The brewing industry in England, 1700-1830

640 Pages·1959·26.852 MB·English

by  Peter Mathias

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/brewingindustryiOOOOmath

Il
THE
BREWING INDUSTRY
IN ENGLAND
1700-18^0
?
939
BY
PETER MATHIAS Mg '/
Fellow of Queens' College and
Assistant Lecturer in History in the
University of Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1959
Y\"P q
tv
PUBLISHED BY
THE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London, N.W. 1
American Branch: 32 East 57th Street, New York 22, N.Y.
©
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1959
Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge
{Brooke Crutchley, University Printer)
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations page vin
ix
List of Tables
xi
Preface
xvii
Note: Beer, Ale and Brewing
xix
List of Abbreviations
xxi
Introduction
PART I
PRODUCTION AND TRADE
-1 The Rise of Porter Brewing 3
Beer brewing before porter, p. 3
The introduction of porter, p. 12
Changes in the structure of the industry in London, p. 21
II Porter Brewing and the Brewery 28
Organising the staff, p. 28
Planning the brewery, p. 37
Yeast and isinglass, p. 48
Casks and vats, p. 53
>- HI The Technical Innovations 63
Thermometer, hydrometer and attemperator, p. 63
Horses and steam-power, p. 78
IV Distribution and the London Market 99
Technical management, p. 102
London prices, p. 109
The growth of tied trade, ^>.117
V Distant Markets (i) British Isles 139
The country trade, p. 141
The Irish market, 151
V a;
206
Contents
VI Distant Markets (ii) Exports page 171
The Baltic and India, p. 173
Other overseas markets, p. 193
Public contracts, p. 195
Naval brewhouses, p. 201
Appendix to Chapter VI: The search for a concentrate 204
PART II
THE PROBLEMS OF ENTERPRISE
AND FINANCE
VII Competition and Co-operation 213
1700-1795, p. 218
1795-1830, p. 228
VIII Finance and the Entrepreneur (i) 252
Entry into the trade, p. 253
London brewers before 1760, p. 258
Henry Thrale and John Perkins, p. 265
Whitbreads and finance, p. 277
Quaker finance, p. 287
IX Finance and the Entrepreneur (ii) 300
New capital and partnerships, p. 300
Control and continuity, p. 312
Brewers and other business activities, p. 322
Activities other than business, p. 330
X The Excise System and the Brewing Industry 339
The Excise establishment and its efficiency, p. 340
Regulations and jurisdiction, p. 350
The duties, p. 355
Excise allowances, p. 362
Excise statistics, p. 369
VI
Contents
PART III
RAW MATERIALS
-- XI Barley and Malt page 387
National and regional barley farming, p. 387
Barley varieties, climate and soil, p. 401
Malting, p. 405
Changes in malting and malt, p. 413
XII The Trade in Grain 425
Imports and exports, p. 425
East Anglia and the trade in barley and malt, p. 428
The coasting trade, p. 433
The traffic by river to London, p. 437
The Lea, p. 442
XIII The Brewer and the Markets 448
The search for quality, p. 448
The malt-factors and the brewers, p. 455
Malting and brewing, p. 465
XIV The Hop Industry 475
Hop-planting and varieties, p. 475
Picking, p. 491
XV The Hop-Markets 496
Hop-marketing, p. 496
The brewer and the hop-market, p. 523
Statistical Appendix 537
Bibliography 559
A. Sources, p. 559
B. Unpublished thesis, p. 561
C. Official publications (printed contemporary sources), p. 561
D. Published works—written before 1850, p. 562
E. Published works—written after 1850, p. 569
Index 575
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
1 The Griffin Brewery, Clerkenwell facing page 24
From a contemporary engraving in the possession of Watney Mann Ltd., Stag
Brewery, Pimlico
2 Plan of the Anchor Brewery, Southwark (1792-1800), by
George Gwilt 25
In the possession of Courage and Barclay, Anchor Brewery, Southwark
3 The interior of a small brewhouse in 1748 40
From the Universal Magazine (1747-8)
4 The interior of a large brewhouse in 1764 41
From T. H. Croker, Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1764-6)
5 Sir Benjamin Truman 264
From the portrait by Gainsborough in the possession of Truman Hanbury Buxton,
Black Eagle Brewery, Spitalfields, London
6 John Perkins 265
From the portrait by Raeburn in the possession of Major C. A. C. Perkins
7 Samuel Whitbread I 308
Samuel Whitbread II
From the portraits by Sir William Beechey and Gainsborough in the possession
of Major Simon Whitbread at Southill Park, Bedfordshire
8 Two country breweries: Simpson’s of Baldock and
Cobb’s of Margate 322
Photographs by Eric de Mare, reproduced by permission of the Editor of the
Architectural Review
MAPS
1 Distribution of malt production paying duty (by excise
collections) 1801-2 page 539
2 Distribution of strong beer taxed for sale (by excise collections)
1754-5 540