Waddell's Sausages are the Best.
During her first year touring the United Kingdom, Leila was delighted to make the acquaintance of her distant uncle, Robert Davidson Waddell (1855-1929). To her surprise, Uncle Robert was the owner of one of the most coveted violin collections in the world.
A Glaswegian entrepreneur, Waddell funded his collection through the success of his eponymous meat production and retail company. The name Waddell was synonymous with sausages.
Young Robert completed his apprenticeship as a sausage maker and, by 1878 at just 23, he had begun trading on his own account in the Gallowgate area. His enterprise quickly expanded, leading to a chain of retail stores across the United Kingdom. With produce transported by rail to outlets in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Belfast and London.
The consumer demand required mass production of cheap sausages, and this was made possible by the development of gas engine mincing and filling machines in 1880. Waddell built a large factory (the largest in Scotland) to accommodate production incorporating his own patented sausage machinery. Its capability broadened to the production of smoked sausages, luncheon, Scotch, Black, White, and Sweet Puddings, saveloys, pies, potted heid, and haggis.
At the time, there were few instances of such rapid company development. The fame of the establishment was such that its telegraphic address was simply, “Sausage, Glasgow.”
In the late 1890s the factory was rebuilt in Glasgow’s Napiershall St at the substantial sum of £47,000, making it the largest sausage factory in Scotland. It was a six-story block with attics, built in the Renaissance style pictured. The factory was driven by two steam engines of 40 horsepower and the refrigerator held 100 tons of meat.
Once viewed as a meat product for the poor, sausages were growing in popularity with the middle classes, and Waddell pioneered glass containers for meat products to sell in high-class grocery stores.
Waddell was a skilled marketer, known for his clever advertising slogans. The company even had its own jingle, playfully adapted from children’s rhymes: “Waddell’s sausages are the best, in your belly they will rest; Annaker’s sausages are the worst, in your belly they will burst!” Waddells was the only firm to obtain a medal at the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886. At the Glasgow and Edinburgh International Exhibitions of 1910, vibrant stands proudly proclaimed that Waddell’s sausages were made from the 'best Sandringham-reared young pigs. During the 1918 Armistice celebrations in Glasgow, local children were given flags bearing the Union Jack on one side and the slogan “Waddell’s Sausages are the Best” on the reverse.
Towards the end of the Victorian era, public awareness of hygiene grew, along with more frequent inspections by sanitary authorities. Waddell, ever alert to opportunities for promoting his business, capitalized on the factory's high standards of cleanliness in his marketing. He encouraged customers to visit and personally witness the hygienic conditions under which the food was prepared.
With his thriving business, Waddell had ample means of indulging his passion for the violin. He was said to be a “passable violin player” himself.
In 1916, he attended his friend’s son’s first performance playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto at St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow. The boy, just 12 years old, left a strong impression on Waddell. Taken with the lad's continued talent, Waddell generously loaned him the famous Betts Stradivarius for further study in London in 1919. Nan Holmes, a secretary at the Glasgow sausage factory, later recalled the excitement at work when employees lined up to witness Mr. Waddell present the 17-year-old with the Stradivarius. The boy was the renowned Scottish violinist, William Primrose. He performed on the Betts for his 1923 debut at Queen’s Hall and went on to acquire fame as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
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P.S. I’ve acquired a lot of information about the Waddell family. If you’re a family member, feel free to get in touch and I would be happy to send you more – cynthiacrosse@outlook.com.