1752 Edinburgh Sugar House - BAILLIE Robert to 1754, MERCER William, MURRAY James, SHARP Thomas & STEWART Archibald.
1760 HUNTER Alex, MERCER William, MURRAY James, HUNTER James, HUNTER Alexander, SANDY George.
1774 GUTZMER & SOMERVELL
1778-81 KEMPTIE Francis (Canongate Sugar House) (no.160)
1800-27 JARDINE David & Co
1829-1852 MACFIE William & Co (Canongate Sugar House) (no.160)
1804-1835> MACFIE William & Co
1800-60 LEITH SUGAR REFINING Co
1852-61 FERGUSON, J&A (no.8)
1866-80 BONNINGTON SUGAR REFINING Co
1881-91 JAGER George & Co
1726-73 St Christopher's Sugar House
1757-62 Leith Sugar House Co started by Edinburgh bankers (Grant)
1758 Leith Sugar House Co began selling sugars and treacles in Kirkgate (Caledonian Mercury)
1778-1783 PARKER (Leith Sugar House Co)
1784-5 ANDERSON & CUNDELL
EDINBURGH / LEITHCLICK the for sugar houses in that street. (For local directory of sugar houses, click here.) (For national directory of sugar houses, click here.)
The width of this map represents 1.6ml / 2.6km. |
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click image for details | click image for details |
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NORTH FOULIS' CLOSE, HIGH STREET, EDINBURGH "In late 1726 he [William McDowall] purchased a share of Glasgow's South Sugar House and the St Christopher Sugar Warehouse in Edinburgh"(1) ... this is one of the earliest references to the earlier of the two Edinburgh sugarhouses. Being referred to as both 'Warehouse' and 'Sugar House' is confusing, however the opening quotation makes the earliest connection and as yet I've found no indication of the purchase of raw sugar or the paraphernalia of sugar refining. A record of 1730/1 is for "Letters from Glasgow accompanying invoices of sugars sent by the carrier from the South Sugar House in Glasgow to their shop in Edinburgh."(4) Another that followed shortly after refers to "Receipts and receipted accounts for goods supplied for the warehouse, and for the printing of advertisements to encourage customers. Goods include brass pan and weights, chapen stoups, candles, copper scales, ledgers, and papers."(5) ... the utensils for selling, rather than refining. And in 1745, "Invoices of sugars sent with covering letters from James Anderson, Glasgow, to Alexander Innes, Edinburgh."(6) St Christopher Sugar Warehouse appears to have been run almost continuously by the Innes family ... Mrs Margaret Innes initially and Alexander Innes from 1734.(7) Alexander Innes also appears to have had a position at the Royal Bank(8), and maybe because of this the 'books' of the Warehouse contain huge lists of bills of exchange, the credit of the South Sugar House(9), which Innes was required to get accepted ... in 1756 he was sent 3 bills with the note "Pray be so good as get some of your acquaintance to procure acceptance when due, he has been long owing. I have refused him sugar till he would pay up."(8) So a good business move by the Glasgow concern. Maybe those that opened before them had not considered the fact that Edinburgh had no sugarhouse, yet had a monied section of its community for whom sugar would be a great treat. Surely some purchased direct from Glasgow, others through local grocers, but to have their own warehouse/shop from which sugars of all types could be purchased easily and quickly would have been a considerable advantage. So who were the local customers of the St Christopher Sugar Warehouse ? ........
The St Christopher Sugar Warehouse - Orders 1731-48
Small orders as sent on their individual slips of paper by the customer ... Henry McDouall -
Mr Pipink
Mrs Wack -
Ann Dalrymple
James? Orr -
Mr Mitchell -
J H -
Robert Meldrum
The St Christopher Sugar Warehouse - Bills 1731-42
Little slips of paper for individual customers (date, items supplied, price, total) ... Mrs Leech
Lady Bogie -
William Scot -
Lady Brice?
