Happy memories

“A recent mention of Pontefract cakes in the paper,” writes Edward Valentine of Marykirk, “made me think of the five Angus men involved in establishing the largest liquorice company in the world. One of them was my second cousin once removed.

“Two Scots, Edward MacAndrew and William Forbes, travelled to Turkey in 1850 where they established the firm MacAndrew & Forbes, who opened a liquorice extracting factory. William Forbes was the son of a linen weaver from Dun and his mother, Isobel Barclay, was from a family of St Cyrus salmon fishers. Edward MacAndrew’s family hailed from Elgin.

“As the company prospered, William, who was only 21 when he ventured out to Turkey, was joined by his older brother Andrew, 11 years his senior and a former flax dresser journeyman, David, who would have been 16, a Montrose printer, John a machine maker (26) and eventually the youngest, William King joined his brothers in the Levant.

“MacAndrew & Forbes grew and had factories all over the Levant. From Georgia, Grozny, they opened coal mines to power their factories and surplus coal was sold to other industries. A factory was also set up in New York.

“The firm was also involved in the world’s first commercial oilfield on the Caspian.

“MacAndrew and Forbes is now a huge conglomerate owned by Ronald Perelman and manages well-known companies such as Revlon and Siga.”