AKA John Walker

Born: 25-Jul-1805
Birthplace: Kilmarnock, Scotland
Died: 1857
Location of death: Kilmarnock, Scotland
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Business

Nationality: Scotland
Executive summary: Whiskey maker

Johnnie Walker grew up on his parents' tenant farm, and was 14 when his father died, leaving him his life savings -- �417, a substantial sum. Young Walker used the funds to open a grocery and tea shop on Kilmarnock's High Street in 1820, where he came up with a recipe mixing various malts to create what he and his customers thought was a perfect whiskey. He sold his scotch as a sideline, during a time when the sale of blended whiskey was illegal. After his death in 1857 and after changes in the law, his son Alexander closed the grocery, expanded the distillery, and added the square-cornered bottle now synonymous with Johnnie Walker whiskey.

Father: Alexander Walker (farmer, d. 1819)
Mother: Elizabeth Gemmel Walker (d. 1839)
Wife: Elizabeth Purves Walker (m. 1833)
Son: Alexander Walker (John Walker & Sons executive, b. 1837, d. 1889)

    John Walker and Sons Founder (1820)
    Freemasonry
    Scottish Ancestry

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