Albert (Mim)
Tuckwell's collection
The bottles once belonged to the very successful aerated water manufacturer and ginger beer brewer, William Nathaniel Crowder, of Franklin St, Adelaide.
Crowders business commenced in 1853 after having purchased the business premises and machinery from the Alexander Malcolm estate who had carried on a similar business prior to his demise.
Crowder retired in 1882 to his stately home Olive Villa at Mitcham, near the Adelaide hills.
The youngest bottle in the centre is embossed Crowder & Co, Adelaide, and is dated around 1881. Charles Downer and John Henderson purchased the business and goodwill from William Crowder, and continued to operate in the style of Crowder & Co, thus taking advantage of the well established and respected name.
William Crowder certainly would be listed among the successful business elite of Adelaide.
Crowder was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1818, and arrived in South Australia with high expectations in 1839 on the ship Singapore. At first he worked for Sir J.H. Fisher in his dairying business at Lockleys, then venturing to the Victorian goldfields in 1851-1852 where his search for gold was unsuccessful.
Soon after arriving back in Adelaide he soon discovered that business was his true forte.
Crowder used: barrett & elers patent; maugham's patent; lamont patent; dump glass soda; breffits patent; and impressed (stone ginger beers)
William Crowder died on the 2nd of February 1898, and is buried in the West Tce, Cemetery, Adelaide.