A press report of April,1892, announced that

"A company is being registered under the title 'Carters' Knottingley Brewery Co.' (Limited), to acquire the brewery now carried on by Messrs John Carter & Co., of Knottingley Brewery, as brewers and wine & spirit merchants." (1)

The newspaper reports were confirmed by a public notice which appeared simultaneously within the two Pontefract based local papers (and was repeated in the two subsequent issues of each paper) accompanied by a prospectus issued by the prospective company. (2) The Pontefract Advertiser reporting the proposed venture stated

"....the business is a prosperous one and has shown satisfactory and increasing balances for several years [and] ..it is evident that Brewing maintains its old character of possessing the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice." (3)

Indeed, the prospectus underlined the latter assertion. The certified profits for the three previous years showed a 66% increase from £7,791 in 1899 to £11,792 in 1891, whilst sales for the current year (1892) showed the increase being maintained. In addition, the trading liabilities of the company had been minimised by the tendency of George Carter to pay cash for the bulk of the firm's purchases and stood at the very low figure of £7,858. (4)

The public announcement of the sale was the culmination of measures launched by Carter during the previous year. The measures were clearly the manifestation of a heightening desire to sever his active business links and retire to the blissful serenity of the English countryside. For some years previously Carter had taken annual holidays in the Bamburgh district of Northumberland (5) and his attachment to the area is clearly stated in a letter dated 22nd April 1890, in which he expressed the desire to purchase an estate in the area. (6)

The first positive steps to sell Knottingley Brewery appear to have been taken in the Autumn of 1891. On the 27th of October that year, Carter had a meeting with T.J. Seaman, a brewery agent, valuer and accountant, of Moorgate Street, London. During the ensuing interview Carter appears to have suggested an approach by Seaman direct to the directors of the Wakefield & Leeds Breweries with a view to incorporation of the Mill Close brewery within the business organisation recently established by the amalgamation of the Victoria Brewery, Wakefield, with the Melbourn Brewery, Leeds. Quite why Carter should have sought the aid of an intermediary is puzzling since the Wakefield element of the newly amalgamated company was owned by his cousins and one might therefore assume that fact would have allowed for a direct, albeit tentative, approach.

Referring to their meeting, Seaman, in a written communication some days later, stated the impracticality of Carter's suggested approach to the Wakefield - Leeds group

"....until you are in a position to offer me your property."

No indication is given concerning the cause of the implied delay. Perhaps it was merely logistical for Seaman also expressed the hope of

"entering into negotiations with you at the end of three weeks."

Seaman also ventured the opinion that a cash offer of £50,000 for the Knottingley brewery would be forthcoming with an unspecified balance in debenture shares bearing an annual rate of return of 4%. It is clearly apparent that Carter intended to withdraw from active participation in the business for Seaman stated that the proposed merger would ensure a seat on the board of the extended company for Carter's brewery manager, Edwin Lawson. (7)

The circumstances which prompted Carter's move, whilst conjectural, are not difficult to define. At a personal level, Carter, a highly educated and sophisticated man with wealth far exceeding that of his immediate forebears and in practical terms, a less direct involvement in the brewing trade, was approaching fifty years of age and with a degree of detachment common to third generation industrialists, was ready to forego the stressful demands of business life. In this regard Carter was undoubtedly influenced by the changes experienced throughout nearly two decades of his proprietorship. Changes in social attitudes and mores; the hostility of the Temperance Movement; intensification of business competition; increasing costs set within the context of protracted economic depression, and growing government interference with its attendant legislative control, were wearying factors with implications for health which could hardly have been envisaged by earlier generations. Even considered from the sole perspective of economic viability the only long-term hope for business survival was by recourse to public money through conversion of the existing business to the status of a public limited company for only by such a measure could continued expansion and modernisation be funded.

