The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later found to be involved in fraudulent activity, becoming known as the

Guinness share-trading fraud The Guinness share-trading fraud was a major business scandal of the 1980s. It involved the manipulation of the London stock market to inflate the price of Guinness shares to thereby assist Guinness's £4 billion takeover bid for the Scottish dr ...

History

The company's origins lie in a trade association known as the Scotch Distillers' Association formed by Menzies, Barnard & Craig, John Bald & Co., John Haig & Co., MacNab Bros, Robert Mowbray and Macfarlane & Co. in 1865. It was incorporated in 1877 and combined with John Walker & Son and Buchanan- Dewar in 1925. It was acquired by

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

in 1986 and was renamed as

United Distillers United Distillers was a Scottish company formed in 1987 from combining the businesses of Distillers Company and Arthur Bell & Sons, both owned by Guinness. The company owned six single malt Scotch brands, which were relaunched as the ''Classi ...

in 1987. In 1998 United Distillers was merged with

International Distillers & Vintners International Distillers & Vintners was a brewing and wine and spirits distribution company, formed from the 1962 merger of W&A Gilbey and United Wine Traders. Founders W&A Gilbey was founded in 1857 as a gin distillery by Walter Gilbey, Sir Walte ...

to create United Distillers & Vintners, forming the spirits division of Diageo plc. The company still exists today as Diageo Scotland Ltd.Competition Commission Report 1983

Pharmaceuticals

From 1942, ''Distillers Biochemicals'' (DCBL) operated an ''Agency Factory'' of the British Ministry of Supply manufacturing penicillin in

Speke Speke () is a suburb of Liverpool. It is southeast of the city centre. Located near the widest part of the River Mersey, it is bordered by the suburbs of Garston and Hunts Cross, and nearby to Halewood, Hale Village, and Widnes. The rural are ...

. The plant was one of the first two factories in Europe to produce penicillin. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, DCBL purchased the facility for approximately four million dollars. Distillers was also responsible for the manufacture of the drug

Thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is a medication used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications o ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Thalidomide had been developed by Grunenthal with whom, in July 1957, DCBL signed a sixteen-year contract to market the drug. DCBL ordered 6,000 tablets for clinical trial and 500 grammes of pure substance for ''animal experiments'' and ''formulation''. Thalidomide was marketed in the United Kingdom under the name Distaval, beginning on 14 April 1958. Advertisements emphasised the drug's complete safety, using phrases such as ''non-toxic'' and ''no known toxicity.'' Later, Thalidomide was marketed under the names Asmaval, Tensival, Valgis, and Valgraine and found to cause nerve damage and malformations in births. The Speke site, also known as ''Speke Operations'', was eventually sold to

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...

in 1963.

Chemicals and plastics

Since 1915, during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Distillers supplied industrial alcohol for making explosives. In 1922, it started to manufacture Discol-branded motor fuel made from alcohol. In 1928, it formed together with

Turner and Newall Turner & Newall was a manufacturing business based in Manchester, United Kingdom. At its peak, it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. As part of their business, the company was one of the first ...

the Carbon Dioxide Co Ltd to for sale of gas, a byproduct of their operations. In 1930, Distillers formed the British Industrial Solvents for production of acids and other solvents from industrial alcohol. In 1933, it formed Gyproc Products which was sold to

British Plaster Board BPB Ltd (formerly BPB plc) (British Plaster Board) was a British building materials business. It once was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 2005, the company was purchased by Saint-Gobain of France. The company subsidiary British Gypsum, ...

in 1944. In 1937, Distillers acquired British Resin Products. Bamberg (2000), pp. 361–362 In 1939, it acquired a controlling stake in

Commercial Solvents Commercial Solvents Corporation (CSC) was an American chemical and biotechnology company created in 1919. History The Commercial Solvents Corporation was established at the end of World War I; earning distinction as the pioneer producer of acetone ...

and 50% interest in

BX Plastics BX Plastics was a plastics engineering and production company. The company was one of three subsidiaries of the British Xylonite Company established by 1938. BX Plastics made xylonite (also known as celluloid or ivoride) and Lactoid (also known ...

, which full control was acquired in 1961. It followed by getting 48% shareholding in F. A. Hughes and Co. in 1941 and taking the full control in 1947. In 1947, F. A. Hughes and Co. was merged into British Resin. In 1947, British Petroleum Chemicals was incorporated as a joint venture of AIOC and Distillers Company. In 1956, the company was renamed British Hydrocarbon Chemicals. Bamberg (2000), pp. 350–352 In 1945, Distillers formed a joint venture British Geon with B. F. Goodrich to produce polyvinyl chloride and in 1954 it started a partnership named Distrene with Dow Chemicals to produce

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

. In 1955, it took full control of Magnesium Elektron. In 1967, BP acquired chemical and plastic assets of The Distillers Company which were merged with British Hydrocarbon Chemicals to form BP Chemicals. Bamberg (2000), pp. 385–389

Directors of note

* Leonard Alsager Elgood

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

1943 to 1960.

References

Bibliography

External links

History page on Diageo website
*
Article about The Distillers Company at www.gracesguide.co.uk

Article about The Distillers Company at www.scotchwhisky.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Distillers Company British companies established in 1877 Scottish malt whisky Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Food and drink companies disestablished in 1986 Scandals in Scotland 1877 establishments in Scotland Manufacturing companies based in Edinburgh Pharmaceutical companies of Scotland Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Drink companies of Scotland History of Edinburgh Food and drink companies established in 1877 Chemical companies of Scotland 1986 mergers and acquisitions