Sir Walter Gilbei/. Barf. 137 



Sir Walter used to refer to his stay in the East as memor- 

 able principally for the circumstance that while attached to the 

 Pay Department at Renkioi he owned his first horse, purchased 

 with his Avinnings at cribbage, a game for which, it may be 

 remarked, he retained a passion to the end of his life. 



With the close of the war in 1857 the brothers returned to 

 England, and had then to face anew the problem of earning 

 their livelihood. Walter was averse from resuming the status 

 of clerk ; he was now in his twenty-sixth year, and felt the 

 strength that was in him, but the difficulty was to decide upon 

 a career. The question w^as solved for him by his elder 

 brother Henry, a wine merchant, who urged the two younger 

 brothers to set up in the same business, and as Henry supported 

 his advice with an offer of the small capital necessary" to follow 

 it, Walter and Alfred accepted both, and began operations in a 

 cellar at the corner of Berwick Street and Oxford Street. Fifty 

 years afterwards Sir Walter would point with reminiscent 

 pride to the iron crane over the door of his first premises. 



It was under the advice of Henry Gilbey that the two 

 beginners devoted their attention to colonial wines, the reason 

 being that the excise duty on these was less than half that 

 levied on foreign growths, and their proportionately lower 

 prices recommended them to the notice of consumers. They 

 brought to their business energy, shrewdness, and tireless 

 work, and during the first three years it became necessary to 

 make two successive moves to larger premises. In 1860 came 

 the " Gladstone Budget," which reduced the duty on all light 

 wines and placed colonial and foreign growths on the same 

 footing. The young firm saw the ground cut from under their 

 feet ; they had specialised in what were then called " Cape 

 Wines," whose steadily increasing popularity appeared to off:er 

 good prospects of success, whilst now they seemed on the 

 verge of ruin. It was characteristic of Walter Gilbey that he 

 should have turned emergency into opportunity ; the older 

 firms adhered to their original price lists reaping large profits, 

 for a time, from the reduced excise tariff ; the young firm 

 adopted the policy, at once bold and wise, of offering their 

 numerous customers the benefit of the reduction, and thus 

 gained a place from which those who ultimately followed their 

 lead could never dislodge them. 



Another feature of the " Gladstone Budget " of 1860 offered 

 a chance the brothers were quick to seize. This was the intro- 

 duction of the " off-licence," whereby grocers and others were 

 permitted to sell wines and spirits. Theretofore the Gilbeys 

 had dealt direct with their customers : now they set themselves 

 to oi'ganise a system of agencies throughout the kingdom. The 

 means they first adopted were original and reflect credit on 



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