Historic John Walker & Sons Records Reunited With The Diageo Archive

Diageo’s archives are now home to a new piece of Johnnie Walker history thanks to the recent work of auction house Whisky.Auction and donator Andrew Welford.

What’s new is a particular historic ledger that details the transfer of shares in the John Walker & Sons company during World War II. The item was brought to the team at Whisky.Auction by Welford, who was seeking advice on the book’s significance and whether it was of value.

A statement from Whisky.Auction noted that it was Auction Director Isabel Graham-Yooll who recognized the historic importance of such a record and knew the value it could bring to the Diageo Archives.

“This is one of those artifacts that holds so much value to a company archive, but little value to an individual, and so it felt right to reunite the ledger with the company owners,” she said. “We often see old documents and labels from private individuals coming up at auctions and sometimes they simply need to find the right home rather than make money.”

Diageo Archive Manager Christine McCafferty said it’s great see this book reunited with the archive collection for John Walker & Sons, “which is our pride and joy. I cannot thank Andrew enough for his kind donation and Isabel for seeing the value of having items like this kept within the business which created them. It helps us to build a full picture of our story to date, and we certainly hope to find some interesting stories buried in the pages.”

The ledger was delivered to the Diageo Archive by Welford who, alongside Graham-Yooll, was given a tour of the archives and saw the book laid down in its new home.