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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Kent => Topic started by: clontarf on Thursday 27 February 14 01:53 GMT (UK)
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I have five records relating to a Thomas Mears who was a brewer and/or maltster in Canterbury between 1773 and 1803:
1773: Thomas Mears , maltster made freeman of the City of Canterbury
1777: Fire insurance policy for Thomas Mears, brewer and maltster of St Paul, Canterbury
1779: Fire insurance policy for Thomas Mears, brewer and maltster of Longport, Canterbury
1784: Fire insurance policy for Thomas Mears, brewer and maltster of Longport, Canterbury
1803; Thomas Mears maltster named as father of Thomas Mears the bellfounder of Whitechapel Bell Foundry in the bellfounder's admission to freedom of the city of London.
The bellfounder came from Canterbury - and all his children were born there. His brother William Mears is reputed as a young boy to have watched the casting of the "Great Dunstan" bell of Canterbury cathedral in 1762 and as a result of his interest been taken on as an apprentice by the then masters of Whitechapel foundry. He eventually became master - first in partnership with Chapman, then alone, then finally with his brother Thomas.
The question I have is - are these all these maltsters the same man? How many maltsters named Thomas Mears were there in Canterbury in the 18th century?
Are there any records of brewers/maltsters that might be available to someone outside England?
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having read this post, the records you have are for a 30 year period...... if he was 15 to 20 when he started brewing he would be 50 odd by the time the last record is listed......
if anything one could speculate as to one man, or a father and son......... as a son was quite often named after a father...... guess the only way to find out more is find old postal or trade directories of the period to see where he lived .... then do a thorough parish search and get the genealogical structure.....
an interesting quest indeed...... {have had a few brewers, and publicans in my tree ...some interesting stuff comes out...) good luck with that
:)
PS >>>>> http://www.machadoink.com/Old%20Dover%20Road.htm
Seems Thomas was on Old Dover Road Canterbury........ there is truckloads in google on them.... and even as far away as New Zealand where some of Thomas Mears equipment ended up......
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Thank you Fastfusion
That is a most interesting site. I dont think the Thomas Mears on Dover Road is part of my family. I think that record is from the 1880s (have I misread the page?) and by that date there was no Thomas in the bellfounders line.
A quick google search on the Longport brewery threw up:
1828-1829 Thomas Giles
1838 John Saunders Burnett
Are there many Trade directories for Canterbury available pre 1800? In the 1790 directory I found 3 maltsters and 5 brewers listed, none being Thomas Mears - which suggests perhaps he has died between 1784 and 1790.
The father of the bellfounder was born about 1725 or earlier. He may not necessarily have been alive in 1803, but could have been still operating in 1784 at age 59. I agree there may be more than one generation involved. The bellfounder's son and grandson were named Thomas, so that is at least four generations with the same name.
However if all the documents are the same man then he was made a freeman of the city of Canterbury at age 48. Would that be normal, too young, or too old?
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before historical directories online came along I was using a site called parishmouse where the owner Sally seemed to have heaps of old directories that nobody seemed to have..... the other way I used to find the old alamacs etc was through the search engines of county archive office sites,and given the internet has progressed.... maybe there more listings for them but it probably invoke research costs for a lookup or a kind soul may do some looking..... anc had a few..... but british newspaper archives was what I found to excellent cos the adds the brewers placed for enticing sale of their products... Shergold & Kimber the mob I did seemed to advertise every week...... another interesting site was "dead pubs"..... (name?)...... and the other place was county councils.. ( especially when did Wilts) had the land docs where users with ie breweries would be mentioned in the holding.... namely xwz yardland for barley, stable , implements etc....
A chatterer on rc last year also found some bills of sale for ingredients to brewers , and similarly I found a few Manorial Estates had mention of bills or invoices in the household so the records varied a bit ....... just a tad offbase.............. sometimes the brewers had watercourses next to them, and prior to steam had gristmills in their set ups..... like the Shergolds in Horton in 1650s.....
So I guess what I am suggesting is the materials are varied but original images themselves give life on a daily basis which I find more interesting than just straight parish records....
Oh another site helpful I found was London Gazette,,,,, and the criminal courts sometimes had things like weights and measures complaint or effluent running from the brewery.... or the pub was open outside of trading.......
Another rootschatter last year was doing a soft drink manufacturer in Kent area and they seemed to come up with a fair bit of material, or so I gathered from reading the posts......
:)
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Thanks fastfusion for all the suggestions.
I have access on microfilm to the Guildhall collection of early English newspapers. Unfortunately the Kentish Gazette is not included. The only other newspaper name I know of is the Kentish Post.
Does anyone know of others?
The Kentish Gazette is included in the newspaper collection on Find My Past, but I have been unable to view the images. From the brief abstracts that are visible it would appear that Longport brewery did not advertise in the 18th century.
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TOPIC COMPLETED. All the maltster records are the same man and he is actually the first Thomas Mears bellfounder. A newspaper advertisement in the Kentish Gazette for 16 Nov 1787 announces his change of career from maltster and brewer at Longport to "a different branch of trade in London".
The only potential burial for the maltster father is at St Mildred's in 1772.