Strong beer production in London 1815 - 1817

Parliamentary Papers. What wonderful number mines they are. I've been at the coalface all week, hacking them free.

This particular set is dead useful for me, frantically researching London brewing as I am. It's a full list of London brewers from the second decade of the 19th century, including the amount of beer they brewed. It gives a very good impression about the structure of the industry in the capital.

All the famous names are in there: Barclay Perkins, Whitbread, Hanbury, Meux, Reid, Charrington, Hodgson, Calvert, Elliott, Combe. But there are some fairly substantial breweries that I've never heard of Starkey, Tickell, Wyatt, Stretton, Marlborough. I wonder what happened to them? Of course, when breweries had the form of partnerships (which most did, even the large ones, before 1880) their names could change quite often as partners joined, left or died.

Let's kick off with the full list. It's in just-about alphabetical order. I've kept the order from the original document because, well, I could be arsed to re-order it.

Strong beer production in London 1815 - 1817
Brewer	1815	1816	1817
Anderson & Co	6,824.0	7,423.8	5,501.5
Addison, John	741.8	648.0	594.0
Baldcok & Co.	178.8
Butt, John	824.5	626.3	568.8
Bowman, Richard	2,947.5	3,567.0	2,688.8
Barker, Arthur, now Rand & Co.	1,039.5	1,414.3	1,221.0
Blackmore, William	56.3	70.3	81.8
Burrell, Joseph	345.3	759.0	842.5
Blackmore, Benjamin	40.3
Blackwell, Peter and Thomas	1183	817.25	664.75
Betteley, Samuel	14.0	58.0	83.0
Brown and Co., now C.A. Smith	513.5	439.3	352.3
Barlee, Charles William	1,037.3	171.8	0.0
Buckley & Co.	70.0	0.0	0.0
Barclay & Co., 1st house	307,306.3	309,593.0	258,981.3
Barclay & Co., 2nd house	30,315.5	20,608.3	22,503.5
Bacon, Parsley	77.0	109.3	123.0
Clarke, Richard	0.0	0.0	6.8
Charrington & Co.	20,444.0	18,172.0	16,886.3
Cox, Peter	1,933.5	1,836.8	1,223.3
Cox, John	174.5	143.8	228.3
Calvert & Co.	119,333.3	85,925.0	98,301.3
Cocks & Co.	38,107.3	36,101.3	25,756.0
Clarke, Richard, now Allatson & Co.	178.5	359.3	201.3
Combe & Co.	105,081.0	100,665.8	110,776.0
Churchill, Jo	1,499.5	1,236.8	924.8
Cropper, James	14.3	18.0	10.8
Crofton, Abraham, now C. and T. Ellis	1,079.5	1,756.8	1,200.5
Cape, John	1,959.3	0.0	0.0
Clarke & Co.	6,779.5	7,265.5	6,917.0
Cowell, Matthew	393.0	45.3	109.3
Culham	0.0	32.3	0.0
Clarke, Henry	0.0	0.0	16.5
Drane & Co.	2,738.5	3,643.3	2,481.3
Dickinson, Rivers and John	16,281.5	9,521.0	8,420.0
Dean, William	370.8	749.8	215.8
Davies, David	45.0	44.3	52.5
Drury & Co.	7,050.3	6,696.5	4,743.8
Donaldson, John	7,504.8	7,242.8	6,564.8
Duckworth, john	0.0	30.0	41.3
Dansie, Crown	0.0	224.8	522.5
Edmonds & Co.	1,293.5	1,859.8	2,057.5
Eves, William	0.8	17.8	0.0
Eley, John, now Andrew Eyre	576.3	423.3	143.3
Eves, John	11.5	0.0	0.0
Elliott & Co.	56,922.3	46,587.5	55,163.0
Foot & Co.	0.0	0.0	16.0
Gutterson & Co.	2,308.3	2,220.0	2,134.8
Goodwin & Co.	72,080.0	77,249.3	60,307.0
Gillett, Thomas Richard, now William Cobbett	175.0	107.8	72.3
Green & Co.	14,072.0	14,181.3	10,991.8
Goding, Thomas and James	14,491.0	12,729.3	12,352.8
Hoffman. John	264.0	689.0	197.5
How & Co.	658.8	653.0	625.0
Hanbury & Co.	172,169.8	185,041.5	168,756.3
Hardy, Samuel, now Charles Ross	203.0	187.3	173.8
Hale & Co	10,134.3	9,274.8	7,763.8
Howson, Edmund	660.3	343.3	276.3
Hornwood, Charles	52.3	110.0	90.3
