The Buttercup Dairy Company was a Scottish

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

s company founded in 1904 by

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

business entrepreneur Andrew Ewing (1869-1956). The company sold

condensed milk Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of ''sweetened condensed milk'' (SCM), to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condens ...

, eggs, butter, and

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...

in its stores; by the 1920s, it had over 250 branches in Scotland and founded a poultry farm located in

Clermiston Clermiston is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, to the west of the city and to the immediate north of Corstorphine, on the western slopes of Corstorphine Hill. Clermiston estate, built in 1954, was part of a major 1950s house-building programme ...

. The poultry farm owned over 200,000 hens and was affectionately known as "Hen City". The company mostly hired women to staff its stores and farm and required them to adhere to a dress code. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

hindered the company's growing success. Additionally, a fire in 1936 forced the end of their poultry business. Despite these issues, Ewing, known as a charitable Christian, continued to give to charity. During the Depression years and Second World War, he would give rations to the locals. Ewing died penniless, with his company worth little. In the 1950s, the Edinburgh Corporation bought the farm for local authority housing.The last Buttercup Dairy Company stores closed in 1965.

Legacy

In 2014, Buttercup Farm Park was opened. It was built onsite of the old farm, near

Drumbrae Drumbrae or Drum Brae (Scottish Gaelic: ''Druim Bràigh'') is the name of a suburb of west Edinburgh, Scotland generally considered to be part of the neighbouring larger areas of Corstorphine and Clermiston. This is a commuter settlement as man ...

Primary School. In 2019, Regenerate Tranent offered a grant to restore Buttercup Dairy Company's storefront at 68-70 High Street. The restoration was completed in 2020.

Notable employee(s)

Mary Gillon Mary Gillon Armistead (17 July 1898 to 2 January 2002) was a Scottish tram conductress or clippie during World War I. Early life Mary Gillon was born 17 July 1898 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Allan Anderson Gillon, a fishmonger, and Agnes Ewing. ...

References

{{reflist Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Scotland