Copple Brothers
Copple Brothers, Eccleston Brewery, Portico Lane, Eccleston, Prescot, Merseyside
Founded by 1871. The partnership of William and John Copple was dissolved in 1881; thereafter John ran the brewery. In 1906 they had at least 6 public houses.
These were bought by Greenall Whitley & Co. Ltd c.1927.
Stephen Copple and Keith Osborne write:- Stephen is the great great grandson of John Copple (1814 - 1891) and would like to hear from any members who may have more information.
The Eccleston Brewery was in Eccleston Park near Prescot some eight miles east of Liverpool, then in Lancashire.
The earliest date for the start of the Eccleston brewery comes from an advert in the St. Helens Newspaper and Advertiser of 1869. This reported that Copple's Sparkling Ales and Prime Porter (a dark brown bitter beer brewed from charred or browned malt) were being sold in the Telegraph Vaults, Salisbury Street, St. Helens, which was owned by the brewery.
The Copple family's links with Eccleston Park can be traced back to 1841. In the census of that year, Edward Copple, his wife Susanna and son John were recorded there, having moved from Appleton Village, Widnes. In 1810, at the age of 39, Edward had run a watch pinion wire works with the Heyes family, who had established the business in 1791and were said to have founded the first factory in Widnes. Edward was also a watchmaker, and this occupation was recorded in the census, with his son John a watchmaker junior. Ten years later, the 1851 census showed that, whilst Edward had died, John had been joined in Eccleston Park by his brother William (born in Widnes around 1809 and 1815 respectively) and they were now listed as master watch and watch-movement makers employing some twenty men. By 1861 John's son Edward, now 16 years old, had joined the business as a watchmaker.
The 1871 census confirms that whilst William was still in the watch business, his brother John was a brewer at the Eccleston Brewery. This may not be entirely accurate as in the 1869 Slaters Trade directory, both William and John are listed as brewers. The same is true of the 1871 Mannex and Worralls directories. In the 1876 and 1879 Slaters directory William and John are both listed as Watch Movement Makers and Brewers. William probably still devoted most of his time to watch movement making and in November 1881, the following announcement appeared in The London Gazette:-
NOTICE is hereby given, that the Co-partnership heretofore carried on by us the undersigned, William Copple and John Copple, trading as Watch Movement Makers and Common Brewers, at Portico, Eccleston, near Prescot, in the county of Lancaster, under the style or firm of W. and J. Copple, has been dissolved by mutual consent. The said William Copple will continue the business of Watch Movement Maker in his own name at Portico aforesaid, and will receive and pay all accounts relating thereto. The said John Copple will henceforth carry on the business of a Common Brewer at Portico aforesaid in his own name, and will receive and pay all accounts relating to (the same business). Dated this 11th day of November, 1881.
John Copple then carried on the brewery business alone but in the 1881 census he was recorded as not only a brewer but also a farmer of 20 acres, employing seven men. His sons William, born 1851, and Edward (aged 36) were also brewers, William having been a labourer at the brewery ten years earlier.
Between 1883 and 1887 John Copple expanded the brewery site by buying several surrounding plots of land from Messrs. Peek and Winch. When John died in 1891 the business was continued by his widow Mary and his sons Edward, William and Joseph (born around 1856). Joseph was also recorded as a brewer in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Unfortunately, tragedy was to strike during the First World War as Joseph's son John was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.
The family was mentioned in the booklet by F. W. Free 'Our Heritage in Eccleston and District' – ‘In 1902 arrangements were made for King Edward's celebration in Knowsley Park Sixpence per head was allowed for the children's tea, they also received a medal each. Two shillings per head for the Old Folks tea and also half a pound of tea each and Mr. Copple kindly supplied the beer free of charge.’
An advert in the programme for the Grand Bazaar and Outdoor Fete in aid of the Portico Church Restoration Fund held in June 1907 stated that their `Best Bitter is specially recommended by the Medical Profession for the use of invalids, etc. and that Pure Crystal Spring Water is only used in Brewing these Ales'. The most expensive ale was their XXXXX Strong Ale sold for 12 shillings for 6 gallons. In 1909, the full range of both draught and bottled beers were featured in a splendid colour advertisement (below left) which showed the bottle labels too. Sadly the Labologists Society has yet to find any original labels.
As the advertisement shows, the brewery's trademark was a cockerel standing on a beer barrel. The idea of a cockerel logo probably came from John Copple's hobby of poultry showing for which he won many prizes. In January 1857, at the Liverpool Grand Poultry show, John Copple received a silver tankard prize for the best Dorking cockerel. There is a story about The Old House at Home pub at Eccleston Lane Ends of a real cockerel that stood on the bar and would drink the 9d per pint best beer but refused the cheaper 7d per pint beer.
The brewery sold their beer through some twenty odd pubs, beer houses, clubs and off-license shops in the Eccleston, Huyton, Parr, Prescot, Rainhill, St Helens, Sutton, Whiston and Widnes areas. Their beers were also available at the Brewery House in Portico Lane, known as Willowdene.
William Copple died at the brewery on 9th September 1921, aged 70. His brother Joseph Copple died at the Brewery House on 26th September 1925, aged 69, and his will divided his estate equally between five of his sons and daughters. It appears that brewing ceased when several of the public houses owned by the firm were sold by Christine Alice and Susan Beatrice Copple to Greenall Whitley & Co. Ltd on 1 November 1926. In common with many small breweries at the time it appears they could not compete with the larger breweries in the area and brewing ceased.
On 26th July 1927 the brewery site was auctioned off. It was bought by the Greenough family who used it for a builders' merchants business.
Around 1957, part of the site was used to build Orchard Close and a few years later, the remainder of the site was developed as Middlehurst Close.
Today, nothing remains of the brewery buildings.
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Ordnance Survey extract from 1928. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (http://maps.nls.uk/index.html)