Hollingsworth & Co.	32,256.5	31,273.8	7,029.5
Hodgson & Co.	21,641.5	22,592.5	22,730.0
Harrison & Co.	0.0	98.0	0.0
Holcombe, William	0.0	99.8	0.0
Jones & Co.	4,045.8	3,095.8	3,376.3
Ingram, William	0.0	32.0	0.0
Kirkman, Joseph	4,126.5	3,400.5	1,737.8
Kewell & Co.	0.0	0.0	78.8
Lyons, Luke	401.5	267.0	282.5
Levesque, Daniel	57.8	42.8	62.5
Lloyd & Co.	135.0	440.5	543.5
Morton & Co.	3,433.0	3,879.5	2,099.3
Marlborough & Co.	17,889.3	19,812.8	0.0
Mitchell, John	11.5	75.0	22.8
Meux & Co., now Reid & Co.	182,104.8	189,020.8	157,131.3
Mantell & Co.	868.3	884.3	1,091.5
Meux & Co.	123,100.0	99,671.0	124,468.0
Meaton, William	27.8	29.5	26.0
Mattam, Anne	2,283.0	2,552.5	2,166.5
Needham, James	0.0	0.0	30.3
Newman, Edward	391.3	325.5	226.8
Poulain & Co.	1,010.8	912.3	726.5
Piggott, Robert	100.5	0.0	0.0
Pearson & Co.	831.8	496.0	424.5
Petty, Henry	0.0	0.0	156.3
Palmer, John	280.3	178.0	79.3
Pointer, Richard	300.8	220.0	19.3
Payne & Co., now J. Staines & Co.	0.0	48.3	118.8
Pointer, Richard, now Edward Nicholson	0.0	0.0	6.8
Raven, Nathaniel, now William Stones	82.0	4.5	72.3
Ritchie, Robert, now William Prior	2,542.5	2,094.5	2,201.0
Raven, Nathaniel	0.0	142.0	0.0
Smith & Co.	102.3	543.3	201.0
Smith, Thomas	308.3	339.3	381.0
Stones, William	0.0	0.0	1.3
Swaine & Co.	1,232.0	1,172.3	968.8
Sandell & Co.	2,212.5	2,199.5	2,234.5
Satchell & Co.	1,408.0	1,433.0	1,252.3
Stoneham, Thomas	157.8	214.0	272.8
Starkey & Co.	15,324.0	23,078.5	12,538.3
Stretton & Co.	27,074.0	26,122.5	25,050.8
Slater & Co.	1,712.0	1,429.3	895.3
Smith, Edward	1,729.8	1,451.0	950.3
Simpson, William	1,169.8	1,386.5	1,518.0
Taylor, John V.	51,294.0	50,533.3	42,980.5
Tickell, Joseph and Samuel	22,089.5	21,185.8	17,088.0
Thorp & Co.	5,433.8	5,816.3	3,750.3
Whiffing, Crotchrode	7,267.3	6,779.0	6,839.8
Webb, William	1,243.8	587.3	477.3
Whitbread & Co.	161,618.3	168,855.0	151,888.0
Wyatt, Henry	22,146.8	18,497.5	18,119.8
Webb & Co., now George Ball & Co.	7,965.3	8,796.0	7,148.3
Wright, Philip	1,504.3	1,239.3	799.0
Whitmore, Felix	3,338.5	3,650.5	4,023.0
Wallis, John	22.5	83.5	17.3
Wood, Jo.	3,638.3	3,917.8	4,066.8
White, William	0.0	61.0	0.0
my calc. total	1,768,468.8	1,710,750.0	1,531,295.8
total in source	1,767,472.8	1,710,770.8	1,532,352.3
Meux & Co., Henry, brewed duty-free per 55 Geo. III, c.189		14,606.5
total	1,768,468.8	1,725,356.5	1,531,295.8
Strong Ale brewed in England and Wales	6,150,543	5,982,379	5,236,048
% brewed in London.	28.75%	28.84%	29.25%
Sources:
"Accounts and Papers: Revenue; Public Debt; Coin; The Bank; Trade, session 27 January - 10 June 1818.", 1818.
http://books.google.nl/books?id=FS9bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA43&dq=beer+barrels+intitle:ACCOUNTS+intitle:AND+intitle:PAPERS&hl=en&ei=8rANTorjGc7pOeybgawL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&sqi=2&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=beer&f=false
"Accounts and Papers: Miscellaneous, session 23 January to 11 July 1821", 1821, page 269.

You'll see that there was a large variation in the size of breweries. At the top end of the scale Barclay Perkins were knocking out more than 300,000 barrels a year. At the other end, there were brewers only brewing a handful of barrels. Almost 30% of the beer brewed in England and Wales came from London. I wonder what the percentage is now? Probably less than 1%.

