51°31′0.75″N 0°7′47.73″W / 51.5168750°N 0.1299250°W / 51.5168750; -0.1299250
31-465: The London Beer Flood was an accident at Meux & Co's Horse Shoe Brewery , London, on 17 October 1814. It took place when one of the 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) wooden vats of fermenting porter burst. The escaping liquid dislodged the valve of another vessel and destroyed several large barrels: between 128,000 and 323,000 imperial gallons (580,000–1,470,000 L; 154,000–388,000 US gal) of beer were released in total. The resulting wave of porter destroyed
62-652: A 14-year-old servant of the publican of the Tavistock Arms in Great Russell Street, died when she was buried under the brewery's collapsed wall while washing pots in the pub's yard. Another child, Sarah Bates, was found dead in another house in New Street. The land around the building was low-lying and flat. With insufficient drainage, the beer flowed into cellars, many of which were inhabited, and people were forced to climb on furniture to avoid drowning. All those in
93-575: A rebate from HM Excise on the lost beer. The brewing industry gradually stopped using large wooden vats after the accident. The brewery moved in 1921, and the Dominion Theatre is now where the brewery used to stand. Meux & Co went into liquidation in 1961. In the early nineteenth century the Meux Brewery was one of the two largest in London, along with Whitbread . In 1809 Sir Henry Meux purchased
124-721: Is a street in Bloomsbury , London , best known for being the location of the British Museum . It runs between Tottenham Court Road (part of the A400 route ) in the west, and Southampton Row (part of the A4200 route) in the east. It is one-way only (eastbound) between its western origin at Tottenham Court Road and Bloomsbury Street . The headquarters of the Trades Union Congress is located at Nos. 23–28 ( Congress House ). The street
155-708: Is also the home of the Contemporary Ceramics Centre, the gallery for the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain; as well as the High Commission of Barbados to the United Kingdom. The Queen Mary Hall and YWCA Central Club , built by Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1928 and 1932, was at No 16-22 (it is now a hotel). Great Russell Street has had a number of notable residents, especially during
186-724: The Horse Shoe Brewery , at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street . Meux's father, Sir Richard Meux, had previously co-owned the Griffin Brewery in Liquor-Pond Street (now Clerkenwell Road ), in which he had constructed the largest vat in London, capable of holding 20,000 imperial barrels. Henry Meux emulated his father's large vat, and constructed a wooden vessel 22 feet (6.7 m) tall and capable of holding 18,000 imperial barrels. Eighty long tons (eighty-one metric tons) of iron hoops were used to strengthen
217-711: The Nine Elms brewery in Wandsworth , which they had purchased in 1914. At the time of its closure the site covered 103,000 square feet (9,600 m). The brewery was demolished the following year and the Dominion Theatre was later built on the site. Meux & Co went into liquidation in 1961. As a result of the accident, large wooden tanks were phased out across the brewing industry and replaced with lined concrete vessels. 51°31′01″N 00°07′48″W / 51.51694°N 0.13000°W / 51.51694; -0.13000 Horse Shoe Brewery The Horse Shoe Brewery
248-576: The Meux identity and was incorporated into its logo. By 1811 annual production had reached 103,502 barrels, making it the sixth largest brewer of porter in London. In 1813/14 the Horse Shoe brewery merged with or acquired Clowes & Co of Bermondsey . On the 17 October 1814, corroded hoops on a large vat at the brewery prompted the sudden release of about 7,600 imperial barrels (270,000 imp gal) of porter. The resulting torrent caused severe damage to
279-508: The St Giles rookery as "a rendezvous of the scum of society"; the area had been the inspiration for William Hogarth 's 1751 print Gin Lane . At around 4:30 in the afternoon of 17 October 1814, George Crick, Meux's storehouse clerk, saw that one of the 700-pound (320 kg) iron bands around a vat had slipped. The 22-foot (6.7 m) tall vessel was filled to within four inches (ten centimetres) of
310-469: The back wall of the brewery and swept into an area of slum dwellings known as the St Giles rookery . Eight people were killed, five of them mourners at the wake being held by an Irish family for a two-year-old boy. The coroner's inquest returned a verdict that the eight had lost their lives "casually, accidentally and by misfortune". The brewery was nearly bankrupted by the event; it avoided collapse after
