The Watney Family
The Watney Family by Ken Smith
There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the origins of the Watney family. Popular rumour is no doubt mixed with the real facts, but there appears to be no record of the family prior to 1705.
The sudden appearance of a Daniel Watney at this time has resulted in numerous stories and tales. It is said that he was a foundling abandoned on Wimbledon Common, evidently a common practise in times gone by. He was picked up by a farmer called Joseph Acres who decided to adopt the boy. In choosing his name it is alleged that the question "What Name?" soon became Whatnay and eventually Watney. The addition of Daniel as a christian name was a simple application of Biblical logic, Daniel from the lion's den.
An alternative to the What Name theory is that Mrs Acres new son developed large knees, with the resultant cry of "What Knees!".
A more palatable suggestion, but a lot less amusing, was the result of a great deal of research undertaken by an American descendant of the family. He suggested that the original Watney was a decesendant of a noble Flemish family called Whateau, who fled to England to escape persecution. However, there is no valid link to the Wimbledon Common story.
An even more mundane explanation is the more likely. Rather than an abandoned baby on Wimbledon Common Daniel Watney was a farm labourer from Sudbury, moving to Wimbledon Common for some long forgotten reason. In moving he created a new identity, made up from his father and mother's names; Watt and Ney. Or maybe he was already a Ney with the fairly common christian name of Wat. Somehow the two being confused.
From these romantic notions emerges one clear fact. On 23rd August, 1730, Daniel Watney, then aged 25, married Mary Acres at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon.
As Joseph Acres had no heirs of his own, Daniel Watney and his family took over the farm after Joseph's death. The eldest of the Watney off-spring, William, started brewing, but his main interest remained farming. The youngest, John, became a member of the Mercers' Company, one of the oldest of the City Guilds, and eventually its Master. However, John, with the assistance of his eldest son, built his fortune as a mill owner on the edge of the then beautiful River Wandle, in Wandsworth.
John's grandson, James, was the main driving force of the move into brewing on a larger scale by the family. James, who was born in 1800, bought a third share in a brewery in 1837. The name of the brewery was The Stag Brewery, Pimlico.
At that time Pimlico was a charming place. Known locally as Home Premises it was wooded with large open spaces. The main feature of the area was Pimlico Lodge a " capital family residence of handsome appearance with two wings and a colonnade". This was occupied at the time James became involved by the brewery owners, the Elliot family.
The brewery itself, and the business it represented, was tucked away out of sight on one side of the house. Approached by a separate entrance, it only affected the family when the wind was in the wrong direction and the smell of malt drifted over the formal gardens. A farm was also part of the estate where chickens, pigs and cows were bred. The grounds also included a clock tower, cupola, belfry and stables for 20 horses. Mr Dingle, the Head Brewer, lived on the estate in a house on the right of the Brewer Street engistered on 30 November 1897, with a capital of œ5,000, to carry on the business of brewers and malt.
JAMES WATNEY
The first record of a brewer on the site of the Stag Brewery, Pimlico goes back to 1641 and one William Greene. He appears to be from a brewing background as earlier records give a Thomas Greene as a brewer in the area in 1420. An earlier William Green was a brewer at the nearby Talbot Inn in 1563 and by 1636 William's father, John, was in occupation in the Stag Brewhouse.
William's cousin from Lewes, also John, joined him at the brewery shortly afterwards as a cooper. By 1657 the two cousins were recorded as joint occupiers of the site.In 1650 William, later to be Sir William, purchased the brewery outright and then began to buy the land surrounding the brewery.
Sir William died in 1671 and in his will be left the brewery and all its property to cousin John. On his death in 1683, John bequeathed the property to his second son William who was 20 years old at the time. The load was shared with John's youngest son, Thomas. During his tenure William built two other breweries. One at Sandy End, Fulham, known as Greene's Brewery, the other at Kensington Gravel Pits, then a small village on the Uxbridge to Oxford Road. This latter was known as the Sun Brewery. It became famous for a brief time when, in 1762, there was a public outcry over an employee who fell into a copper of boiling wort.
By 1715, William's expansionist activities had lead him to completely rebuild the Stag Brewery. This was on a scale never seen before in the area. The new buildings were insured with the Hand in Hand Fire Office for £18,00 the following year. The Great Brewhouse reaching 118 feet long and 83 feet wide with an estimated insurance value of £1,000.
