William Charles Mitchell (1834-1894) was born in Glasgow, but moved to Belfast in 1860 where he became manager of Dunville distillery, and later set up his own whisky company.
His greatest success, being awarded gold medals at several expositions were named the “Cruiskeen Lawn” after an Irish folk song. In Gaelic meaning “The full little jug”.
His father Archibald Mitchell which had moved to Campbelltown got a licence for Springbank in 1828, and in 1837 William and his brother John took ownership of Springbank. They expanded by building Glengyle distillery in 1872. Glengyle was sold off in 1925, but bought back by the family and brought back into production in 2000.
Both distilleries are still owned by the family with Archibald’s great-great grandson Hedley Wright as chairman
