John Lawson Johnston was the creator of Bovril

Bovril

Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick, salty meat extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston and sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar. It is made in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, owned and distributed by Unilever UK....

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He was born in 29 Main Street, Roslin, Midlothian

Roslin, Midlothian

Roslin is a pretty village in Midlothian, Scotland, 7 miles to the south of the Scottish Capital city Edinburgh. It is situated approximately 12 miles from Edinburgh Airport.-The name:...

. A plaque is on the property and can be seen above the door. The plaque was put there by the Roslin Heritage Society.

Life and "Bovril'

Johnston studied in Edinburgh at some point and came into contact with Lyon Playfair, a professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. Through him, John developed an interest in food science and preserving.

Regardless of what his intentions had originally been as a choice of profession, Johnston's uncle John was a butcher and his nephew decided to pursue this as a trade and apprenticed with him. Eventually, he took over his butcher shop in Edinburgh and became well established. While working as a butcher in Edinburgh, he decided to use the large quantity of beef trimmings produced in the butchery process to make his own glace de viande (meat glaze) - beef stock, concentrated by heating until it becomes dark brown and viscous, thus giving it a long shelf-life. This sold so well that he opened a second shop and a factory in the Holyrood area.

In 1871, he emigrated to Canada and set up business in that country. In 1874, the French Army gave him a contract to supply the army with preserved beef products, Britain not having enough beef to supply the French demand in the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

. While there, he developed Johnston's Fluid Beef (brand Bovril). This was somewhat different from conventional meat glaze in that the gelatin, present in all meat glaze and making it solid at room temperature, was hydrolysed with alkali to make the mixture semi-liquid, and thereby easier to package, measure and use. For his services, he was awarded the Order of the French Red Cross.

He sold his Canadian business in 1880, after his factory burned down, and returned to England where he lived at 'Bovril Castle' -- Kingswood House

Kingswood, Dulwich

Kingswood House, formerly known as King's Coppice, is a Victorian mansion in West Dulwich at the southerly tip of the London Borough of Southwark, England. It is a Grade II listed building. In 1811 William Vizard was granted a 63 year lease for Kingswood Lodge...

, Sydenham

Sydenham

Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...

 -- while he developed the Bovril brand across Britain, based on the commercial promotion of dietetics.
When he sold the Bovril company in 1896 he earned £2 million, although he stayed on as Chairman until his death in 1900.

He was a keen yachtsman and died aboard his yacht in Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, on November 24, 1900.

His second son George Lawson Johnston

George Lawson Johnston, 1st Baron Luke

George Lawson Johnston, 1st Baron Luke, KBE , was a British businessman.Luke was the second son of John Lawson Johnston, a beef manufacturer and the founder of Bovril Ltd and Elizabeth, daughter of George Lawson, biscuit manufacturer of Edinburgh...

 also managed the Bovril company and was raised to the peerage as Baron Luke

Baron Luke

Baron Luke, of Pavenham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the businessman George Lawson Johnston. He was the second son of John Lawson Johnston, the founder of Bovril Ltd. the title is held by his grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 1996...

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