Framed Licences for the Retail of Tea, Spirits, Beer, Ale, Cyder, Perry and Tobacco
AssociatedAssociated with
Messrs. William Walker and Sons
(Aberdeen, Scotland)
Date1818
Object NameLicence
Mediumpaper, card, wood, paint, ink
ClassificationsShopping
Dimensions36.4 x 69.2cm
LocationView by Appointment
Object numberABDMS086561
Keywords
"A Century's Business Record", Aberdeen Journal, 14 February 1919
An interesting exhibit has been placed in the shop window of Messrs. William Walker and Sons, wine merchants, tea dealers and general importers, 52 Union Street, Aberdeen. It is a neatly framed panel, containing the four licences granted to the firm a century ago to deal in tea, to retail spirits, the "retail beer, ale, cyder, and perry" licence, and the tobacco licence. The licences, which are somewhat curiously worded, are dated 6th July 1818, and were issued in the 58th year of King George III. It may be mentioned that during these one hundred years there have been four members of the family holding those licences - three of them Alexanders. The original Alexander Walker was succeeded by his brother William from 1827 to 1868, and the next in the business was his son, the well-known late Dean of Guild Alexander Walker, LL.D., the local historian and antiquarian, who held the licences from the last-mentioned date till his death in 1903, when his son, Alexander, obtained and now holds them. Probably no other family in Aberdeen could show such a record as licenceholders.
