Medicinal drinking water from Matlock Bath's springs had, for several centuries, been acknowledged as beneficial to health.
See Water Cures
Mary Whittaker (1845 - 1920) sold Matlock Bath's water in a slightly different way - she was an aërated water manufacturer and bottled it. Mary was the Whittaker of Whittaker's pop, "Tordale" and the bottling plant on Matlock Bath's Dale Road. She was the daughter of John and Priscilla Wheatcroft of Scarthin.^[1]

Mary married John Whittaker at the age of nineteen. John came from Essex and his father was Saul Whittaker. Their marriage took place at St. Werburgh's in Derby on 27 February 1864 and they began married life living in Derby where John was a policeman, but they eventually they returned to live in Matlock with their children^[2]. They lived first at Starkholmes before moving close to the Heights of Abraham^[3] when John changed occupations and started to make and sell ginger beer. By 1881^[3] soda water had been added to the list of items for sale. They moved close to the bottling works in the Dale.

Not everyone thought the buildings enhanced the Dale. At the beginning of the twentieth century J. B. Firth wrote: "Matlock and Matlock Bath are steadily being ruined ... for a few yards, Matlock Dale is unspoilt, but we no sooner pass round the bend [just past High Tor] than we are saluted by the brick chimney of some paint works, while just at hand is is a manufactory of some ginger beer, and a little way beyond is the familiar reek of gasworks."^[4] Whatever the merits of the buildings, the businesses provided employment for local people. However, the paint works certainly did spoil things as the colour of the river changed!

In Kelly's 1876^[5] and 1881 Directories John, as Manager, was advertising the Matlock Bath Mineral Water Co. Unfortunately, like so many small traders reliant mostly on summer trade, the business encountered problems and in 1883/4 the Company was struck off the Register of Joint Stock Companies and dissolved.^[6] Not that the announcement seems to have done any lasting damage although Mary seems to have taken over after this point, at least in the advertisements placed in the Trades Directories ^[7] and when registering their Trade Mark (shown below). However, according to census returns John was still running things.^[8] He died in 1904, aged 71, and Mary continued in business assisted by some of her sons and eventually the brand of "Tordale" came into being.

Despite the velvet gown and beautiful lace collar in this photograph, Mary Whittaker was unafraid of hard work and the family say she drove the delivery dray. Mary is also often listed as a boarding house keeper, which was a fairly common business for people to run as a side-line to perhaps boost their income.

Mary died on 15 September 1920^[9] is buried in the same grave as John at St. Giles' church.^[10] Whittakers pop and "Tordale" Lemonade outlived them both and the business they began continued on Dale Road until the early 1970's although the business had passed out of the Whittaker family's hands before then. The Matlock Mercury reported, in the edition of 8 Jan 1966, that "Tordale Soft Drinks Ltd had been purchased by an 'industrial combine' ".^[11]

The Ministry of Transport objected to access onto the main road (the A6), although it hadn't caused a problem before then. The buildings couldn't be used after this so were pulled down and hundreds and hundreds of old bottles became available to collectors.