INDUSTRIES 



centuries old.* The brewery's own records 

 go no further back than 1 760, when the pro- 

 prietor was Mr. John Rowles. But the will 

 of John Rowle alias Staunton the elder of 

 Kingston-upon-Thames, beer-brewer, dated 

 21 September 1602, and proved by his son 

 John on 16 October 1607, is in existence 

 amongst the wills of the Prerogative Court of 

 Canterbury.' In it the testator bequeathed 

 the occupation of his dwelling house and 

 brewhouse, leasehold of the town of King- 

 ston, to his wife Alice during her widow- 

 hood with remainder to the said son John. 

 Some time prior to 1854 the business was 

 owned by Mr. Charles Rowles. In that year 

 it was acquired by Mr. William Frederick 

 Hodgson, who carried it on until his death in 

 1875. His two sons into whose hands it 

 then passed were succeeded by the limited 

 company, the present proprietors, in October 

 1886. The premises were then in a very 

 dilapidated condition, but have since been 

 extensively altered and improved. The 

 brewhouse was entirely reconstructed, and is 

 now capable of producing I,I00 barrels of 

 beer per week. Like Messrs. Barclay, Per- 

 kins & Co., this company makes and repairs 

 its own drays, and has a wheelwright's and 

 blacksmith's shop. There are also a farrier's 

 shop, a cooper's shop and the malthouse, 

 where the barley, fresh from the corn factor's 

 hand, is wetted, grown, and dried in various 

 rooms ready for the milling process. The 

 increasing business of the company is proved 

 by the fact that in 1887 the total output was 

 29,000 barrels and the dividend declared was 

 6| per cent, whilst in 1900 as many as 

 40,700 barrels were made and the dividend 

 was 9^ per cent, tax free (practically 10 per 

 cent). The staff employed totals seventy- 

 four, ten of this number comprising the office 

 staff, and the remainder being engaged in the 

 brewing, malting and other departments. 



Wandsworth, Putney and Mortlake have 

 all for long been important brewing districts. 

 In connection with the history of improve- 

 ments in the art it may be here noted that a 

 Wandsworth distiller, John Falconer Atlee, 

 patented in 1 807 ' an improved apparatus to 

 be used in fermenting of liquors.' This con- 

 sisted of an apparatus through which warm 

 or cold water could be made to flow for 

 regulating the temperature of fermenting 

 liquors.^ 



1 The account of this brewery is given from 

 particulars supplied by the Company. 



" P.C.C. Bokin, 94 ; see Surr. Arch. Coll. 

 xi. 123. 



3 Rolk Chapel Specification Roll, pt. 25, No. 2 ; 

 see Dep. Keeper's Report, vii. App. 104. 



The number of breweries in the more 

 rural districts of the county, or rather in that 

 part of the county which has not been 

 absorbed into London, is now between forty 

 and fifty. In a few of these the business of 

 malting is combined with that of brewing. 

 The Surrey Directory for 1878 shows barely 

 thirty breweries spread over the same tract of 

 country. There has therefore been a con- 

 siderable increase in the number of licensed 

 Surrey brewers during the five and twenty 

 years. This increase is of considerable 

 interest in view of the fact that the operation 

 of the Inland Revenue Act of 1880* has 

 been generally attended in the United King- 

 dom with a very marked decrease in the 

 number of licensed brewers." This Act 

 introduced the most important change of 

 modern times in the external conditions of 

 the brewing industry. From 1696 until the 

 passing of this Act the tax had been levied on 

 the malt, that is to say, on the raw material. 

 Since the Act brewers are charged duty either 

 on the beer produced or on the materials 

 used. If the beer produced from a certain 

 quantity of malt is less than the excise 

 authorities presume should be got from that 

 quantity then duty has to be paid on the 

 quantity mashed and not on the barrels in 

 the fermenting tun. The standard fixed by 

 the Inland Revenue is 18 gallons of beer of 

 1,057° specific gravity for every 42 lbs. of 

 malt mashed. Without the special appliances 

 of the larger breweries many of the smaller 

 brewers have found themselves unable to 

 obtain the presumptive extract from the 

 lighter varieties of malt, and hence the reason 

 of their decreasing numbers. The fact that 

 in Surrey a contrary result has been obtained 

 since the Act would seem to point to the fact 

 that the breweries of the county are mostly 

 of the larger and more extensive class. 



It is impossible to describe in detail here 

 the numerous breweries scattered over the 

 length and breadth of the county. Nor pro- 

 bably is there any need to do so, as the pro- 

 cess carried on in each must be very similar, 

 taking into account the relative size and im- 

 portance of the various businesses. In the 

 absence, however, of very full particulars 

 from the majority of brewers we are not per- 

 mitted to be too positive on this head. The 

 various districts of the county are well repre- 

 sented in the industry and most centres of 

 any importance have one or more breweries. 

 Thus Croydon is represented by the old 



« Public General Acts, 43 & 44 Vict. c. 20. 

 6 See the article ' Beer and Brewing ' in 

 Chambers's Encyclopedia (1888). 



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