrew Smith and William Younger IV purchased the adjacent premises of brewer Alexander Bewick, and built the Holyrood Brewery which was located between Canongate and its South Back.
The firm's 'Two Triangle' trade mark was introduced in the 1850s.
The firm's first London office opened in 1861.
William Younger IV died in 1886 and Andrew Smith retired in 1869 leaving the day-to-day control to Henry Younger, his brother David Younger, and Andrew Smith's son, Alexander Smith II.
The 'View of Holyroodhouse' trade mark was registered in 1882 , and the 'Monk with a Tankard' trade mark was introduced in 1884.

William Younger & Co. Ltd Expansion of the Abbey & Holyrood Breweries

The Abbey and Holyrood breweries continued to expand and in 1887 the business was registered as William Younger & Co. Ltd. The firm became a public company in 1889.
By 1907 the breweries covered 27 acres and brewed a quarter of all the ale produced in Scotland. Younger's also controlled a network of over sixty agencies across the world; it had become a truly global brand.
Growth continued through the Great War and in 1920 Younger's installed its first bottling plant at the Holyrood Brewery for the production of chilled and carbonated beers, a new drinking trend.
The Company's famous 'Long Bearded Old Man with Glass' trade mark was registered in 1927.
With the onset of the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the business of William Younger & Co. Ltd took a different turn.

Scottish Brewers Ltd

William Younger & Co Ltd's Abbey & Holyrood Breweries merged with William McEwan & Co. Ltd's Fountain Brewery in 1931 to form Scottish Brewers Ltd.
While both Companies continued to brew and market their ales separately, they shared financial and technical services, and exports were handled by a new Company McEwan-Younger Ltd.
In 1933 William Younger & Co. Ltd acquired the Collin Croft Brewery Co. Ltd of Kendal.
By 1946 the Company employed 1,350 people.
The Abbey Brewery closed in 1956, and was later redeveloped as the Head Office of Scottish & Newcastle Ltd.
Scottish Brewers Ltd continued to increase its market share in the brewing industry, and a costly five-year investment programme between 1958 to 1863 enabled the Company to double its production.

Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd

Scottish Brewers Ltd merged with Newcastle Breweries Ltd's Tyne Brewery in 1960 to form Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd.
The Holyrood Brewery was closed in 1986.
Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd followed an aggressive acquisitions strategy and took over and closed some well known breweries in Britain.
In 1995 it acquired the brewing operations of Courage Ltd to form Scottish Courage Ltd.

Heineken Takeover

Scottish & Newcastle Ltd was a giant of the brewing industry when it was jointly taken over by Carlsberg and Heineken in 2008, and the assets were split. Heineken now owns the UK business.
In 2011 the Younger's and McEwan's brands were sold by Heineken to Wells & Young Ltd of Bedford, which then sold them to Marstons PLC in 2017.
The sites of both the Abbey and Holyrood Breweries were the land on which the Scottish Parliament was built in 2004.

The manufacturer's mark states - B.A.T.Co Ltd Smethwick. 6708