Samuel Whitbread

Samuel Whitebread

(30 August 1720 - 11 June 1796)

Samuel Whitebread was an English brewer and a member of the English Parliament.

Biography

Samuel Whitbread was one the seventh of eight children. He was born at Cardington near Bedfordshire. At the age of fourteen he moved to London and worked as an apprentice at a brewery. 
In 1742 Samuel Whitbread invested 2,600 pounds into two small breweries owned by the Shewell family, the Goat Brewery House and  a brewery at Brick Lane. The Goat Brewery produced porter while the brewery at brick Lane produced pale and ambre beer. The porter became very popular so Whitbread built a new brewery at Chiswell Street to keep up with the demand. 
In 1751 a report was published which claimed that gin was a very dangerous drink and was causing deaths of many people. As a result the Parliament passed the legislation, which controled the sale of cheap gin. Whitbread used this situation and promoted his beer as a healthy drink. By 1758 his company was selling 65,00 barrels of porter per year. 
In 1765 he bought out Thomas Shewell for 30,000 pounds and became one of the largest brewers of porter in England. Whitbread was one of the first who purchased a Boulton and Watt's stream engine in 1786. This enabled him to encrease the production of porter to 143,000 barrels a year. he became the largest brewer in Britain. 

Private Life

Samuel Whitbread married Harriet Hayton. In 1764 a son was born. Harriet died in 1764 and Whitbread married mary Cornwallis in 1769. His second wife died in childbirth the following year. In 1791 he bought Lord Torrington's Southill estate in Bedfordshire. When he died, the Gentleman's magazine claimed that he was "worth over a million pounds".

Parliament

Samuel Whitbread was a very rich person, that enabled him to enter the Parliament. in 1768 he was elected Member of Parliament for Bedford and held his position untill 1790. In May 1787 the brewery was visited by King george III and Queen Charlotte.