341-435: The brewery about £23,000, although it petitioned Parliament for about £7,250 in excise drawback , saving it from bankruptcy. After the disaster, the brewery continued to be one of the largest producers of porter in London throughout the 19th century. Henry Meux was created a baronet in 1831, and on his death in 1841 his son, also Henry , took over. Production of ale began in 1872. Meux employed three partners to manage
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#1732858077813372-471: The brewery charged people to view the remains of the destroyed beer vats, and several hundred spectators came to view the scene. The mourners killed in the cellar were given their own wake at The Ship public house in Bainbridge Street. The other bodies were laid out in a nearby yard by their families; the public came to see them and donated money for their funerals. Collections were taken up more widely for
403-550: The brewery ownership passed to Edward Biley. He ran the brewery until January 1809 when he was joined in partnership by John Blackburn and Edward Gale Bolero. Towards the end of 1809 the brewery was acquired by Henry Meux , who had been a partner in one of the largest of London's porter brewers, Meux Reid of the Griffin Brewery in Clerkenwell . The company traded under the name Henry Meux & Co. The horseshoe became part of
434-412: The brewery survived, although three workmen had to be rescued from the rubble; the superintendent and one of the workers were taken to Middlesex Hospital , along with three others. Stories later arose of hundreds of people collecting the beer, mass drunkenness and a death from alcohol poisoning a few days later. The brewing historian Martyn Cornell states that newspapers of the time made no reference to
465-528: The brewery's walls and was powerful enough to cause several heavy wooden beams to collapse. The flood's severity was exacerbated by the landscape, which was generally flat. The brewery was located in a densely populated and tightly packed area of squalid housing (known as the rookery ). Many of these houses had cellars. To save themselves from the rising tide of alcohol, some of the occupants were forced to climb on furniture. Several adjoining houses were severely damaged, and eight people killed. The accident cost
496-568: The brewery. She took a liking to Admiral Hedworth Lambton , and he received her large share of the Horse Shoe Brewery when she died in 1910, on condition he changed his name to Meux, which he did. The Horse Shoe Brewery closed in 1921. By this time the site covered 103,000 square feet (9,600 m ), but there was no available land to expand. Production was transferred to the Thorne Brothers' Nine Elms brewery in Wandsworth , which
527-415: The brewery: Richard Berridge, Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks and William Arabin. In 1878, Henry Bruce Meux (later 3rd baronet) and Marjoribanks (later Lord Tweedmouth) took over management of the company, which they renamed Meux's Brewery Company Ltd when they registered it as a public company in 1888. Henry Bruce Meux died childless in 1900, and his American wife, Valerie, Lady Meux , inherited his share of
558-407: The brewery; it was 25 feet (7.6 m) high and two and a half bricks thick. Some of the bricks from the back wall were knocked upwards, and fell onto the roofs of the houses in the nearby Great Russell Street . A wave of porter some 15 feet (4.6 m) high swept into New Street, where it destroyed two houses and badly damaged two others. In one of the houses a four-year-old girl, Hannah Bamfield,
589-525: The company had bought in 1914. The Nine Elms brewery was renamed the Horse Shoe Brewery. The original Horse Shoe Brewery was demolished in 1922, and in 1928–29 the Dominion Theatre was erected on the site. In 1956, Meux merged with Friary, Holroyd and Healy of Guildford to form Friary Meux, which went into liquidation in November 1961 and the company was acquired by Allied Breweries in 1964. The Horse Shoe Brewery ceased to brew in 1966. Friary Meux
620-471: The coroner's inquest reached a verdict of an act of God , Meux & Co did not have to pay compensation. Nevertheless, the disaster—the lost porter, the damage to the buildings and the replacement of the vat—cost the company £23,000. After a private petition to Parliament they recovered about £7,250 from HM Excise , saving them from bankruptcy. The Horse Shoe Brewery went back into business soon afterwards, but closed in 1921 when Meux moved their production to
