WHISKY HISTORY
The First Lady of Laphroaig
There were ‘whisky women’ before Bessie Williamson, and happily there have been many more since. But she occupies an almost talismanic position in Scotch whisky history as the person who, without fanfare, proved that given the opportunity women could do so much more in a distillery than type or make tea, as Gavin D Smith writes
Unlike almost everyone else working in Islay’s distilleries in the years between the two world wars, Elizabeth Leitch Williamson was not a native Ileach, but was born in Glasgow during 1910. She attended university in the city and learnt secretarial skills at night school, with plans to enlist in teacher training college.
Before she could begin her teacher training, however, she and her friend, Margaret Prentice, took a holiday on the island of Islay during the summer of 1934. Keen to earn money, Bessie took a job as a temporary shorthand typist at Laphroaig distillery. This decision led her to remain an Islay resident for the rest of her life.
At that time, Laphroaig was in the ownership of Ian Hunter, who was clearly impressed by Bessie’s work, in time promoting her to office manager. Hunter was incapacitated by a stroke in 1938, and as a result, Bessie undertook even more duties, including spending time in the USA, where Hunter had developed a significant following for Laphroaig in the years prior to prohibition (1920-33). Bessie envisaged much greater possibilities for single malt Scotch whisky in the States, ahead of many others in the industry.
PICTURED: Bessie took over the distillery in 1944 until her retirement in 1972
1944 saw her fully take over management of the distillery, becoming company chairman and a shareholder in 1950. And when Ian Hunter died four years later, he left the distillery, his home of Ardenistiel House and the small island of Texa, off Islay’s southern coast, to Bessie Williamson, making her the first woman in the 20th century to own a distillery.
Bessie’s keen knowledge of the USA market led the Scotch Whisky Association to appoint her its North American spokesperson between 1961 and 1964, enabling her to meet the man who was to become her husband in 1961, Canadian radio presenter Wishart Campbell.
Campbell had Islay roots, and joined his new wife at Ardenistiel House, setting up a market gardening business, while Bessie became renowned for her charitable work in the local community, when not overseeing operations at Laphroaig, where she was held in a very high regard by the staff.
Deciding that external capital was required to upgrade and expand the distillery, and construct new warehouses, she arranged to sell Laphroaig to the US company Seager Evans & Co, owners of the Long John blended Scotch brand. Seager Evans purchased the Laphroaig business in three tranches over a decade from 1962 to 1972, with Bessie continuing in her roles as chairman and managing director until her retirement in 1972. She lived on for another decade, beloved by the people of her adopted home.
In honour of Bessie Williamson’s invaluable contribution to Laphroaig, the distillery’s owners Beam Suntory Inc launched Laphroaig 25 Year Old The Bessie Williamson Story in 2019. The expression was aged in refill American oak hogsheads and refill barrels, resulting in a whisky the then-distillery manager, John Campbell, described as having “lingering warmth and unmistakable character” to symbolise Bessie’s “friendliness, individuality and strength”.
It must have taken all of Bessie Williamson’s “individuality and strength” to thrive in what was an almost exclusively masculine working environment, and part of her great legacy is that when we spend time in a distillery today, the gender of those involved in making our whisky barely even registers.
EXPLORE SOME OF UNFILTERED'S PREVIOUS ARTICLES ABOUT WOMEN PIONEERS IN WHISKY…
THE CUMMINGS OF CARDHU
The names of Helen and Elizabeth Cumming are inextricably linked to this day with Cardhu distillery on Speyside. That’s where Helen oversaw illicit distillation in the early 19th century, warning neighbours about the presence of excise officers by waving a red flag. After gaining a legal license, her daughter-in-law Helen had undertaken the creation of a new enlarged distillery by the time the century drew to a close, before selling out to John Walker & Sons.
RITA TAKETSURU
Masataka Taketsuru may be recognised as the father of Japanese whisky, but his Scottish wife Rita played an instrumental role in helping Masataka fulfil his dream of building his own ‘Scotch style’ distillery, Nikka, on the northern island of Hokkaido. After marrying in Scotland, Rita encouraged Masataka to return to Japan to fulfil his dream of creating his own whisky, helped to find investors for the new venture through her teaching work, and even supported the move to the back-of-beyond location in Hokkaido.
SHEILA BURTLES
Sheila Burtles was the first ever woman scientist to advise Scotch whisky distillery companies about flavour. Her work, experience and knowledge – gained over decades as a consultant to the industry – serve as a living legacy of everything we understand about the language of flavour used in Scotch whisky today. Her most famous achievement is as co-inventor of the first ever whisky flavour wheel in 1979. Working with Dr Jim Swan, she created a new visual tool and shaped a new language used in the assessment and understanding of whisky.