Botanic Beer Manufacturer, Heaton St, Denton
Robinson Wheawill was born at Patricroft, Lancashire, in 1857. He was the son of Joseph Wheawill, a Labourer, and Elizabeth Robinson and
his birth was registered at Barton-on-Irwell Register Office. His parents were married at St Mary's Church, Manchester, in 1850.
The 1881 census shows that Robinson was then living with his parents in Ellesmere St, Barton-on-Irwell, and that he was a Joiner by occupation.
He married Mary Lavinia Crawford at Barton-on-Irwell in 1885. The 1891 census shows that he was then living in New Ln, Eccles, with his wife and four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Robinson, and he had changed his occupation to become the Manager of a Mineral Water Works. By the time of the 1901 census he had founded his own business, as a Botanic Beer Maker (ginger beer), and moved to Heaton St, Denton, where he was living with his wife, daughter and nine-year-old son, Charles Percival. His works, known as Botanic Works, was also in Heaton St. By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved to a residence on Manchester Rd.
Slater's Trade Directories for 1903, 1909 and 1911 confirm that he was in business at the Botanic Works on Heaton St as a mineral water manufacturer, which was a general name given to ginger beer manufacturers.
Robinson died at Denton in 1918, aged 60 years, and his wife, Mary Lavinia, died at Audenshaw in 1945, aged 81 years. Their son, Charles Percival Wheawill, married Doris Jones, otherwise Warden, at St Mary's Church, Newton in Mottram, in 1951 and he died at Hyde in 1959, aged 67 years.
The bottle maker's name was embossed on the reverse of bottles just above the heel.