Robert Whitelaw

Robert Whitelaw was a local businessman involved in making and selling surgical instruments and other medical supplies.

The company - originally Pettie and Whitelaw - was first set up in Dundee but expanded to Aberdeen. Whitelaw personally managed the branch here, moving to Aberdeen in 1894 to set it up. It was first listed in the Aberdeen Directory in 1900.

The first premises in Aberdeen was at 25 Rosemount Viaduct, though within three years the firm had moved to 9 Rosemount Viaduct.

By 1912 the firm name had changed to just Robert Whitelaw (Pettie continued to own the business in Dundee separately) and by 1915 the firm had moved to 51 Woolmanhill. At this point it expanded into supplying the army and navy as well as Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, presumably as part of the war effort. One of Whitelaw's sons, also called Robert, moved to set up a branch in Newcastle in 1918/19.

The Aberdeen branch continued to expand over the century into 50 and 52 Woolmanhill, becoming Whitelaw Robert, Aberdeen, Limited in 1953. The firm moved to 14 Victoria Street in 1972. There was also a further branch in Glasgow. There are still Robert Whitelaw chemists across Aberdeen today.

Robert Whitelaw himself was born in Edinburgh in 1870 and died in 1932. He is buried in Springbank Cemetery in Aberdeen. He was married to Agnes Lornie and they had four children. One of their sons was killed in the First World War: Private Charles Whitelaw, killed on the 20th May 1918.

Whitelaw is shown in Aberdeen To-Day, 1907 (p. 198) among other successful businessmen. This photo shows off his Masonic links as he is pictured wearing a Freemason's apron.