"Walked with (Princess] Beatrice about the pleasure grounds & looked at all the trees & plants & I felt quite pleased to see McPherson look so well after & take such an interest in keeping up everything."
Queen Victoria expressed her pleasure by presenting her Land Steward with a silver, black leather-covered whisky flask bearing the letters "V.R", and an inscription stating that it was presented by Queen Victoria to John Macpherson in 1872.
On the 21st January 1876 the Queen wrote in her Journal:
" Drove with Beatrice to the Almshouses at Whippingharn, where I got out and settled with McPherson where the peoples' gardens and the road is to be."
The Almshouses were being constructed near Whippingham Church for the Queen's aged retainers under John McPherson's overall charge.
Five years later he was listed in the 1881 Census as "Head Steward (Farm Bailiff)", responsible for 1000 acres of farmland. By 1880 John McPherson was recognised as one of a large number of farmers in Britain who had built reputations as breeders of Jersey cattle. In 1883 the Queen won 1st Prize for her Alderney bull at an agricultural show, one of many such prizes. The Queen's continued regard for her Steward was signalled again in 1884 when she presented him with a silver tea pot similarly inscribed.
In January 1886 The Queen's Private Secretary reported to her that McPherson was not liked on the estate, and that he was unwell -- perhaps related conditions. In any case, he retired on the 1st October 1886, aged sixty-seven. after twenty-one years in the Queen's service, with a pension of £220 per annum. Earlier, on the 17th August, the Queen had taken leave of the family, giving each of them a present.