This was a newsletter, emailed to subscribers on 4th July 2024. If you'd like to be amongst the first to read my weekly email, revealing some of the research behind the book, you can sign up HERE.
If you read my last email, you’ll remember that I mentioned having spent some time tracing the entire Pattison family tree; leading me to eventually find, and meet up with, one of the Pattisons’ living relatives.
By generously affording me the time to look through old family photos and documents, as well as a number of the brothers’ personal items, I was able to gain an insight into Robert and Walter as people, rather than rely solely on the (often biased) narrative as it appeared in the press at the time. A narrative which, for decades afterwards, was simply repeated and reinforced, without question, in subsequent publications
Let’s take this wallet, for example:
We can see the initials WGGP (Walter Gilchrist Gray Pattison) and the Pattison family crest. What’s more intriguing, though, is what’s inside:
Alas, there wasn’t any money 😄 Instead, though, there was something far more valuable. The date here is significant as it marks exactly one year since his marriage to Eliza Swann. Could it be that Eliza gave Walter this wallet as a first wedding anniversary gift? And could it be that she affectionately called him "Olly"?
On the face of it, this may not seem so important. But it’s through such research and questioning, that this book will bring the Pattisons to life. For too long, their name has only ever been used to shoulder the blame for the inevitable end of Scotch whisky’s golden era. Now, let’s move beyond the name and uncover the Pattisons’ true characters and stories. And what great stories they have to tell!