Sir James Johnston -
William Hislop
Mrs Rennie -
Robert Turnbull -
Mrs Davidson
Mrs Andrews -
Lady Bevly -
Charles Glasier Mrs Lindsay -
Lady Cuthererants
Mrs Urquhart -
Lady Milton Lord Royston -
The St Christopher Sugar Warehouse - Individual Accounts (1751-1755)
Entered into book by now, though much the same as above in all other respects.
** Three small notes in the accounts of Mrs Thain ...
(1) Wm McDowall letterbook; St Christopher Sugar House papers, NAS GD113, from 'That Nefarious Commerce' - St Kitts, Slavery and the West of Scotland c.1695-1735 - Stuart Nisbet. |
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SUGARHOUSE CLOSE, CANONGATE, EDINBURGH The Edinburgh Sugar House Company - Minute Book 1752-63 & Account Book 1758-59
Notes from the Minute Book - 27 Apr 1752 to 26 Mar 1763 This book is an almost daily record of the internal running and the external management of the sugarhouse in Sugarhouse Close, Canongate, Edinburgh. Too much to take in during just a few hours research, I have attempted to obtain the important facts from the book, from which to get an idea of just how a small sugarhouse like this was run. Whilst I have always suggested that the majority of owners were not refiners and so left the day-to-day running to an experienced boiler and a foreman, these minutes show how the system worked ... the managers/owners appointed one from amongst themselves to be the "manager for the week", whose duty it was to visit the sugarhouse daily, check its smooth working and record what was going on that day. The first week ... Monday 27th April 1752 - Managers of The Edinburgh Sugar House Company - meeting held at the British Coffee House, Edinburgh.
... and on ... extracts only, eg. moulds filled each day but I've only included 'highlights' ... Aimed to buy sugar at no more than 34s per cwt.
... continues like this ... now only the unusual ... May 1758 - Dismissed Cameron and Duncan for fighting and doing mischief in the sugarhouse.
Sample extracts from the Account Book - 18 Feb 1758 to 22 Nov 1759 * Prices, etc First day ...
Second week ...
Apr 1758 ...
Jun 1758 ...
Nov 1759 ...
* Wages, etc Second week ...
1 Apr 1758 ...
27 Apr 1758 ...
20 May 1758 ...
3 Jun 1758 ...
29 Jun 1758 ...
5 Aug 1758 ...
30 Aug 1758 ...
4 Sep 1758 ...
Nov 1759 ...
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SUGARHOUSE CLOSE, CANONGATE, EDINBURGH Sugar House Company - An Old-Time Edinburgh Industry There has recently been acquired for the Reference Department of Edinburgh Public Library two Manuscript volumes of folio size bound in stout calf, containing the minutes and accounts of the Edinburgh Sugar House Company, a manufacturing concern which flourished in the middle of the eighteenth century. [By kind permission of the Scotsman Publications Library and Syndication Executive, Edinburgh, 2011.]
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SUGARHOUSE CLOSE, CANONGATE, EDINBURGH An Old Minute Book - The Edinburgh Sugarhouse Co, 1763 to 1773 Dr A C Cumming was an Australian by birth and, as well as being a Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University and a Board Member of United Molasses, was on the Board of Macfie's for fourteen years and Managing Director until his retirement in 1937. In his notes he refers to the Liverpool branch of Macfie's as "the only one that survives", showing that his little book was written prior to its closure in 1938. His extracts from the [second] Minute Book are sandwiched between notes on the history of Macfie's. Notes from the Minute Book - March 1763 to November 1773 Boiler, upstairsman and cooper all lived in sugarhouse or in rooms attached. Notes regarding Macfie's ownership of the refinery in Sugarhouse Close In 1804 William Macfie built the Leith Sugarhouse on the site of the old Red Herring House. |
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SUGARHOUSE CLOSE, CANONGATE, EDINBURGH Carlier (Edinburgh Sugar House Co) v Begrie, 1785
John CARLIER, cashier & clerk to The Edinburgh Sugar House Company, represented the Company at the Court of Sessions in a claim for incorrectly charged import duties on sugar into Edinburgh, 1785.
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the new ... | ... and the old ... |
... together in Canongate |
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images © bryan mawer 2011 |
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