The brewer William McEwan was born in July 16th 1827 in Alloa.
The son of a ship owner McEwan began his career as a commercial clerk and bookkeeper, before joining his uncle’s brewery in Edinburgh and received the technical and management training required to establish his own brewery in 1856.
The Fountain Brewery stood at Fountainbridge for almost 150 years before it’s closure in 2004. By the turn of the century, the brewery had 90% of sales in north-eastern England. He also expanded into international trade, making significant exports to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India.
Through mergers and acquisitions, McEwan’s company grew to become Scottish Brewers and then Scottish & Newcastle in 1960. The firm is now part of a consortium involving Danish multi-national Carlsberg and Dutch giant Heineken. McEwan is perhaps best remembered today for McEwan’s Export beer, now brewed in England.
In 1886, he became the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central, which he served until 1900.
McEwan gave significant donations to the city of Edinburgh, including £115,000 to build the McEwan Hall as a graduation hall for the University of Edinburgh. The McEwan lantern pillar, bearing the family coat of arms, erected at the same time as the Hall.