651-456: The event happen in full; his brother was one of the men who had been injured at the brewery. Crick said that hoops on the vats failed three or four times a year, but without any previous problems. Accounts were also heard from Richard Hawse—the landlord of the Tavistock Arms, whose barmaid had been killed in the accident—and several others. The jury returned a verdict that the eight had lost their lives "casually, accidentally and by misfortune". As
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#1732858077813682-458: The families. The coroner's inquest was held at the Workhouse of the St Giles parish on 19 October 1814; George Hodgson, the coroner for Middlesex , oversaw proceedings. The details of the victims were read out as: Hodgson took the jurors to the scene of the events, and they viewed the brewery and bodies before evidence was taken from witnesses. The first witness was George Crick, who had seen
713-505: The revelry, or of the later death; instead, the newspapers reported that the crowds were well-behaved. Cornell points out that the popular press of the time did not like the immigrant Irish population that lived in St Giles, so if there had been any misbehaviour, it would have been reported. The area surrounding the rear of the brewery showed a "scene of desolation [that] presents a most awful and terrific appearance, equal to that which fire or earthquake may be supposed to occasion". Watchmen at
744-438: The top with 3,555 imperial barrels of ten-month-old porter. As the bands slipped off the vats two or three times a year, Crick was unconcerned. He told his supervisor about the problem, but was told "that no harm whatever would ensue". Crick was told to write a note to Mr Young, one of the partners of the brewery, to have it fixed later. An hour after the hoop fell off, Crick was standing on a platform thirty feet (9.1 m) from
775-403: The vat, holding the note to Mr Young, when the vessel, with no indication, burst. The force of the liquid's release knocked the stopcock from a neighbouring vat, which also began discharging its contents; several hogsheads of porter were destroyed, and their contents added to the flood. Between 128,000 and 323,000 imperial gallons were released. The force of the liquid destroyed the rear wall of
806-437: The vat. Meux brewed only porter , a dark beer that was first brewed in London and was the most popular alcoholic drink in the capital. Meux & Co brewed 102,493 imperial barrels in the twelve months up to July 1812. Porter was left in the large vessels to mature for several months, or up to a year for the best quality versions. At the rear of the brewery ran New Street, a small cul-de-sac that joined on to Dyott Street; this
837-582: Was an English brewery in the City of Westminster that was established in 1764 and became a major producer of porter , from 1809 as Henry Meux & Co . It was the site of the London Beer Flood in 1814, which killed eight people after a porter vat burst. The brewery was closed in 1921. The brewery tap , the Horseshoe, was established in 1623, and was named after the shape of its first dining room. The brewery
868-402: Was having tea with her mother and another child. The wave of beer swept the mother and the second child into the street; Hannah was killed. In the second destroyed house, a wake was being held by an Irish family for a two-year-old boy; Anne Saville, the boy's mother, and four other mourners (Mary Mulvey and her three-year-old son, Elizabeth Smith and Catherine Butler) were killed. Eleanor Cooper,
899-447: Was named after the tavern. The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 on the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street . By at least 1785 it was owned by Thomas Fassett. By 1786–87, it had the 11th largest output of porter of any London brewery, producing 40,279 barrels a year. By 1792 the brewery was owned by John Stephenson the younger, son of John Stephenson the elder. In 1794, after Stephenson's early death,
930-576: Was revived by Allied in 1979 as a brand name for its public houses, but disappeared after Allied's pubs were sold to Punch Taverns in 1999. The former brewery tap is now a branch of Halifax bank , but there are still traces of the Meux brand in London. Notable, until demolition in 2015, was the "Meux's Original London Stout" logo on the side of the derelict The Sir George Robey public house in Seven Sisters Road near Finsbury Park station . Great Russell Street Great Russell Street
961-415: Was within the St Giles rookery . The rookery, which covered an area of eight acres (3.2 ha), "was a perpetually decaying slum seemingly always on the verge of social and economic collapse", according to Richard Kirkland, the professor of Irish literature. Thomas Beames, the preacher of Westminster St James , and author of the 1852 work The Rookeries of London: Past, Present and Prospective , described