Barry Stapleton - Gales : a study in brewing, business and family history

Gales

General Editor: Derek H. Aldcroft

Titles in this series include:

Studies in the Interwar European Economy
Derek H. Aldcroft

Whatever Happened to Monetarism?
Economic Policy-Making and Social Learning in the United Kingdom
since 1979
Michael J. Oliver

Disillusionment or New Opportunities?
The Changing Nature of Work in Offices, Glasgow 1880-1914
R. Guerriero Wilson

Raleigh and the British Bicycle Industry:
An Economic and Business History, 1870-1960
Roger Lloyd-Jones and M. J. Lewis

Battles for the Standard:
Bimetallism and the Spread of the Gold Standard, 1870-1914
Edward R. Wilson

The British Footwear Industry
Peter R. Mounfield

Trade Unions and the Economy
Derek H. Aldcroft and Michael J. Oliver

The British Electronics Industry:
Innovation, Markets and Performance, 1930-97
John F. Wilson

The Seaside, Health and the Environment since 1850
John Hassan

Exchange Rate Regimes and Economic Policy in the Twentieth Century
edited by Ross Catterall and Derek H. Aldcroft

A Study in Brewing, Business and Family History

Barry Stapleton and James H. Thomas

First published 2000 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Barry Stapleton and James H. Thomas, 2000

The authors have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 99053990

Typeset in Sabon by Manton Typesetters, Louth, Lincolnshire

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-71304-8 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-19966-5 (ebk)

Economic and social history has been a flourishing subject of scholarly study during recent decades. Not only has the volume of literature increased enormously but the range of interest in time, space and subject matter has broadened considerably so that today there are many sub-branches of the subject which have developed considerable status in their own right.

One of the aims of this new series is to encourage the publication of scholarly monographs on any aspect of modern economic and social history. The geographical coverage is world-wide and contributions on non-British themes will be especially welcome. While emphasis will be placed on works embodying original research, it is also intended that the series should provide the opportunity to publish studies of a more general and thematic nature which offer a reappraisal or critical analysis of major issues of debate.

Derek H. Aldcroft

Manchester Metropolitan University

Between pages 80 and 81

Eight years after George Gale first registered his company and a century ago as I write, my grandfather brought the Bowyers into the brewery's history. Thereafter, the two families worked together to see it successfully through to our 150th Anniversary in 1997. Read on and you will see how this came about.

I first met the authors not long after becoming a full-time Director in 1980. James and Barry, with others, conducted an annual postgraduate Diploma course in English Local History at Portsmouth Polytechnic, now the University, and the student with the best overall performance received the Gale Prize, a sum of money covering the course fee. At the prize presentation in 1982, I mentioned that we were looking for someone to write our own history. As you can see they volunteered to do so in their spare time, little realising the challenge of the undertaking on top of their university duties. Work began the following year with the assembly of the company archives, a task which continued almost throughout as more and more evidence was unearthed. As a happy consequence, they have been able to bring the history right up to date and in time for the 1997 celebrations.

I am proud to introduce you to this story of the family business at a momentous time for all of us here at Horndean. My thanks to the many who have contributed, and most particularly to Barry and James for their hard work in researching and recording our progress over the years with humour, skill and precision. I am confident that this book will earn its rightful place amongst the foremost of brewery histories. I also commend it to those who will enjoy sharing our perspective of a small Hampshire village over the last 150 years.

George Bowyer
Chairman

In any book that has a long period of gestation it is likely that many people will have provided some assistance or information to the author. This volume is no exception. Work began on listing the known Gale archives in 1983, and since then two other sets of documents have been discovered and have consequently lengthened the process of investigation and analysis. However, hopefully, not only has this ensured a better book, but it has also allowed it to be published in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the acquisition of the Ship and Bell inn by Richard Gale.

Foremost in any list of acknowledgements would have to be those past and present employees of Gales who have willingly shared their knowledge and experiences with us. They remain too many to mention individually, but all are recognised in the dedication. Outside the brewery there are others who need to be acknowledged, particularly Major William Ladds and Miss Doreen Carlos Perkins, both of whom provided invaluable information about George Alexander Gale and Herbert Frederick Bowyer respectively, Paget Bowyer for the early history of the Bowyer family and Philip Eley. We have also benefited from the assistance of the following: Barclays Bank, Commercial Road, Portsmouth; Guildford Muniment Room; Guildhall Library, London, especially Stephen Freeth and Philippa White; Hampshire Record Office; Oriental and India Office Collection; Portsmouth City Records Office, especially Paul Raymond; Public Record Office, London; Portsmouth Central Library, especially Alan King and staff of the Local History Collection; Whitbread Archive, London, especially Nick Redman; Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association, especially Janet Witheridge. To all we offer our grateful thanks, as we do for assistance with typing to Paula Heiron. For any errors which may remain we alone are responsible.