To make the structure more obvious, I've made another table based on brewery size:

London breweries by size in 1815
size	combined output	number of breweries	% of total output
<100 barrels	582.75	15	0.03%
100 - 1,000 barrels	10,135.3	26	0.57%
1,000 - 5,000 barrels	55,649.5	27	3.15%
5,000 - 10,000 barrels	48,824.8	7	2.76%
10,000 - 50,000 barrels	302,267.0	14	17.09%
50,000 - 100,000 barrels	180,296.3	3	10.20%
>100,000	1,170,713.3	7	66.20%
total	1,768,468.75	99	100.00%
Source:
"Accounts and Papers: Revenue; Public Debt; Coin; The Bank; Trade, session 27 January - 10 June 1818.", 1818.

The ten largest breweries were responsible for almost three-quarters of London's beer production. 21 medium-sized breweries took care of another 20%. The small fry only accounted for 5% of the total.

Most of those in the smallest output categories would have been publican brewers. Or around 41. In 1827, London had 33 pub breweries (Source: Accounts and Papers: relating to Assessed Taxes; Stamps: Rates of Duties; Customs and Excise; Beer, Hops, and Malt; Spirits; the Distilleries, session 21 November 1826 - 2 July 1827., 1827. pages 134 - 135). By 1849, it was down to just one (Source: "Statistics of British commerce" by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 4.) That's a clear indication of how brewing was concentrated in commercial breweries much earlier in London than elsewhere. In 1827 there were just fewer than 23,000 publican brewers in the whole of England and Wales.


One small further point. The figures are for Strong Beer. The stuff that was taxed at ten bob per barrel. Based on figures from about a decade later, there were about 200,000 barrels of Table Beer brewed in London as well. Though a lot of that probably got mixed with Strong Beer by unscrupulous publicans. The analyses made by Frederick Accum of samples of London beer taken from breweries and pubs, showed that the latter were about 15% weaker. Or about the same strength as you would expect if they had been cut 50-50 with Table Beer.

ADULTERATION OF STRONG BEER WITH SMALL BEER.

Another fraud frequently committed, both by brewers and publicans, (as is evident from the Excise Report,) is the practice of adulterating strong beer with small beer.—This fraud is prohibited by law; since both the revenue and the public suffer by it*. "The duty upon strong beer is ten shillings a barrel; and upon table beer it is two shillings. The revenue suffers, because a larger quantity of beer is sold as strong beer; that is, at a price exceeding the price of table beer, without the strong beer duty being paid. In the next place, the brewer suffers, because the retailer gets table or mild beer, and retails it as strong beer." The following are the words of the Act, prohibiting the brewers mixing table beer with strong beer:

"If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such guile shall have been made; or if he shall at any time mix or suffer to be mixed strong beer or strong worts with table beer worts or with water, in any vat, cask, tub, measures or utensil, not being an entered guile or fermented tun, be shall forfeit £200**."

With respect to the persons who commit this offence, Mr. Carr***, the Solicitor of the Excise, observes, that "they are generally brewers who carry on the double trade of brewing both strong and table beer. It is almost impossible to prevent them from mixing one with the other; and frauds of very great extent have been detected, and the parties punished for that offence. One brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the amount of £32,000; and other brewers, who brew party guiles of beer carrying on the two trades of ale and table beer brewers, where the trade is a victualling brewer, which is different from the common brewer,he being a person who sells only wholesale; the victualling" brewer being a brewer and also a seller by retail.

"In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. Carr continues," more particularly, I speak from having had great experience, from the informations and evidence which I have received, that the retailers carry on a most extensive fraud upon the public, in purchasing stale table beer, or the bottoms of casks. There are a class of men who go about and sell such beer at table-beer price to public victuallers, who mix it in their cellars. If they receive beer from their brewers which is mild, they purchase stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, they purchase common table beer for that purpose; and many of the prosecutions are against retailers for that offence."

* See Mr. Marr's evidence in the Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.
** 12 George III, c. 38, section 18.
*** See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.
"A treatise on adulterations of food, second edition" by Friedrich Accum, 1820, pages 185 - 189.

Would you like to know which of the brewers in the table were busted? Course you do:

1813 August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehouse
Grains of Paradise    44 lbs
Quassia    10 lbs
Liquorice    10 lbs
Ginger    80 lbs
Caraway Seeds    40 lbs
Orange Powder    4 lbs
Penalty £200

1815, Feb 15 Mantell and Cook, Castle street, Bloomsbury square
Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using colouring and other things
Compromised for £300


1817, July 30 Luke Lyons, Shadwell
Capsicum    1lb
Liquorice Root Powder    2 lbs
Coriander Seed    2 lbs
Copperas    1 lb
Orange Powder    8 lbs
Spanish Liquorice    0.5 lb
Beer Colouring    24 galls.
Not tried. (7th May, 1818.)
"A treatise on adulterations of food, first edition" by Friedrich Accum, 1820, pages 186 - 189.

Victorians and their crazy names., eh? Cratcherode Whiffing - sounds like a Dickens character. His was the only brewery of any size that was prosecuted. The other two look like publican brewers from their size.