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George Lloyd Alison Esquire

George Lloyd Alison was a well known wine and spirit merchant with businesses in Dundee and London. He had also been a senior officer with the First Forfarshire (Dundee) Rifle Volunteers.

Subscription value in 1863:

£10

Relative to inflation up to 2024:

£1000

Relative to income compared to 2024:

£8000

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Personal details and history

Full name

George Lloyd Alison

Date of birth

07-05-1818[1] - baptised 06-06-1818[1] - named after maternal grandfather[1]

Place of birth

Dundee[1]

Gender

Male

Marital status

Married[2][3]

Name of spouse

Jane Ramsay - daughter of the late Alexander Ramsay, physician

Children

Catherine Ramsay (1846): Robert William (1847): Elizabeth Jane (Bessy) (1849): James Ramsay (1851): George Lloyd (c1853): Henry Cecil (1854): Alice Mary (1856): Euphemia Eliza (1858): Anne Georgina (1859): Ethel Susan (1860): Mildred (1862): Susan Lloyd (1866):[4][5]

Home address

Hawkhill Place,Dundee (1846):[6]
Terrace House, Nethergate St, Dundee (1851):[7]
Nethergate, The Terrace, Dundee (1861):[4]
The Terrace, Dundee and Montpelier, Angus (1861):[8]
145 Nethergate, Dundee (1871) :[5]
Park Place House, Dundee (1871):[9]
Haverfield, Kewgreen, Surrey (1889/90):[10][11]
Montpelier, Elm Road, East Sheen, Surrey (1895/96):[12]
Redholme, Ferry Road, Teddington, Middlesex (1893/94):[13]

Latterly

Montpelier, St Leonard’s, Mortlake, Surrey (1895/96 until death in 1902):[14]

Age at death:

84 years

Place of death:

Surrey[15]

Date of death:

03-08-1902[15]

Buried:

Mortlake, St Mary, Surrey[16]

Affiliations, clubs, offices and related subscribers

Religious affiliation

Unknown

Political affiliation

Unknown

Clubs / societies

President: Dundee Wine, Spirit and Beer Trade Association:[17] Director: Public Baths, West Protection Wall:[18] Director: Life Association of Scotland:[19] Director: Dundee and Newtyle Railway(until 1880):[20] Committee member: Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Dundee Branch:[21] Committee member: Dundee Public Library (listed as Major Alison):[22]

Public offices

Major 1st Forfarshire (Dundee) Rifle Volunteers, also listed as Lieutenant Colonel in 1867:[23] Justice of the Peace:[24]

Related subscribers

Subscriber     4 – George Armitstead – husband of George Lloyd Alison’s sister in law’s sister, Jane Elizabeth Baxter

Subscriber     7 – Patrick Anderson – uncle of and named tutor and curator for George Lloyd Alison’s wife, Jane Ramsay

Subscriber   18 – Edward Baxter – father of brother in law’s wife, Euphemia Wilson Baxter

Subscriber   23 – Eleanor Baxter – aunt of brother in law’s wife, Euphemia Wilson Baxter

Subscriber   24 – Mary Ann Baxter – aunt of brother in law’s wife, Euphemia Wilson Baxter

Subscriber   29 – David Baxter – uncle of brother in law’s wife, Euphemia Wilson Baxter

Subscriber   35 – W E Baxter – brother of brother in law’s wife, Euphemia Wilson Baxter

Subscriber   68 – W O Dalgleish – husband of sister in law’s cousin, Elizabeth Molison

Subscriber   77 – Fullerton & Davidson – James Fullerton was a lieutenant in the First Forfarshire (Dundee) Rifle Volunteers in which George Lloyd Alison was Lt. Col. in 1867-68

Subscriber 199 – James Ramsay – brother in law of George Lloyd Alison

Career and worklife

Occupation

Wine Merchant

Employment

Owner

Place of work

Wine Merchant

Work address

20 Nethergate, Dundee[6]

18 High Street, Dundee[25]

14 Panmure Street, Dundee (from 1867/8)[9]

59 Haymarket, London[12]

Career to date:

At the time of his marriage in 1844, George Lloyd Alison, a mariner, was in the service of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.[2] In 1846, George took over the business of his wife's uncle, James Ramsay, a wine and spirit merchant, at 20 Nethergate.[26] He spent the rest of his working life as such.

More information

George Lloyd Alison was born to Robert Alison, Surveyor of Customs at the Port of Dundee, and his wife, Elizabeth Lloyd, in 1818.[1] George was one of three brothers, Robert, himself and William, although he also had 2 step siblings, David and Elizabeth Laird, by his mother’s 1st husband, William Butler Laird.

At the age of 20 years, George Lloyd Alison was faced with a family tragedy.

On 7 September 1838, the ‘SS Forfarshire’ set sail from Hull for Dundee.[27] Aboard the vessel were George Lloyd Alison’s mother, Elizabeth, his younger brother, William, aged 16 years and his nephew, Rowley Wynyard, aged 6 years. The vessel foundered and struck rocks near the Longstone Lighthouse when her engines failed.[28][27] Of the 60 crew and passengers, it was reported that 9 managed to to scramble aboard a lifeboat, to be picked up by a Montrose sloop.[28][27] A further 9 were heroically rescued by the lighthouse keeper, William Darling and his daughter Grace.[28][27] Sadly, George’s family members were not among those survivors. An indication of their probable demise appeared in newspaper reports at the time, followed a few weeks later by a confirmatory intimation.[29]

Not long after this event, George Lloyd Alison became a wine merchant in Dundee and, later, also in London. His Dundee address was variously listed as “Terrace House,” “The Terrace” and 145 Nethergate. Today, 145 Nethergate is a Category B, listed building, in a lane behind the Morgan Tower, on the north side of the Nethergate.