On the death of William in 1732 the day to day running of the firm passed to his brother Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas died 8 year later and his widow took over, aided by one of his cousins. Thomas' sister, Mrs Edward Burnaby, became a trustee for her son Edward, who would come into the brewery under the terms of the grandfather's will. One of the rather strange conditions of the will was that the young Edward would take the name of Greene.
When Edward Burnaby Greene assumed control of the brewery it was, along with the Calverts, one of the leading breweries in London. However, by 1760 insurance cover reveals that it was only worth £7,000 compared with the original valuation of £18,000. The brewery did not feature in the 8 leading London breweries of the time.
In 1780 Greene took on a partner in the shape of one Mr Matthew Wiggins of Millbank, Westminster. Wiggins was well aware that the brewery was going through hard times and moved on in 1787 when the receivers were appointed. He founded his own brewery in Old Street. Amongst the list of creditors at that time was a James Goding, founder of the Red Lion Brewery, Lambeth, now the site of the Festival Hall. The liquidators were grant the power to sell whatever was necessary to pay back the debts.
On his death in 1788 the position had not improved. The liquidators had negotiated a lease with a firm of brewers trading as Moore, Elliot & Company. The annual charge was £450. The Moore side of the enterprise was a firm of solicitors, Moore, Stephens. They took no active part in the new firm. This was left up to John Elliot, then aged 24, whose family financed the undertaking.
Although the lease was for 9 years, in 1792 the heirs of E B Greene decided to sell off the remnants of the entire estate. The Stag Brewery, out buildings and various other properties, 175 public houses, freehold or leasehold rented by Moore, Elliot & Company, were include as separate lots. The great sale took place over three days in mid June. The auction raised over £15,000, of which £10,000 was for the brewery itself. Moore, Elliot & Company also acquired a large number of properties. Of the 14 lots purchased by them 12 were freehold.
Moore, Elliot were the amoung first brewers to send large quantities of ale to India where John Elliot had family connections.
The fortunes of the brewery began to pick up. So much so that in 1796 plans for a new Stag Brewhouse were drawn up. The following year work was started and was not completed until 1807 when the first brew was made. The new brewhouse, the 3rd on the site, was to stand for the next 150 years.
John Elliot died in 1829 of abdominal disease and the control of the company passed to his son, John Lettson Elliot. The style of the Company became J L Elliot & Company.
In January 1837 John Junior invited one James Watney into the Company. Watney took a quarter share. The partnership also included Charles Lambert and was for a term of 14 or 21 years whichever the partners agreed on. The increasing involvement of Watney in the company forced a name change in 1849 to Elliot, Watney & Company.
Charles Pearce Secocold was admitted to the partnership in 1852 for the price of £15,800. In 1850 Elliot gave up his share of the firm for the princely sum of œ84,000, but continued as brewery manager. This gave Watney the opportunity to change the style of the company to James Watney & Company. James Junior joined his father at the brewery aged 18 shortly after and by 1854 he had been made a full partner for a period of 21 years. John Lettson Elliot retired from the business in 1858.
James Junior was 55 when his father died in 1884 and left him sole proprietor. He was concerned about the management structure of the Company and sought advice from Cosmo Bonsor and three members of Whitbreads. Their advice was simple, turn the firm into a limited company.
Edgar Lubbock valued the brewery at £2,060,000. James Junior died in 1886.
The first brewery taken over by Watney was that of More & Company. then trading under the style of Scottish Brewery, Old Street. This stood on the site of the first Samuel Whitbread Goat Brewhouse before his removal to Chiswell Street. Subsequent brewers had carried on after Whitbread's time but with small success.
Robert More rescued it from the dolldrums, and was followed by his son, John Mcleod More who changed its name because of his Scottish Extraction.
The next step was to acquire the Mortlake Brewery which had been brewing for many centuries under various brewers until Charles James Phillips took it over in the 1840s and in 1889 merged with Watneys.
Whereas it was desirable to retain the name and goodwill of More & Company, the brewery and premises in Old Street became redundant and a new company set up under the style of More, Philips & Company and continued to brew at Mortlake. The Old Street premises, shortly after brewing ceased, became a citadel of Teetotalism, General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army took over the premises, which served as a working man's club for a considerable period.
The next step forward was the purchase of another brewery in Westminster itself. This was conducted by Carter, Wood & Company. Known as the Artillery Brewery, just off Victoria Street, it had been built in Torhill Fields and with the development in that area pulled down to make way for Artillery Mansions.