INDUSTRIES 



brewhouse on ' Lolsworth Field at Spittle- 

 hope,' an estate then belonging to Sir William 

 Wheler, bart. The business passed in 1694 

 into the hands of Joseph Truman the elder, 

 the property consisting of six messuages and 

 one brewhouse. 6 The remainder of the 

 Wheler estate was built upon and covered 

 with streets, and part of this property has 

 since been acquired by the firm for the exten- 

 sion of their premises. Joseph Truman was 

 a successful business man, and in 1716 took 

 into partnership Joseph Truman, jun., Alud 

 Denne, and others. He died in 1719, and a 

 curious document of that date is in the firm's 

 possession described as 'An inventory of the 

 goods, chattels, and credits of Joseph Truman, 

 which since his death have come into the 

 hands, possession and knowledge of Benjamin 

 Truman, Daniel Cooper, and the executors 

 named in the will of Joseph Truman.' 7 

 Benjamin Truman who was an executor of 

 Joseph Truman, sen., joined the firm in 1722. 

 An anecdote which exhibits his shrewdness as 

 a business man is told by J. P. Malcolm. 8 

 On the birth of the Duchess of Brunswick, 

 granddaughter of George II, in August 1737, 

 the Prince of Wales ordered four loads of 

 faggots and a number of tar barrels to be burnt 

 before Carlton House to celebrate the event, 

 and directed the brewer of his household to 

 place four barrels of beer near the bonfire for 

 the use of those who chose to partake of the 

 beverage. The beer proved to be of inferior 

 quality and the people threw it into each 

 other's faces and the barrels into the fire. 

 The prince remedied the matter on the 

 following night by ordering a fresh quantity 

 of beer from another brewer. This was 

 supplied by Truman, who took care that it 

 should be of the best, thus earning for himself 

 considerable popularity. 



Another early document possessed by the 

 firm, dated 1739, is endorsed, 'A "rest" 83 

 taken and general account stated of all debts and 

 credits, and also of the malt, hoppes, coales, 

 beer in the several store cellers and brewhouse, 

 with all the other goods, utensells as affixt, 

 used and employ'd in the brewing trade carried 

 on by Benjamin Truman, John Denne, 

 Francis Cooper, and the surviving executors 

 of Alud Denne, at their brewhouse and 

 several warehouses, situated in Brick Lane, in 

 the parish of Christchurch, in the county of 



* A\{.\hrn<ird,NoredBrea>eriei(i88<)),\,i73 etseq. 



'Ibid. 174. 



8 Manners and Customs of LonJ. in I StA century 

 (1810), i, 314. 



** This term (in its old meaning of ' balance ') 

 is still employed by the firm, the annual stock- 

 taking being called the ' Rest-day.' 



2 169 



Middlesex.' At this time the brewery was 

 very extensive, and had on its books 296 

 publicans, one of whom was the second part- 

 ner in the firm, Alud Denne. The business 

 greatly prospered under the management of 

 Benjamin Truman, who was knighted by 

 George III on his accession in recognition of 

 his loyalty in contributing to the voluntary 

 loans raised to carry on the various foreign 

 wars. Sir Benjamin was a man of refined 

 taste and a lover of the arts ; his portrait by 

 Gainsborough is preserved in the board-room, 

 formerly the drawing-room, of the house in 

 Brick Lane. Sir Benjamin Truman died 

 2O March 1780, and left a daughter, his only 

 child, whose two grandsons (Sir Benjamin's 

 great-grandchildren), John Freeman Villebois 

 and Henry Villebois, succeeded to his interest 

 in the business. The Hanbury family now 

 became connected with the firm, Sampson 

 Hanbury becoming a partner in 1780, and 

 being joined later by his brother Osgood 

 Hanbury. The brothers belonged to an 

 old Essex family, their father, Osgood Han- 

 bury, having a seat at Holfield Grange. 

 Sampson Hanbury was greatly devoted to 

 agriculture and a keen sportsman. He was 

 an excellent man of business, and is said to 

 have excelled all his clerks in his knowledge of 

 book-keeping. His brother Osgood took a 

 less active part in the business, devoting him- 

 self more to country life and the management 

 of his Essex estate. Anna, the sister of 

 Sampson Hanbury, married Thomas Fowell 

 Buxton, of Earls Colne, Essex, and their son, 

 Thomas Fowell Buxton, born in 1786, en- 

 tered the service of his uncles at the brewery 

 in 1808, at first as an assistant and three 

 years afterwards as a partner. The young 

 man had had a brilliant career at Trinity 

 College, Dublin, and soon after his admission 

 as a partner, the seniors, struck with his capa- 

 bility and energy, entrusted him with the 

 responsible task of reorganizing the entire 

 system on which the brewery was conducted. 

 This he accomplished with great success, over- 

 coming objections from the senior officials 

 with great firmness and tact. Among other 

 measures of reform, he resolved to remedy the 

 state of gross ignorance which prevailed among 

 the workmen. He dealt with this in a sum- 

 mary method, by calling the men together and 

 threatening to discharge at the end of six 

 weeks everyone who could not read and write. 

 He gave them a schoolmaster and other means 

 of instruction and fixed a day ft r examination, 

 when he was gratified to find that he had not 

 to send away a single man. He was also very 

 careful to prevent the servants of the firm 

 from working on Sunday. Mr. Buxton 



22 



