W. and A. Gilbey
From Graces Guide
of Oxford Street, London.
- Producers of Gilbey's Gin.
- 1856 Walter and Albert Gilbey returned to London after the Crimean war and on the advice of their eldest brother, Henry Gilbey, a wholesale wine-merchant, started in the retail wine and spirit trade, importing South African wines.
- 1857 Backed by capital obtained through Henry Gilbey, they a small retail business in a basement in Oxford Street, London.
- The Cape wines proved popular, and within three years the brothers had 20,000 customers on their books. Agents were appointed throughout the UK to sell their wines to grocers shops.
- 1864 The Gilbeys business increased so rapidly that, in 1864, Henry Gilbey abandoned his own undertaking to join his brothers.
- 1867 The three brothers secured the old Pantheon theatre and concert hall in Oxford Street for their headquarters.
- 1875 The firm purchased a large claret-producing estate in Medoc, on the banks of the Gironde, and became also the proprietors of two large whisky-distilleries in Scotland.
- 1893 The business was converted, for family reasons, into a private limited liability company, of which Walter Gilbey, who in the same year was created a baronet, was chairman.
- 1895 The company began to distill gin and Gilbey's Gin became a well-known brand.
- 1912 An advertising campaign for Gilbey's Invalid Port made it a household name.
- Walter Henry, Walter Gilbey's son, became chairman of W. and A. Gilbey.
- 1962 The company merged with United Wine Traders and became International Distillers and Vintners.
- 1972 Brewers Watney Mann took over the business, and was absorbed by Grand Metropolitan the same year.
- 2008 The brands are now owned by Diageo, formed by the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan.
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