The desired merger with the Wakefield & Leeds Breweries failed to materialise, however, and subsequently a new company was formed to take over the administration of the Knottingley business. The proposed company was to be under the chairmanship of John Charles Harvey of Eccleston Hall, Prescott. Two other directors were Sheffield based; Charles Edward Jefcock and William Henry Camm, the latter being a director of Strouts’ Brewery, Sheffield. (8)

The agreed price to be paid for the purchase of Knottingley Brewery and Lime Grove was £170,000. The sum of £50,000 was intended to be raised by the issue of 6% preference shares and a further £50,000 by ordinary debentures, the remaining £70,000 being obtained by means of a mortgage on both the properties. (9)

The public response to the share issue was very favourable as shown by the reports in the local press following the publication of the prospectus

"Either money is particularly plentiful just now, or the public recognise a sound investment when they see it for we hear that a great many more than the full number of ordinary shares in Carters' Brewery Co. Ltd., have been applied for.... ." (10)

And with reference to the proposed concern,

"This new concern is so favourably looked upon by the promoters and has been so well received by the public that applications have been received for more than the full number of ordinary shares. The preference shares are also said to be largely in demand." (11)

As a result, the limited company was successfully launched on the Sheffield Stock Exchange and by August 1892, the final element in the transition occurred when an Interim Order was granted to J.C. Harvey of Knottingley Brewery to use the licence previously held by George William Carter. (12)

Following the completion of the brewery sale the Carter family left Knottingley. The precise date of departure is not known. Certainly, the family was still resident at Lime Grove in mid-August for a report of an alarming accident involving Mrs Carter was reported in the local press at that time. (13) The absence of the Carters from a function held to raise funds for the restoration of St. Botolph's Church in October, 1892, suggests, however, that their departure had occurred by that date. The further absence of the Carter name from the list of subscribers to a wedding present for the Hon. R. Winn, the local M.P., later that month, tends to confirm the fact that the Carters were no longer resident within the town. (14)

It is of passing interest to note an aspect of special attention by George William Carter prior to his departure. The family had, unsurprisingly perhaps, long established the practice of laying in a stock of fine wines and spirits within the cellar of Lime Grove. John Carter had recorded such amongst the household valuables when estimating his personal worth in 1846 (15) and had made them the subject of a particular clause in his will. (16) The value of the stock in December-January, 1874-75 was estimated at £637. (17) George Carter therefore sought and obtained written authorisation to enable the contents of the wine cellar to remain undisturbed for a year and even longer if necessary following his surrender of the property. (18)

Having left Knottingley, Carter took up residence in Northumberland. Carter's attachment to the Bamburgh district had been underlined when more than two years earlier he had made an offer of £850 to the trustees of Lord Crewe for the purchase of an un-named property. (19)

Carter eventually settled at Twizell House, Belford. A deposit of £1,605 was made in respect of this property on the 16th of July, 1892, with a cash balance of £14,445 being paid in January 1893. (20) In addition to the main estate, Carter also bought Warrenford Farm for the sum of £5,000 on the 20th March, 1893. In all, a total of £24,100 was spent on the Northumberland estate. However, for undisclosed reasons the northern sojourn was cut short and in February 1894, the entire estate was sold to W.H.T. Morton for £3,050 less than Carter had originally paid for it. (21) The sale of the estate reflects that of the brewery in that in an effort to secure the sale and thereby obviate delay, Carter was prepared to subsidise the purchase by providing the purchaser with a loan. In the case of the estate the sum of £10,000 was lent at 3% per year interest, the debt being repaid in September 1897. (22)

The family next moved to Scarbrough. A deposit had been made on Cliff End House, St Nicholas' Cliff, in January 1894, the sale being completed in March at a cost of £2,600. (23) Shortly thereafter money was invested in the purchase of additional properties within the town. Cliff Bridge Terrace, adjoining Cliff End House, together with Cliff Bridge Place, were obtained and a 99 year lease was taken on Museum Terrace which incorporated four shops with accommodation above. (24) The Scarborough properties were retained when the Carters left the Borough some ten years later. The real estate was inherited by George Carter's son, William Edward Carter, and sold piecemeal between August 1936, and April, 1945. (25)

On the 27th of September 1904, the sum of £16,000 was agreed with Mr Vaughan-Williams, the owner, as the purchase price for Eccleshall Castle, Staffordshire, and its accompanying estate. The purchase was completed by the 25th of March, 1905. (26) It was here that in July 1918, Elizabeth, wife of George William Carter died, followed two years later by the demise of George himself, aged 78 years. The historic and imposing pile remains the seat of the descendants of the Carter family to this day.

