MARGARET ANDERSON McGHIE
Margaret McGhie was a renown publican in Aberdeen from the 1760s until she left to run lodgings in 1776. She married John McGhie in Old Machar in 1729, but little else is known about her until the 1750s. In 1755 John announced he was operating a coffee house in Aberdeen, just as the New Inn was being built nearby on the Castlegate [see Robertson entry]. When Mrs Robertson left the New Inn in 1763, John and Margaret took it over thanking the ‘Gentlemen who have hitherto used his House’ and reminded potential patrons that he was formerly across the square. He claimed no pains had been spared to ‘fit up and furnish’ the inn elegantly, and assured customers they would be ‘well-served’ and commented on the well-respected hosteller he had retained. The New Inn was prominently located in the Castlegate, adjoining the Tolbooth and Masonic Lodge.
When John died early in 1772, Margaret McGhie took over the business,
Mrs. McGie
Widow of the deceased John McGie of the New-Inn, Aberdeen
Begs Leave to return her sincerest Thanks to all her Customers for their repeated Favours and to acquaint them, that she proposes to carry on the Business as in Her Husbands Lifetime, and hopes for the Continuance of the Favours of the Nobility and Gentry, being determined to do everything in her Power to render their Accommodation and Entertainment genteel and agreeable.
She associated herself with its activities and her customers; she had clearly been an active partner in the business. The inn was regularly thereafter described in the Aberdeen Journal as ‘Mrs. McGhie’s House’. It was a well-established concern, and she conducted the wide range of activities expected of a prominent inn: she was certainly not restricted to selling beer. The central location of the inn on the Castlegate, which was the focus of the town’s commercial activity, and the fact that the other two inns on the square were sold to other purposes, may well have been factors in her success. Indeed, the inn appears to have been an even more active place of commerce during her sole tenure. For example, on 24 May 1773, four different advertisements appeared simultaneously for events at her House: the auctions of two new houses, the sale of a mare and the meeting of the Club for its annual dinner when the annual contributions for the upkeep of the infirmary were to be paid. Those in charge of the roups and events placed the advertisements, which suggests that they were responsible for deciding where to hold them. Usually advocates in the town or other senior members of the community, they often used the same inn regularly, suggesting a recognised and trusted business arrangement with Margaret McGhie. She had clearly gained and retained credit with a portion of the community: not only was the House identified as hers, but it also was a respected business. In 1769, Alexander Carlyle, Thomas Smollett’s good friend, minister of Inveresk and a leading member of the Edinburgh literati, stayed at the New Inn and described it as ‘a very good house — handsome rooms, very good service’. However, ‘a little more attention to cleanliness thro’ every part of the house would make it perfectly agreeable’. When Samuel Johnson and James Boswell visited the New Inn in August 1773, it was full, but on hearing who the visitors were Boswell and his father both being well0known locally, they were found room. Johnson approvingly wrote, ‘we found a very good house and civil treatment’.
On 20 May 1976 she advertised in the Aberdeen Journal that she was auctioning off all her furniture and household items and a month later followed this with an advertisement for lodgers. Thanking the public and friends in particular, she informed them ‘that she has now fitted up a House after a genteel manner, in the New Street, off Broadgate, for the reception of Gentlemen to lodge’, and by Autumn, the New Inn had a new landlord. At this point she disappears from the records.
So, by the use of language and the creation of business persona, women like Mrs McGhie established themselves in the commercial and corporate community of Aberdeen. They claimed their place in the world of business by using the same language as businessmen portraying their business in the same terms. The operation of a ‘civil business’ with a good reputation, such as Mrs McGhie’s, gained these women credit in the community. Not only was the House identified as hers, but it also was a ‘civil business’ with a good reputation. It was also far more than a woman embracing her ‘natural’ role and was consciously run in an entrepreneurial fashion.
Further reading
Deborah Simonton, ‘Negotiating the Economy of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Town: Female Entrepreneurs Claim their Place’, pp. 211-232 in Women in Eighteenth-century Scotland, editor with Katie Barclay. Routledge, 2013; and entry in the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women.
Entry written by Deborah Simonton
When John died early in 1772, Margaret McGhie took over the business,
Mrs. McGie
Widow of the deceased John McGie of the New-Inn, Aberdeen
Begs Leave to return her sincerest Thanks to all her Customers for their repeated Favours and to acquaint them, that she proposes to carry on the Business as in Her Husbands Lifetime, and hopes for the Continuance of the Favours of the Nobility and Gentry, being determined to do everything in her Power to render their Accommodation and Entertainment genteel and agreeable.
She associated herself with its activities and her customers; she had clearly been an active partner in the business. The inn was regularly thereafter described in the Aberdeen Journal as ‘Mrs. McGhie’s House’. It was a well-established concern, and she conducted the wide range of activities expected of a prominent inn: she was certainly not restricted to selling beer. The central location of the inn on the Castlegate, which was the focus of the town’s commercial activity, and the fact that the other two inns on the square were sold to other purposes, may well have been factors in her success. Indeed, the inn appears to have been an even more active place of commerce during her sole tenure. For example, on 24 May 1773, four different advertisements appeared simultaneously for events at her House: the auctions of two new houses, the sale of a mare and the meeting of the Club for its annual dinner when the annual contributions for the upkeep of the infirmary were to be paid. Those in charge of the roups and events placed the advertisements, which suggests that they were responsible for deciding where to hold them. Usually advocates in the town or other senior members of the community, they often used the same inn regularly, suggesting a recognised and trusted business arrangement with Margaret McGhie. She had clearly gained and retained credit with a portion of the community: not only was the House identified as hers, but it also was a respected business. In 1769, Alexander Carlyle, Thomas Smollett’s good friend, minister of Inveresk and a leading member of the Edinburgh literati, stayed at the New Inn and described it as ‘a very good house — handsome rooms, very good service’. However, ‘a little more attention to cleanliness thro’ every part of the house would make it perfectly agreeable’. When Samuel Johnson and James Boswell visited the New Inn in August 1773, it was full, but on hearing who the visitors were Boswell and his father both being well0known locally, they were found room. Johnson approvingly wrote, ‘we found a very good house and civil treatment’.
On 20 May 1976 she advertised in the Aberdeen Journal that she was auctioning off all her furniture and household items and a month later followed this with an advertisement for lodgers. Thanking the public and friends in particular, she informed them ‘that she has now fitted up a House after a genteel manner, in the New Street, off Broadgate, for the reception of Gentlemen to lodge’, and by Autumn, the New Inn had a new landlord. At this point she disappears from the records.
So, by the use of language and the creation of business persona, women like Mrs McGhie established themselves in the commercial and corporate community of Aberdeen. They claimed their place in the world of business by using the same language as businessmen portraying their business in the same terms. The operation of a ‘civil business’ with a good reputation, such as Mrs McGhie’s, gained these women credit in the community. Not only was the House identified as hers, but it also was a ‘civil business’ with a good reputation. It was also far more than a woman embracing her ‘natural’ role and was consciously run in an entrepreneurial fashion.
Further reading
Deborah Simonton, ‘Negotiating the Economy of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Town: Female Entrepreneurs Claim their Place’, pp. 211-232 in Women in Eighteenth-century Scotland, editor with Katie Barclay. Routledge, 2013; and entry in the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women.
Entry written by Deborah Simonton
