Archives for March 6, 2023

Today is the birthday of John Bird Fuller (March 6, 1801-May 27, 1872). He was the son of John Fuller, who became a part owner of the Griffin Brewery around 1829, though it had been founded as early as 1816. When his father passed away, John Bird made moved to become sole owner and then brought in two new investors, John Smith, his son, Henry Smith, and his son-in-law, John Turner. In 1845, the new enterprise was called Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC, which is still the official name of Fuller’s Brewery today.

John Bird Fuller was born on 6 March 1801. He was the son of John Fuller and Dinah Jeans. He married Sophia Harriet Hanning, daughter of William Hanning and Harriet Lee, on 22 June 1829. He died on 27 May 1872 at age 71.

He held the office of High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1852. He held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for Wiltshire. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of Wiltshire. He lived at Neston Park, Wiltshire, England.

The Fuller’s Brewery in 1902.

Here’s a history of the brewery from Fuller’s website page entitled “History and Heritage:”

Immortalised in the name of one of our famous ales, 1845 is a year that will forever be Fuller’s. It was then that the partnership papers of Fuller, Smith & Turner were officially signed, marking the start of something very special for London’s brewery scene.

However, the Fuller’s story had been brewing long before then.

Beer has been made in this part of the capital for more than 350 years, dating back to the era of Oliver Cromwell. Back then, it was quite common for large households to brew their own beer.

In the late 1600s, one such private brewhouse was in the gardens of Bedford House on Chiswick Mall. Another, a far humbler concern, was operating nearby at the cottage of Thomas Urlin.

When Urlin died, the property passed to his widow and son-in-law, a gentleman named Thomas Mawson, who stepped in to take up the reigns as manager. It was he who laid the foundations for a major brewing enterprise – buying The George public house and two adjoining cottages for £70, then later snapping up the brewhouse on Bedford House too.

Thomas Mawson is still honoured today through the Mawson Arms, the pub located on the Brewery site.

Legal wranglings
The next notable owners of the brewery were John Thompson and David Roberts, whose six-year partnership suffered due to a series of legal wranglings. The duo predictably parted company in 1786 when Roberts left to join the Royal Household and Thompson soldiered on alone.

Eventually, the brewery passed to his sons, Douglas and Henry. It was under their stewardship, in 1816, that the brewery first acquired the Griffin name and emblem. The Griffin had previously been the symbol of Meux and Reid’s Brewery in the aptly-named Liquorpond Street, but when that business collapsed, the Thompson brothers moved swiftly to snaffle the name.

“In a letter to his brother in 1828, Henry Thompson boasted of increasing sales from 8,000 to 24,000 barrels. Things continue to head the right way. In 2013, we sold 334,000.”

The adoption of the Griffin is a decision that’s certainly stood the test of time, but other decisions by the pair were far less successful. Double dealings pertaining to mortgages led the brothers – and the brewery – to the brink of ruin. They needed investment, and fast.

Enter John Fuller
The Thompson brothers invited Philip Wood, brother of London’s Lord Mayor, into the partnership, but Wood knew his money alone couldn’t save the brewery. He too looked elsewhere for help. It came from one John Fuller.
Fuller was a wealthy country gentleman and he jumped at the chance to come aboard, investing primarily on behalf of his son. He soon bought one of the Thompsons out, and, within a couple of years, found himself the majority shareholder at the brewery.

In 1839, John Fuller died and passed control to his son, John Bird Fuller. The younger Fuller moved quickly to make his mark, and by 1845 he’d severed ties with the Thompsons to take the reins by himself.
He sought investment and expertise from third parties though, and John Smith – already helping to run a successful brewery elsewhere – was invited aboard. He invested on behalf of his son, Henry Smith, and his son-in-law, John Turner.

So it was that Fuller, Smith & Turner came into being.

A new era
Smith and Turner brought with them a welcome bonus – an extensive list of private customers for whom the brewery went on to make a special kind of beer. It was known as HK (hopped and keepable), and a milder version went into production too.

Until that point, the brewery had brewed only ‘ale’ and ‘hock’. Even porter, which had been popular since the mid-1700s, wasn’t adopted at Griffin Brewery until the 1840s.

Slow on the uptake perhaps – but we like to think we’ve made up for it since.
Indeed since that date, the Griffin Brewery has gone from strength to strength. In 1929, exactly 100 years after the first Fuller had come to Chiswick, Fuller, Smith & Turner became a limited company.

From a visit to the brewery in 2007.

And this is from Wikipedia:

Beer has been brewed on Fuller’s historic Griffin Brewery site in Chiswick since the seventeenth century. From the original brewery in the gardens of Bedford House on Chiswick Mall, the business expanded and thrived until the early part of the nineteenth century. Money problems forced the owners, Douglas and Henry Thompson and Philip Wood, to seek a partner. John Fuller, of Neston Park, Wiltshire was approached to see if he would inject the required amount of money. In 1829 he joined the enterprise, but the partnership proved a difficult one and in 1841 Douglas Thompson fled to France and the partnership was dissolved. It soon became apparent that it was impossible for one man with no brewing experience to run a brewery of that size alone so in 1845 John Fuller’s son, John Bird Fuller, was joined by Henry Smith from the Romford Brewery of Ind & Smith and his brother-in-law, Head Brewer John Turner, thereby forming Fuller Smith & Turner.

After our tour, our tour guide with Shaun O’Sullivan and Christian Kazakoff.