William Younger & Co Ltd (brewers : 1887-1986 : Edinburgh, Scotland)

Tradition has it that William Younger I , aged 16, set up a brewery in Kirkgate, Leith, Scotland , in 1749. In 1853 he married Grizel Syme and became an exciseman, leaving the brewery to be run by Grizel. However, this account is flawed and inaccurate and cannot be substantiated. Grizel actually ran her deceased second husband's brewery and it was this brewery and those of her sons that developed into the firm of William Younger & Co .

After William Younger I, Grizel Syme's first husband, had died in 1770, Grizel married Alexander Anderson , a Leith brewer, in 1772, who had been brewing since at least 1758. He took one of her sons, Archibald Campbell Younger as an apprentice, and probably also trained her other sons Richard and William II. Alexander Anderson died in 1781 and Grizel took over the brewery, trading as Grizel Anderson , assisted by William II, until she retired in 1794.

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