Following George Carter's death most of the family-owned land and property at Knottingley was sold. Amongst the more prominent items which formed the considerable holdings within the town were the 20 cottages comprising Moorhouse (Long) Row (27) and seven dwelling houses in Aire Street, known as King's Houses, which had been erected in 1912 to replace ancient properties of the same name which formerly occupied the site. (28) The four houses and a small workshop situated at Hill Top which had originally formed the Debtors' Jail (Jail Houses), were also disposed of in 1920. (29) The rents from these and numerous other less distinguished cottages and lands in and around the town had continued to be collected on Carter's behalf by Edwin Lawson following the departure of the Carters and with Lawson's death in 1914, the task was undertaken by Walter Swain, erstwhile Town Clerk of Knottingley Urban District Council.

Amongst other disposed items in the early 1920s was the long established Bowling Club, the green of which was retained thereafter as a feature of the local Conservative Club, (originally established by George Carter and housed in the premises belonging to him forming part of the Aire Street Hotel). (31) The site of the Bowling Club is still used by the Conservative Club although, alas, the bowling green was replaced by a car park some years ago.

The sale of the Knottingley possessions merely brought a somewhat abrupt conclusion to a process begun by George Carter some years before, commencing with the sale of open land on the fringes of the township. Two examples are worth mentioning by way of illustrating the effect of burgeoning industry upon the value of the surrounding agricultural landscape around the turn of the twentieth century. In 1893, a small glassworks had been established at Quarry Gap, part of a large close of land known as Waith Wheat (Waithwaite) Field. (32) By 1900, the firm required more space and the Jackson brothers, Tom and John, took out a ten-year lease on 2,250 square yards of land situated in George Carter's Waithwaite Field, with an option to renew the lease for a further ten-year period. (33) In 1906, however, the leased land, together with the remaining portion of the field, comprising a total area of 1 acre 2 roods 11 perches, was purchased outright from Carter. (34) Similarly, a field owned by Carter in Ings Lane, having previously been rented out to the tenant of Gander (Garner) Haven Farm for agricultural use was sold to Knottingley Gas Co. in May 1911. (35)

It is interesting to note that the rents obtained from Knottingley properties alone for the year commencing December 1911, totalled £940 (36) Presumably, bricks and mortar retained their rentable value for a further decade or so, until the local authority embarked upon its first tentative house building programme, but land values had risen to the point where it was more profitable to sell than lease out. By the 1920s, however, many of the Carter properties were in need of renovation or replacement, particularly in the light of both national and local legislation and controls. The demolition of the King's Houses and their replacement in 1912 is an early example of private response to such demands but by the 1920s such initiatives were beset with a generally rising trend in the cost of labour and materials. Cost was also a factor influencing the administration of widely dispersed holdings and making for diminishing returns on rented property. On a psychological level the death of George William Carter weakened a long established direct link with the Knottingley district and while it is true that his heir, William Edward Carter, had been born in the town his departure at the age of seven could only have permitted a somewhat dim recollection of his time there. Consequently, it may have appeared more prudent to consolidate the family assets in the Eccleshall estates.

The disposal of the Knottingley properties was followed in 1927 by the sale of the Haddlesey estate for the sum of £2,500. (37) The sale included the Bridge Inn and its orchard garden which for 30 years had been rented out to Albert Wilson, a local publican and farmer who had simultaneously rented just over 60 acres of land on the Carter owned estate. (38)

The retention of the Carter name in the title of the new brewery company ensured its meaningful presence in Knottingley for more than half a century following the departure of the family from the town. Nevertheless, the sale of Knottingley Brewery represented the end of an era and marked a new phase in the history of the local brewing trade which, hopefully, will form the basis of a future study.

