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Davison Newman & Co

Many of you will have flasks of Glen Grant in your collection but you do have to look
carefully to see who bottled them as there are at least six companies who did the
bottling, and their labels were nearly identical. Firstly, of course, William Grant &
Sons bottled miniatures themselves. You will find many of these minis bearing the
Gordon and MacPhail name and some the names of two G&M subsidiaries, Grant
Bonding and Moray Bonding. Peter Thomson, of Beneagles fame, also had a go, as
did Robert Watson.
There are also
almost identical
bottles bottled by
Davison, Newman &
Co. of London. As far
as I can find out
there is no
connection between
this company and
William Grant or
Gordon & MacPhail.
But Davison,
Newman & Co do
have a long and
proud history as
traders. At the time of
the American Revolution they were among the largest, if not the largest, wholesale
grocery trader in the UK and colonies, and traded throughout the world. And, talking
of the American Revolution, in 1774 16 chests of tea belonging to Davison Newman
& Co were amongst those thrown into Boston Harbour during the Boston Tea Party
which, of course, was the effective start of the Revolution. The company sought
£480 compensation from George III for the loss of the tea,
and no, they were never paid.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry sent a replacement Liberty Bell
and letter of apology for the cracked one to Philadelphia in
1976. Maybe the Boston City Council should compensate
th
Davison Newman for the loss of their tea on the 250
anniversary in 2024.
So next time you see an old Scotch bottle, or any other
bottle for that matter, with a bottler’s name you have never
heard of, look it up. There is a lot of history in our
collections.

Famous Firsts Liberty Bell David Smith

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