James Eadie

Who was James Eadie?

James Eadie was a Scottish brewer who founded an eponymous brewery in Burton on Trent which operated for 90 years.

Eadie was born at Blackford, Perthshire one of the 14 children of William Eadie and his wife Mary Stewart and was baptised on 12 Jan 1827. His father had founded a small brewhouse at Blackford in the early 19th century as part of a posting hotel with livery stables on Moray Street. In 1842 Eadie moved to Fazeley. Staffordshire where an uncle was a tea dealer. He began a business supplying malt to brewers around Fazeley and extended the business to cover Burton on Trent. In 1854 Eadie established a brewery in Cross Street Burton. By 1891 Eadie was living at Barrow Hall, Barrow-upon-Trent. He also acquired an estate in Scotland at Glenrinnes, Banffshire He became Deputy Lieutenant of Banffshire on 24 May 1900 and in 1902 erected a monument near Favillar, Moray in commemoration of the coronation of King Edward VII.

Eadie's sons, John Eadie and William Eadie, both played cricket for Derbyshire