His address was also listed as Montpelier, Forfar, which, according to the 1845 Statistical Account of Scotland, was owned by John Alison (his uncle).[30] In 1857, 2 years after his father’s death, George Lloyd Alison was then listed as ‘proprietor.’[31]

The shop at 18 High Street seems to have stood in what is now City Square.

The wine shop was advertised regularly in the Dundee Courier classified advertisements. In 1870, for example, the company was advertising newly imported Hungarian wine.[32]

The 1881 Census listed George Lloyd Alison as staying with his daughter Catherine and her husband Thomas Kinnear at Claypots (sic) Road, Dundee. His occupation was given as J.P. and wine merchant.[24] His wife and several of his children were listed as living at 58 Holland Road, Kensington in the same census.[33]. As he seems to have been simultaneously running the wine business in both Dundee and London, it seems possible that he was staying with his daughter while working in Dundee. By the time of the 1891 census, the family was living in London.[11]

In 1895, the Dundee Courier reported that George Lloyd Alison, wine and spirit merchant, of Elm Road, East Sheen, Surrey, had successfully applied to convert his licence for 14 Panmure Street to a grocer’s certificate.[34]

In 1899, George Lloyd Alison set up a trust for his children, selling shares in his property in Dundee[35] which may account for the fact that on his death, he left the sum of £7 16s 8d[15]

Sources

  1. Old Parish Registers. Dundee. Births. (1818). 282/100 277. ScotlandsPeople website.
  2. Dundee Courier, Issue 1469, Tuesday, 29 October 1844, p.2, column 4. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.
  3. Old Parish Registers. Dundee. Marriages. 18 October 1844. 282/230 136. ScotlandsPeople website.
  4. 1861 Census Scotland. Second District Dundee. 282/2 ED14. Ancestry website.
  5. 1871 Census Scotland. St Peter, Dundee. 282/1 ED1A. Ancestry website. (Name wrongly recorded as Allison in 1871 census)
  6. Scottish Post Office Directories. Dundee, 1846-1847. p.79. National Library of Scotland website.
  7. 1851 Census Scotland. Dundee. 282 ED77 p.43. Ancestry website.
  8. Post Office Dundee Directory 1861-1862, p.109.  National Library of Scotland website.
  9. Post Office Dundee Directory 1871-1872, p.64. National Library of Scotland website.
  10. Post Office Dundee Directory 1889-90, p.133. National Library of Scotland website.
  11. 1891 Census England. Kew, Richmond. Public Record Office ref. RG12/622. ED25. Ancestry website.
  12. Post Office Dundee Directory 1895-1896, p.144. National Library of Scotland website.
  13. Post Office Dundee Directory 1893-1894, p.134. National Library of Scotland website.
  14. Post Office Dundee Directory 1895-1896, p.144.  National Library of Scotland website.
  15. London, England. England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administration 1856-1966. Ancestry website.
  16. Church of England burials, 1813-1987. Parish of Mortlake, Surrey. 9 August 1902, p. 47. Ancestry website.
  17. Dundee Courier & Argus, Issue 3849, Thursday,  7 December 1865. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.
  18. Post Office Dundee Directory, 1864-1865, p.50. National Library of Scotland website.
  19. Post Office Dundee Directory 1864-1865, adverts, Insurance, p.lxix . National Library of Scotland website.
  20. The Northern Warder and bi-weekly Courier and Argus, Issue 8379, 28 May, 1880, p.2, column 5. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.
  21. Post Office Dundee Directory 1864-1865, p.15. National Library of Scotland website.
  22. Post Office Dundee Directory 1864-1865, p.30. National Library of Scotland website.
  23. Post Office Dundee Directories 1864-1865, p.48 and 1867-68, p.47. National Library of Scotland website.
  24. 1881 Census Scotland. St Andrew, Dundee. 282/4. ED41.  Ancestry website.
  25. Post Office Dundee Directory 1858-1859, p.100. National Library of Scotland website.
  26. Northern Warder & General Advertiser. 18 June 1846. p.1. British newspaper Archive website.
  27. www.sailing-by.org website.
  28. www.gracedarling.co.uk website.
  29. Yorkshire Gazette. 22 September 1838. p.5. British Newspaper Archive website.
  30. (1845)New Statistical Account of Scotland, v XI, Kincardine-Forfar. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and sons. P.15.
  31. Scottish Post Office Directory: Directory to Noblemen and Gentlemen’s seats, villages etc. In Scotland. 1857, p110. National Library of Scotland website.
  32. Dundee Courier & Argus, Issue 5129, Saturday, 8 January, 1870, p.1. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.
  33. 1881 Census England. Kensington, Kensington Town. ED 20a. Ancestry website.
  34. Dundee Courier & Argus, Issue 13034, Wednesday, 10 April, 1895, p.4. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.
  35. Dundee Courier & Argus, Issue 1441, Saturday, 2 September 1899, p.3. British Library Newspapers Part II 1800-1900. National Library of Scotland website.

The information above about George Lloyd Alison has been collated from a range of digital and hard copy sources. To the best of our knowledge it is correct but if you are relying on any information from our website for the purpose of your own research we would advise you to follow up the sources to your own satisfaction. If you are aware of an inaccuracy in our text please do not hesitate to notify us through our Contact page.