Recalling town’s old breweries
Brewery at the Victoria Vaults in Hall Street, brewing Dawes’ Sovereign Pale Ale – “the best Dinner Ale extant”. But he became bankrupt in 1880, when the business was bought by George Thompson & Son.
In 1914, the brewery and seven tied houses were taken over by Henry & Benjamin Woodhouse, after previously brewing at the nearby Alma Inn from 1830. They renamed it the Alma Brewery, but then moved to the Queen’s Cross Brewery in 1917.
Character
The Black Horse Brewery was behind the Black Horse pub in Greystone Street. Jack Downing, formerly of The Leopard, bought it from the Diamond Brewery in 1901. He was a well-known local character, who became a successful brewer and businessman. In today’s money, he was a multi-millionaire, owning a brewery, eleven taverns and a motor car! He was also very successful in pigeon racing, and kept canaries and a worldchampion racing dog. He sold the business to W. Butler (Wolverhampton) in 1923.
The Cricketer’s Arms Brewery was at the Horse & Jockey in King Street,
dating from 1822. The pub was renamed in the 1870s when Dudley Cricket Club made it their home. By 1913, Henry Jones had built a 10-quarter brewery here, brewing 400 barrels of beer a week, and later installed a bottling plant. The brewery closed in 1910 when it was taken over by the Diamond Brewery and the pub closed in 1922.
Barrels
The Queen’s Cross Brewery was a 3-storey 10-quarter brewery producing 500 barrels of beer a week, adjoining The Lamp at Queen’s Cross. It was also known as the Dudley Hop Ale Brewery, since it also brewed a nonalcoholic sweet bottled beer of that name. It was established by Matthew Smith in 1873, who was a local councillor and alderman, and after his death in 1914, the brewery was bought by Henry & Benjamin Woodhouse. Brewing ceased in 1934, and in 1950, the pub and brewery were taken over by Daniel Batham (Brierley Hill). The pub has won local CAMRA awards and the former brewery has been converted into overnight accommodation.
At Burnt Tree, local businessmen, James Bourne, Joseph Royle, Thomas Wainwright and Thomas Hawkes established the Dudley Porter & Ale Brewery in 1805, a 3-storey 10-quarter brewery producing 300 barrels of beer a week.
In 1828, after a series of buy-outs, it changed its name to the Dudley Old Brewery to distinguish it from Henry Cox’s brewery at Kates Hill, but the company collapsed in 1835 and was taken over by Joshua Scholefield.
In 1846, it was briefly renamed the Royal Brewery and then bought by Samuel Allsop & Sons (Burton-on-trent) in 1861, which passed to Tetley Walker and eventually Allied Breweries.
Home brew
The British Oak in Salop Street was originally a home-brew house established by Benjamin Cole in 1871, but it ceased brewing in 1898 and the pub was temporarily closed in the mid-1980s. However, Ian Skitt resumed brewing at the British Oak Brewery in 1988 and brewed a range of popular beers, including Castle Ruin, Eve ‘ill Bitter and Colonel Pickering’s
Porter. Brewing ceased in 1996 and the pub closed in 2003.
Many will remember the Gipsies Tent in Steppingstone Street.
Widow
Dating from 1841 as the Jolly Collier, it was bought by Thomas Millard in 1867 and remained in the family’s ownership for over a century. In 1886, he built the Little Model Brewery and when he died in 1899, his widow, Harriet, took over, followed by her son, Harry. It was modernised in 1914 and passed to brothers Bert and Don Millard (who were both teetotallers) in 1951. They continued brewing until 1961, but the pub eventually closed in 1980.
It’s a pity that the town has lost all its indigenous breweries, but at least we can still have a decent pint in many of the remaining pubs.
With acknowledgement to Tony Hitchmough, Joseph Mckenna and the Brewery History Society.
Willenhall History Society’s BOB RUSHTON tells the tale of a man who played his part in war and peacetime
LIKE many of you I have spent a lot of time in lockdown just watching TV and still find myself laughing at the much repeated episodes of Dad’s Army (9 series, 80 episodes from 1968-77 and 18 million viewers inci- dentally). Well, now we’ve seen the funny side of the Home Guard what of the reality?
My interest was stimulated when Margaret O’callahan of the Willenhall Music Society passed to me a lovely photo of 33 Platoon, ‘D’ Company, 26th Battalion, South Staffs Home Guard, based at the factory of H.G. Smith (Steel Fabrications) then situated in St Annes Road, Willenhall.