DR TERRY SPENCER

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NOTES: (Some notes may be incomplete)
(1) Goole Weekly Times,8th April 1892. Also, Pontefract Advertiser 9th April 1892. I am grateful to Mr R.Gosney for drawing my attention to the former source.
(2) Pontefract Advertiser & Pontefract & Castleford Express, issues 9th, 16th & 23rd April 1892.
(3) Pontefract Advertiser, 9th April,1892.
(4) ibid.
(5) C.A.E. Uncatalogued business papers. Letter from G.W.Carter to Thomas Steel, solicitor, Sunderland, 23rd September 1889.
(6) loc cit. Carter to Steel, 22nd April 1890.
(7) loc cit. Letter T.J.Seaman to G.W.Carter, 30th October 1891. The letter is actually inscribed to 'John Carter Esq.', an obvious and somewhat tactless error on the part of the sender.
(8) Pontefract Advertiser 9th September 1892. For details re Strouts Brewery, Burton Road, Sheffield, c.f. Parry et al’ 'Bygone Breweries of Sheffield', pp19-20.
(9) Pontefract Advertiser 9th September 1892.
(10) loc cit, 30th September 1892.
(11) Pontefract &Castleford Express 30th September 1892.
(12) Pontefract Advertiser, 6th August 1892.
(13) loc cit, 20th August 1892. Mrs Carter, accompanied by Mrs Lily Senior, was thrown from a phaeton when the horse bolted between Shepherd's Bridge and the Cherry Tree Inn, Marsh End. Fortunately, the ladies merely suffered a severe shaking and having received assistance from doctors Percival and Thompson, continued upon their way, the horse having been stopped in Aire Street.
(14) loc cit, 29th October 1892 & 25th October 1892.
(15) C.A.E. John Carter's Private Ledger, 1837-74, folio 29.
(16) Loc cit. John Carter's Will. I am indebted to Mr T.M.Carter for the loan of this document a copy of which is also available at the W.Y.A.S. Wakefield. Wills - Volume 1, No 182, pp 285-301, National Probate Catalogue, C/283/17/2, (1874).
(17) C.A.E. Uncatalogued business papers. Valuation by Bentley & Son, Auctioneers & Valuers, Knottingley, for the purpose of Probate Duty re John Carter's Will, 17th December 1873 - 4th January 1874.
(18) loc cit. Letter J.C.Harvey to G.W.Carter, 26th March, 1892.
(19) loc cit. Letter from G.W.Carter to T. Steel, solicitor, Sunderland, 22nd April, 1890.
(20) loc cit. G.W.Carter's Private Ledger, 1885-1913, p175.
(21) ibid. pp175-76 for full details of extent and value of the estate.
(22) ibid. p260.
(23) ibid. p247.
(24) ibid. pp145-48 & pp247-49.
(25) loc cit, G.W.Carter (& Heirs) Private Ledger, 1906-45, folios 310 & 321-23.
(26) loc cit, G.W.Carter's Private Ledger, 1885-1913, p104. & ibid. pp105-08 for details of extent of lands purchased.
(27) loc cit, G.W.Carter (& Heirs) Private Ledger, 1906-45, folio 2.
(28) ibid. folio 4. The rebuilt King's Houses fell into dereliction in the 1960s and were demolished as part of the Aire Street clearances circa 1970.
(29) ibid. folios 5 & 6. The buildings remain to this day.
(30) ibid. folios 3 & 4.
(31) ibid. folio 19.
(32) Blanchard. D. (ed), op cit, Volume 1, p38.
(33) C.A.E. G.W.Carter's Private Ledger, 1885-1913, p69.
(34) loccit G.W.Carter (& Heirs) Private Ledger, 1906-45, folio 144. The payments were staggered over a three-year period with annual interest fixed at 5%. The total sum paid in 1909 was £680. ibid. folio 161.
(35) ibid. folio 372.
(36) loc cit G.W.Carter's Private Ledger, 1885-1913, p69. 17.5% of the total was paid to the trustees of G.W.Carter's Marriage Settlement. ibid. folio 293.
(37) loc cit, G.W.Carter (& Heirs) Private Ledger, 1906-13, folio 122.
(38) ibid. folios 121, 125 & 126.