John WALKER

Abt 1806 - 1857  (~ 51 years)

• Name	John WALKER
  Birth	Abt 1806	Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland   [1]
  Gender	Male
  _UID	B7B4752DEB184501B768B46F72C7F84710B9
  Death	19 Oct 1857	Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland   [2]
  Notes	1841 Scottish census: in Kilmarnock Road (all WALKER, all born in Ayrshire), John (35, grocer), Elisabeth (30), Alexander (4), Robert (2) and Elizabeth (1 month). 1851 Scottish census: in Walkers Land(?), India Street, Kilmarnock, (all WALKER, all born Kilmarnock), John (head, 45, grocer & sp dealer), Elizabeth (wife, 43), Margaret (daughter, 15), Alexander (son, 14), Robert (son, 11, scholar), Elizabeth (daughter, 9, scholar) and John (son, 6, scholar). 1861 Scottish census: at 3 Buchanan Street, Kilmarnock, (all WALKER, all born Kilmarnock except Elizabeth), Elizabeth (head, widow, 53, fundholder, born Carluke, Lanarkshire), Margaret (daughter, 25), Alexander (son, 24, grocer of the firm of Walker & Sons), Robert (son, 21, grocer), Elizabeth (daughter, 19). Also Jean YOUNG (15, domestic servant). 1871 Scottish census: at Glen Bank Cot, Buchanan Street, Kilmarnock, (both WALKER), Elizabeth (head, widow, 61, born Carluke, Lanarkshire) and Eliza (daughter, 29, born Kilmarnock). Also Jeanie RAESIDE (17, general servant). 1872: in the Post Office Kilmarnock Directory: at 68 Robertson Place, Elizabeth WALKER, grocer & spirit dealer. Further censuses not examined. The following is copied from Wikipedia: John Walker was born in 1805 near Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. When his father Alexander died in 1820, he was left £417 in trust. In 1820, the trustees invested in an Italian warehouse, grocery, and wine and spirits shop on the High Street in Kilmarnock. In 1833, John married Elizabeth Purves. He was a respected businessman, leader of the local trade association, and a Freemason. His store's stock was almost entirely destroyed in an 1852 flood, but the business recovered within a couple of years. His own whisky brand, then known as "Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky" was popular locally, although John Walker himself was a teetotaler. John's son Alexander Walker (named after John's father) had apprenticed with a tea merchant in Glasgow, and there learned the art of blending tea. When he returned to take over the business from his ailing father, he used those skills to create Old Highland Whisky (eventually renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label), the blend that made Johnnie Walker whisky famous. As one writer put it: Although he gave his name to the whisky, John Walker was a far less important figure to the brand than his son, Alexander. A disastrous flood in Kilmarnock in 1852 had destroyed all of Walker's stock, and when Alexander joined the business in 1856, he persuaded his father to abandon the narrow realm of the grocery trade and to go into wholesale trading. At the beginning, the firm offered a range of spirits: Campbeltown whisky from the Kintyre Peninsula; whisky from the Inner Hebridean Island of Islay, with its pungent smoky flavor; patent still, or grain, whisky; and "Glenlivat" (sic), Speyside whisky. Even so, whisky sales under John Walker represented just 8 percent of the firm's income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent.
  Person ID	I563	Ipswich, Suffolk
  Last Modified	1 Dec 2021

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth PURVIS,   b. 23 Aug 1807, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. 10 Jul 1890, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland (Age 82 years)
  Marriage	19 Nov 1833	Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland   [3]
  Children	1. Margaret WALKER,   b. Abt 1836, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. 5 Feb 1867, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland (Age ~ 31 years)   2. Sir Alexander WALKER,   b. 10 Feb 1837, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. 16 Jul 1889, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland (Age 52 years)   3. Robert WALKER,   b. Abt 1840, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown   4. Elizabeth WALKER,   b. Abt 1842, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown   5. John WALKER,   b. Abt 1845, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland d. 30 Jan 1875, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland (Age ~ 30 years)
  Family ID	F201	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Nov 2021

  
  

• Documents » Slide Show		John Walker C1806 - 1857 1841 census
  		John Walker C1806 - 1857 1852 census
  		John Walker C1806 - 1857 1861 census, page 1
  		John Walker C1806 - 1857 1861 census, page 2
  		John Walker C1806 - 1857 1871 census

  
  

• Sources

  [S8] 1851 census. [S76] findagrave.com. [S101] Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910 at ancestry.com.