The Battalion was formed to defend the areas of Willenhall and Wednesfield. The photo portrays 15 members of the platoon who have all added their signatures and the platoon leader and company director Herbert Smith is seated centre. It is dated 1944 and probably taken just as the Home Guard was stood down. The donor of this fine picture is Herbert Smith’s grandson David to whom we are most grateful.
Researching the Home Guard was both enlightening and a real pleasure. It was set up in May 1940 when the then Secretary of State Anthony Eden made a radio broadcast to the nation appealing for what were originally called Local Defence Volunteers,
later to become the Home Guard. This was aimed at men between 18 and 65 who were not on active service and in the first week 250,000 men signed up.
The aim was to form a militia that could be trained to defend us from invaders and some of the training methods incorporated what had been learned from the Spanish Civil War and the IRA. The tasks of the Home Guard were quite varied, such as defending factories and important installations, but they were also on the lookout for Fifth Columnists being parachuted in at the start of an invasion and the operation of anti-aircraft batteries.
During the war church bells remained silent and would not be rung again until any invasion started and the code-word used to indicate that this was imminent was ‘Cromwell’ which changed to ‘Oliver’ when it clearly was happening.
One means of defence was Churchill’s Auxiliary Units that involved 600 small groups of men, including Home Guard members, that would hide in underground bunkers ready to resurface after the German forces had passed over them and attack them from behind. They were expected to survive for perhaps only two weeks. Gamekeepers and similar were chosen for this job. Also the Home Guard had to find unexploded bombs which claimed some of their lives and in fact a total of 1,206 men were killed performing their duties. The Home Guard, like all other soldiers defending us had one instruction uppermost in mind and this was ‘Take no prisoners. Kill all invaders’.
Outcome
Compared to other larger towns and cities Willenhall’s war could be described as fairly quiet and you can’t help wondering what the outcome would have been if an invasion had happened and how the Home Guard would have acquitted themselves, particularly 33 Platoon. You may think we don’t know, but an event four years after the war ended gives us a very strong indication.
On Saturday the 6th August, 1949, Herbert Smith was on holiday with his family in Newquay, Cornwall, and saw a woman swimmer in difficulties in what was described as a rough sea. He reacted to the situation and went in to help her. The outcome of his brave actions are well reported in the Staffordshire Advertiser, August 13, 1949, under the headline, Walsall Man Loses Life in Rescue Bid:
“In sight of members of his family watching from the beach, a Walsall man, attempting to rescue a woman bather, was drowned at Newquay on Saturday.
“He was Mr Herbert George Smith (45), Goldthorne, Wolverhampton Road, principal of H.G. Smith (Steel Fabrications) Ltd., and the Atlas Manufacturing Co., Willenhall.
“On the beach with his wife and two sons, aged 16 and 12, Mr Smith answered the call for help from Mrs Doris Eunice Hicks, Melford Road, Newport, Mon., who was in the sea. As he swam towards her, Mr Smith was carried out by the strong tide.
“Mrs Hicks was brought in by Mr William John Stretton, a Royal Naval Master-at-arms, of Plymouth. When other bathers had reached Mr Smith he was floating unconscious on his face.
“Holidaymakers linked arms to keep back the crowds while Dr P.B.L. Nicholas tried artificial respiration. A Newquay dentist ran to his surgery for oxygen, but all attempts at artificial respiration were unavailing.”
I feel that the conclusion that can be drawn from Herbert’s actions are that he was a brave man who sacrificed his own life for a complete stranger and what better example of leadership could you want than this. I’m sure 33 Platoon would have been very well served and led by Herbert Smith. As yet I have not been able to establish if any awards were made to recognise his bravery.
So, what happened to the family business after the tragic death of its chairman? Well it was run by extended family until the sons, John and Alan had completed their education, at which point they took over and ran the company quite successfully until at was sold in the 1990s. It has since closed down and houses now occupy the site. But, if you happen to drive along St Annes Road, please give a moment’s thought to Herbert George Smith and his 33 Platoon.
If anyone can name the man fourth from right, standing, in the photograph, please let us know and if you have information or unwanted artefacts concerning Willenhall Home Guard, please let us know. The society have published a booklet entitled The Second World War in Willenhall (£2) available from the Willenhall Library. Log on to www.willenhallhistory.co. uk for more details.
Finally, thanks to researcher Carol Wollaston for archive newspaper research.