What was a Spirit & Wine Merchant?

[Les de B]

During the early 1800's up to 1840's my English ancestors were listed as a Spirit & Wine Merchant, or Wine & Spirit Merchant (same thing I presume).

The earliest reference was for the father in 1811, then the mother in 1830, then their son in the 1840's.

Just wondering exactly what this occupation was? Is it the same as an owner of a tavern/inn, or were they the supplier, or maker of the wine and spirits?

Les
 

[oldfeller]

G'Day Les,
They would have been something like a bottle shop owner but far more involved with the shipping and importing of the wines and spirits and with the distribution around the country. They possibly even owned vineyards in countries like France and Italy and Portugal
Regards,
Oldfeller , Adelaide, South Australia where it is, thankfully, raining.

[percy porter]

Raining? Yes I've noticed that, you seem to be sending a lot of it to us and to the wrong areas too!

[behindthefrogs]

A wine and spirit merchant supplied inns and taverns.  He was a wholesaler or importer.

Later it became the owner of an off-licence which sold wine and spirits.

David

[Aulus]

As David says, importers, wholesalers and retailers of wines and spirits.

Until fairly recently (post WW2) it was common for British wine merchants to buy the wines by the barrel and bottle them themselves.  At wine auctions, you still often see, particularly claret (i.e. Red Bordeaux) described as EB: English Bottled as opposed to Chateau Bottled or more general descriptions like mise en bouteilles dans nos caves.  The English bottlings, by the way, are not necessarily inferior.

Berry, Brothers & Rudd, a famous London wine merchant, has a history of the firm on its website, that you might find interesting: www.bbr.com/about/history

You often find adverts for wine & spirit merchants in local newspapers in the 19th century.  If you can find a local newspaper online for your people, or can find someone who can look them up at a local library, it might be worth scanning through the adverts too see if there are any from your ancestors' company.
Also, I think they would have had to hold licences to sell wines and spirits, so there may be records of their licence applications in court records.

[Les de B]

Thanks to David, Oldfeller & Aulus for your replies.

I wasn't quite sure exactly what a Spirit & Wine Merchant was. I had searched the Internet trying to find out if there was a "job description", but didn't have much luck. I did see that there were some 10,000 plus of them in the 1851 Census, so I presume to what degree they actually imported wine would vary from merchant to merchant - surely not all were in it a big way?

Some how, I can't see my ancestors having vineyards in France, then again.........................? Though in saying that, the son who became a S & W Merchant was later described an importer of French Leather - did he have previous French knowledge?

I did try and check old newspapers for the WEST family of Taunton being S & W Merchants, and the only one I found was the mother in the 1830 Pigot's Directory. I only found the other's being mentioned as merchants as their occupation description in Censuses or BDM Certificates.


Les

[behindthefrogs]

I think the vital thing is that during the 19th century the middle classes would have ordered their wine and spirits to drink at home from a wine and spirit merchant.

David

[Matilda SP]

Thanks for this useful information.

I have an ancestor who was a wine merchant in the early 1800s.  I've wondered if his occupation required lots of travel.  It hadn't occurred to me he might have traveled to France or Spain. 

So much to learn here.

[newburychap]

Most Wine & Spirit Merchants would, essentially, be shopkeepers - with an off-licence to sell wine and spirits. Every town would have one, often several of these. Some might import wine, most would buy from importers in London, Bristol etc. Today we call them off-licences and they sell beer as well (unlikely in those days).

As you have an 1811 reference (Holden's Directory perhaps?) this could indicate a higher class of establishment as directories this early tended to have mainly the bigger businesses. However, anyone selling wine would want to atrtract the attention of the well-to-do who would buy the directories.

Someone has already suggested checking newspapers for adverts, these would give you a better idea of your chap's business. Town guides are also good sources for local adverts - if they exist this early for wherever your chap was in business.