Family tree of the Johnstons (click on the image and next 0n the bigger picture)

The Campbells leased the area known as Torradale around Loch Laphroaig to Johnstons. They are mentioned in the rent rolls as early as 1776 and perhaps the Johnstons already distilled there in 1815.
A descendant of these early Johnstons was Alexander, who settled in Tighcarmogan, now Port Ellen.
He is the father of Donald (born 1796) and Alexander Johnston (born 1803), who are considered the founders of Laphroaig Distillery. Donald, the entrepreneurial one of the two brothers, was initially recorded in the Excise accounts of 1826 as "licensed" distiller.

Kildalton around 1750

Laphroaig site plan in 1854

Laphroaig was joined by another distillery at adjacent Ardenistiel Farm in 1835, financed by James and Andrew Gairdner on a piece of land they leased from Campbell as well. Donald had fruitlessly protested against these plans a year earlier. He was afraid it might cause problems with the water supply from the Surnaig burn to Laphroaig, as Ardenistiel was only 200 yards away.
The brothers James and Andrew Stein initially ran Ardenistiel, also known at times as Islay or Kildalton distillery.
Both distilleries would continue to have their quarrels – usually over land and water rights - until the 1860's when laird John Ramsay decided to "blend" Ardenistiel into Laphroaig. Ardenistiel had not been successful.

Laphroaig in 1923 with the ruins of Ardenistiel distillery in the right hand bottom corner

In 1836 Donald offered his brother Alexander £350 for his share, to which the latter agreed. Alexander emigrated to Australia where he died in 1881.

Donald died in 1847 two days after he tragically fell into a vat of boiling ale. He had married twice. He left one son and four daughters by his first wife Isabella MacDougall and a daughter of his second marriage to Alice MacDougall. His son Dugald inherited the distillery, but couldn't run it immediately since he was only eleven. His uncle John Johnston of Tallant acted as one of the Trustees. He appointed Walter Graham from neighboring Lagavulin as distillery manager. In 1857 Dugald came of age, took over the management and was assigned the land lease by his father's Trustees in 1858, but not after some legal disputes with his sisters.
Dugald died in 1877, leaving no heirs. His cousin Alexander, who had married his sister Isabella, ran the distillery during a decade, while three Trustees had been appointed. Eventually a new lease was assigned to Alexander, his wife Isabella and her sister Mary and Mary’s daughter Isabella.

John Johnston of Tallant

Dugald Johnston, not the founder of Laphroaig

1881 Census registers John Brandon, Distillery Manager. Isabella Johnston is stated as “head”.

1889 Alexander Johnston, distiller, John Douglas, Excise officer, Duncan Ferguson, Angus McQueen, malt men, Donald McCuaig, William McEwan, still men, Donald Gillies, mash man, Laphroaig distillery. (Register of voters for the County of Argyll 1889-90).

Laphroaig around 1900

In 1907 Alexander (Sandy) died at Laphroaig, surviving his wife only one year.
Sandy's trustees found that he had left four wills and court cases dragged on years past his death. Eventually his cousin John Johnston Hunter Johnston, his sisters Catherine, Isabella and her husband William Stevenson Hunter took over the distillery and secured the lease in 1911 for twenty years.

Two worm tubs at Laphroaig in 1904

Ian Hunter, son of William S. Hunter and Isabella Johnston, became manager in 1908.
For 70-80 years the Mackies of neighboring Lagavulin had acted as agents for Laphroaig, to the satisfaction of Hunter's predecessors.
Hunter and the other heirs , however, terminated the agency in 1908 and several law cases followed. As a result Peter Mackie tried to copy Laphroaig whisky in a new distillery at Lagavulin: Malt Mill.
It wasn’t a success and was dismantled in the 1960-ties.

Ian Hunter expanded (from two to four stills) and renewed the distillery and bought the land from then laird Iain Ramsay in the 1920-ties.
He did not only expand the capacity of the distillery, but also planned an international market growth for his distinctly peaty whisky.

“Sandy” Johnston around 1905

	New boiler in 1924
Ian Hunter in his office

1911: Rental of Laphroaig farm & distillery, excluding the Island of Texa to D. Johnston & Co, of 140 acres at £610 (Apportioned), 60 cattle, 5 horses, 90 sheep on 20 year lease. (Sale Book of Kildalton Estate)
1914: Rental of Laphroaig Farm and Distillery and Texa, peat mosses and water supply to heirs of late Alexander Johnston, distiller £650. Also 15 houses, 1 at £20, 1 at £12, 1 at £16, 5 at £4, 3 at £3, 1 at £2, 2 at £1 5s, 1 at £1 10s.(Sale Book of Kildalton Estate).

During WWII production stopped and the distillery was taken over by the RAF and a company of Royal Engineers.

Expansion from two to four coal fired stills around 1924

Ian Hunter made Laphroaig into a limited company in 1951, with himself as Managing Director and Miss Bessie Williamson as Secretary and Director.
Miss Elizabeth “Bessie” Leitch Williamson had joined Laphroaig in 1934 after graduating from Glasgow University and applying for a temporary job as a secretary.
Ian Hunter died in 1954 and he bequeathed ownership of the distillery to Bessie, having been given the distilling secrets, guarded closely within the family so much that Ian Hunter had tried to block a cooper, Mr. James Whittaker, from publishing his memoirs in the 1920's as it described the distillery in too great a detail.

Laphroaig in 1965

She sold her shares to American company Seager Evans, its subsidiary "Long John International", in 1962, 1967 and finally in 1972, but continued as Chairman and Managing Director until 1972 when she retired. She expanded the distillery to six stills in 1967.

Six no longer coal fired stills in 1967

A seventh still was installed in 1972, although there had been made plans for eight stills.

Bessie at the wash backs

Plan for eight stills (click on the picture)

She died in 1982, aged 71 years. She had married Wishart Campbell, a Canadian entertainer whose grandfather was from the Mull of Oa and had been forced to emigrate in the Clearances. Wishart Campbell died in 1983.
The Lady Distiller left her possessions to her niece Helen Powell. Subsequent managers: John McDougall and Denis Nicol.

1975: take over by British Whitbread. The still house reconstructed in 1982. Managers: Denis Nicol, Murdo Reed and Colin Ross.

1989: take over by Allied Lyons (UK), the legendary Iain Henderson becoming manager.

1994: Allied Lyons becoming Allied Domecq (British/Spanish). Laphroaig was granted the Royal Warrant by HRH Prince Charles. Managers after Iain Henderson: John Campbell and Robin Shields.

2005: take over by French Pernod Ricard, subsequently sold to American Fortune Brands, owner of Beam Global. Current manager John Campbell.

Reconstruction of the still house in 1982 by Murdo Reed

HRH Prince Charles in 1994 with Iain Henderson

Laphroaig today (in the background Lagavulin) with seven steam heated stills

Summary of "The Legend of Laphroaig" by Marcel van Gils and Hans Offringa, ISBN 9789089100276

Copyright © 2007 by Still Publishing, The Netherlands / aerial picture by Armelle Dubois