Salt & Co.’s brewery is bounded on the front by the High Street, while at the back flows the silvery Trent, the waters of which are not used in brewing, as many people suppose. Even in Burton, famous as it is for its waters, every well sunk does not produce the right sort of “liquor,” and Messrs. Salt & Co., after many fruitless borings on their own premises, were obliged to sink an artesian well a quarter of a mile distant before they could obtain the water most suitable for their purpose.
The firm have several maltings in Burton, the most important of which is that situated on the Wallsitch. It consists of three huge blocks of buildings, each of which is seventy yards long, thirty wide, and four storeys high. As a malting has not yet been described in this book, some account of the interior of John Barleycorn’s Crematory, taking that last erected by Messrs. Salt & Co. as a sample, may be read with interest.
On the ground floor is the cistern, into which the barley, after being cleansed (technically “screened”), is placed for the purpose of being steeped. At the end of about fifty hours the clear water is drained off, and the soaked barley is thrown into the couch frame, where it remains about twenty-five hours. The grain has now commenced to germinate. The next process is to distribute it over various floors (by means of baskets lowered and raised by steam windlasses), where it is spread on clean red tiles, in layers varying from two to four inches in thickness, according to the temperature of the weather. For four or five days the barley is left to grow. At the end of that time its vitality begins to flag {355} for lack of moisture, and more water is added, the skill of the maltster being taxed to the utmost in assigning such a proportion of water as will develop the grain into perfect malt. At the end of about ten days germination is complete. A great and wonderful transformation has now taken place, the hard stubborn corn having been reduced to tender friable malt. The next process is to dry the malt, and for this purpose it is placed in a kiln and subjected to a high temperature until the vital principle of germination is extinguished, and the desired colour has been acquired. Any dry rootlets which adhere to the grain are then separated by trampling, a second screening takes place, and the malt is measured into sacks, every precaution being taken to prevent exposure to the atmosphere, until it is finally placed in the big bins above the mash tub.
In the process of malting the most ingenious apparatus used is the screen, which may be described as a multum in parvo piece of mechanism. Of these machines there are three, each being worked by an endless leathern rope, and by an ingenious system of graduated riddles, performing four distinct operations. In one compartment the dust is blown away by revolving fans, in another the broken half-corns are removed; the third action clears all stones, rubbish, &c., away, and finally the thin inferior corns are separated.
To avoid repetition, we are obliged to omit a description of the brewery, those of the first class at Burton being very similar to one another. In order to give some idea of the extent of Messrs. Salt and Co.’s operations, it may be mentioned that in the new house are five mash tubs, each with a capacity of fifty-five qrs. of malt. The cooperage belonging to this firm is noteworthy, the casks being made by elaborate machinery worked by steam, a system followed in very few English breweries, but which is not uncommon in America.
In the archives of the firm of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co., is a document bearing the date 1719, which purports to be “An Inventory of the Goods, Chattels, and Credits of Joseph Truman, which since his death have come into the hands, possession and knowledge of Benjamin Truman, Daniel Cooper, and the Executors named in the will of Joseph Truman.” No earlier written record of the firm is in existence, but there is a tradition that at some remote period of history there existed one John Oliver Truman, who carried on the business in Brick Lane, and to this day all casks leaving the brewery are branded I.O.T. Even in 1741 the business transacted was considerable. There were then four partners—Benjamin Truman, John Denne, Francis Cooper and the {356} executors of Alud Denne. Among the customers were two hundred and ninety-six publicans, one of whom was John Denne, who retailed the beer made by this firm.
To the Benjamin Truman above-mentioned must be given the credit of having made the brewery one of the most important in London. In 1737, when the Duchess of Brunswick (grand-daughter of George II.) was born, the Prince of Wales ordered bonfires to be made before Carlton House, and four barrels of beer to be given to the populace. But the brewer to the royal household provided beer of the smallest, and the mob threw it in each other’s faces and into the fire. The Prince good-naturedly ordered a second bonfire the succeeding night, and Benjamin Truman supplied the beer. He had the wisdom to send a sturdy brew, the best his cellars could produce, and the people were greatly pleased. With such a shrewd trader at its head, it is not surprising that by 1760 Truman’s had taken its place as third among the great London Breweries. Calvert and Seward came first with 74,704 barrels, Whitbread’s next with 60,508 barrels, Truman’s following with 60,140 barrels.
Benjamin Truman was knighted by George III., and portraits of him and his daughter, by Gainsborough, still hang in the drawing room of the house in Brick Lane. In the same room is a portrait of Mr. Sampson Hanbury (the first of the name who joined the firm), a famous sportsman, who for thirty-five years was Master of the Puckeridge Hounds. He entered the firm in 1780, and was subsequently joined by his brother. Sampson Hanbury’s sister, Anna, married Thomas Fowell Buxton, of Earle’s Colne. This gentleman was High Sheriff of his county, and served the office with special credit. He died in 1792, leaving a widow, three sons, and two daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Fowell Buxton, was only six years old at his father’s death. This little fellow was destined to be, perhaps, the most distinguished partner in the firm. He was educated at Greenwich, and Trinity College, Dublin, at which latter place he carried off the highest honours, and when only twenty-one years of age received an influential requisition to represent the University in Parliament. This honour he declined. He had originally been intended for the Bar, but in 1808, when on a visit to the brewery, his uncles, Osgood and Sampson Hanbury, being struck with his undoubted abilities, offered him a situation in the business, and in 1811 made him a partner. The other members of the firm at that time were Mr. Sampson Hanbury, Mr. John Truman Villebois, and Mr. Henry Villebois. {357}
To the young partner was soon given the work of re-modelling the Establishment, a task in which he succeeded admirably. A few years later he began to take an interest in public affairs, devoting himself more particularly to a consideration of subjects connected with prison discipline and the criminal code, into which his early training for the Bar gave him some insight. In 1818 he was elected for Weymouth, and, owing in a great measure to his exertions and co-operation, Sir Robert Peel carried his Bill for the abolition of capital punishment for trivial offences. Mr. Buxton’s great work was in connection with the Slavery question. Into the cause of Liberty he threw himself heart and soul, and to his unceasing endeavours were in great measure due the glorious results ultimately achieved. The Beer Act, passed in 1830, had Mr. Buxton’s approval. “I have always voted for free trade when the interests of others are concerned,” he said, “and it would be awkward to change when my own are in jeopardy. I am pleased to have an opportunity of proving that our real monoply is one of skill and capital.”
In June, 1831, occurred a noteworthy event in the history of the firm. This was a visit by a number of Cabinet Ministers to inspect the brewery. Mr. Buxton had provided an elaborate banquet, but Lord Brougham said that beef-steaks and porter were more appropriate to the occasion, so of those excellent comestibles the dinner in great part consisted. Of this visit Mr. Buxton has left a very lively account, too long, unfortunately, to be given here. Among the guests, who numbered twenty-three, were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Grey, the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Cleveland, Lords Shaftesbury, Sefton, Howick, Durham, and Duncannon, General Alava, Dr. Lushington, Spring Rice and W. Brougham. Mr. Buxton first took them to see the steam engine. Lord Brougham immediately delivered a little lecture upon steam power, and, as the party went through the brewery, had so much to say about the machinery that Joseph Gurney said he understood brewing better than any person on the premises. At dinner “the Chancellor lost not a moment, he was always eating, drinking, talking or laughing.” Later on the Ministers inspected the stables, and the Lord Chancellor surprised everyone by his knowledge of horseflesh. Some one proposed that he should mount one of the horses and ride round the yard, which he seemed very willing to do—such is the power of brown stout!