Jude and Leney "merge" (1929)

Post date: Jun 27, 2020 4:34:26 PM

Extract from East Kent Gazette - Saturday 13 July 1929. Note caution needs to be exercised in respect of all newspaper articles as valid sources and particularly this is true of this one.

FUSION OF KENT BREWERY HOP GARDEN TO CELLAR.

With the amalgamation of the old-established firms of Frederick Leney and Son, Ltd. of Wateringbury, and Messrs. Jude Hanbury and Co.. Ltd., of Canterbury, it is not intended to close either brewery6, Mr. Philip Hanbury continuing as Chairman and Managing Director of the combined concern.

Jude, Hanbury was founded at Wateringbury in 18402 by Mr. William Beale Jude3, uncle of the late Mr. William Jude, who died in 1918. Mr. William Jude inherited the business from his uncle, Mr. W. H. Jude, and by his strict attention to business and his prudent purchases of licensed properties considerably enlarged the undertaking. About 18704 he took into partnership Mr. Ernest Osgood Hanbury and from that date the business was known as Jude, Hanbury. and Company. Mr. E. 0. Hanbury was a nephew of Mr. Robert Hanbury, senior partner of Messrs. Truman, Hanbury and Buxton, the London brewers.

After the death of Mr. William Jude the business was formed into a private limited liability company as from November 1919. In 1923 the East Kent Brewery, Sandwich and Ash's Dane John Brewery, Canterbury were purchased, and shortly after all the shares of the Tenterden Brewery Co., Limited, were also acquired. Having thus obtained large interests in East Kent, the company closed their Wateringbury brewery and concentrated their brewing at Canterbury. Recently this firm completed the purchase of all the shares in the old-established firm of Messrs. Mackeson and Co., Ltd., of Blythe. This brewery has been established there for over 240 years. Mr. Philip Hanbury, who was appointed Managing Director in 1919, became Chairman of the Company in 1924.

Messrs. Frederick Leney and Sons were founded in 18435, and formed into a Company in 1895. Previous to this they had bought the Tonbridge brewery, and in 1920 in conjunction with Messrs. Jude, Hanbury. and Co. Ltd., acquired the brewery of Messrs. H. and T. Wickham1 of Yalding, whose houses were divided between the two companies. Mr. Percy Jude became Joint Managing Director of Frederick Leney and Sons, Ltd., in 1919. and relinquished that position only recently on account of illhealth contracted while on service in the East during the war. In 1927, there being none of the Leney family actively interested in the business, it was decided to dispose of the Ordinary Shares, which were purchased by the well known London firm of Messrs. Whitbread and Co., Ltd. in whose service in their younger days both Mr. Percy Jude and his brother, Mr. B. Jude. occupied positions on the brewing staff. Early in 1929 the activities of Frederick Leney and Sons, Ltd., were enlarged by the acquisition of the properties owned by Mr. W. F. Winch, of Cranbrook.

It has been arranged that the houses of the combination will have the opportunity of supplying the stout and the bottled beers brewed by the well known firm of Whitbread and Co., Ltd. This large and long established London brewery has a remarkable history. having been founded in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread, and from that day to this, except for a very short period of years, every successive senior partner or chairman since it was formed into a companv has been a Samuel Whitbread, and each Samuel Whitbread has at some time or other sat in the House of Commons.

Apart from their interests in F. Leney and Sons, Ltd., they have at different times owned a number of licensed houses in Kent. But their particular interest in recent years has been in their ownership of their well known hop farm at Beltring near Paddock Wood. Whitbread and Co. had for a great number of years regularly taken the hops grown on this celebrated farm by the late Mr. White, and soon after his death, in order to ensure the continuance of the supply of the hops from this particular garden, they decided to acquire the property, thus becoming the largest brewer hop growers in Kent.

TAB Notes

1. This brewery was normally referred to as H. T. Wickham (Herbert Thomas Wickham) , not Messrs H. and T. Wickham, and was located at the back of The Two Brewers pub in Yalding. According to http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=H.T.Wickham_%26_Co it owned 11 pubs of which 5 were in Yalding and was bought jointly by the two Wateringbury brewers in 1921 , not 1920, for £20,000. For a history of brewing in Yalding see http://www.dover-kent.com/2014-project/Two-Brewers-Yalding.html

2. 1840 is a rather late date for the foundation of the Jude brewery and before 1833 is more normally accepted.

3. The Jude brewery was founded by John Beale Jude not William Beale Jude.

4. There is a partnership agreement dated 1887 on this site dated 1887 which refers to an earlier agreement dated 1885. But in 1874 (4 years after this newspaper's incorrect date) the partnership had been Jude and G. Burrell and Arthur Walmesley as we know it was then dissolved in that year following the disappearance of Arthur Walmseley. It is likely that Hanbury entered their first partnership with Jude and Burrell then.

5. The brewery was formed much earlier although the involvement of the Leney family starts in 1838 rather than 1843 as quoted.

6. The Wateringbury brewery of Jude Hanbury had already closed but the Canterbury one was still open.