Bessie’s legacy raises the whisky glass ceiling
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International Women’s Day was in March so it’s appropriate to raise a glass to the women who have made the whisky industry what it is today.
One of the most adored, Bessie Williamson, is the only female to own and run a Scottish distillery in the 20th century – Laphroaig.
Born in Glasgow in 1910, the daughter of an office clerk who was killed fighting during World War I, she had no connection to the world of whisky.
She studied general arts at the University of Glasgow and, while on holiday on Islay in 1934, she applied for a temporary job as a shorthand typist at Laphroaig.
She was successful and quickly impressed the owner Ian Hunter and promptly moved up the ranks.
Hunter suffered a stroke in 1938 and was handicapped. Bessie stepped up taking more of a management role.
The distillery was used as barracks during WWII and when production started back up in 1944 Hunter transferred control to Bessie and in 1950 she was appointed company secretary with a small shareholding.
Hunter died in 1954 and left £5000, the distillery business, Ardenistiel House and the island of Texa to Bessie.
Laphroaig thrived under her leadership – she increased production, provided work for the locals when often there wasn’t a job and secured investment to modernise facilities from American-owned Long John Distillers.
It acquired capital of the distillery from Bessie in three instalments in 1962, 1967 and 1972. Bessie retired in 1972 but her legacy was summed up in a 1964 report: “You’d expect (whisky) production to be an entirely male preserve. Bessie proves you wrong.”
We are looking to expand our team here at The Malt Room, Inverness (www.themaltroom.co.uk) so if you fancy a new challenge, come say hello.
