In recent years, Andy Ketley has had a project to review and update the work “The Inns & Taverns of Wisbech” by Arthur Oldham. Andy has turned Oldham’s volume into a multi-volume set, full of details about the pubs and their licensees.
As well as local history, this has given a lot of genealogical information for those whose ancestors and relatives were involved in the licensed trade in Wisbech (and lots of happy memories for those who just enjoyed the fruits of their labours in the premises themselves).
Unfortunately, Andy was unable to give a talk himself, but was happy for Susanah to use his work for a presentation to members.
The presentation started with some general information about the history of pubs and some useful sources for family historians. The origins were small-scale with ale being brewed domestically on farms, or by individuals, or by religious houses. The ale was less potent than many of today’s brews, and also nutritious, often being unfiltered and porridge like. In 1371 the nuns at Syon were given 7 gallons a week (8 pints a day) of small beer.
Women brewing at home could be known as ‘alewives’. The alewives of Coventry had been suspected of watering down their brew, and we were shown an image of the Coventry Doom (the medieval painting of The Last Judgement in the church of Holy Trinity, Coventry) which shows them being herded into Hell.
The pub as we know it is a Victorian idea, resulting from urbanisation and more disposable income. They boomed in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras and have been in decline ever since. We are now losing about 30 pubs a week.
A 1577 census of inns and taverns noted 20,000 licensed establishments.* In 2022 there were approximately 40,000. If you compare the relative populations; in 1577 that gives 1 for every 115, reducing to 1 for every 1,490 in 2022.
* Survey of inns, taverns and alehouses in England and Wales in 1577: National Archives SP 12/115-19.
There are many terms for licensed premises according to what they offer. As “A gentleman of the Middle Temple” wrote in his book of 1800** – “’every Inn is not an Alehouse, nor is every Alehouse an Inn; yet if an Inn uses common selling of ale, it is then also an Alehouse, and if an Alehouse lodges and entertains travellers, it is also an inn”.
** The publican protected; containing all the laws relating to publicans, inn, and livery stablekeepers.
Following Wellington’s beer Act of 1830 (which allowed anyone to purchase a licence for 2 guineas) in 1831 30,000 new beer houses opened. The industrialisation of breweries made them very labour intensive until modernisation, and you may come across lots of jobs with differing, terminology for roles.
Brewing was also seasonal work. In winter, ‘Norkies’ from East Anglia (the nickname given to the Norfolk farm labourers) followed the barley they had harvested to the breweries in the west midlands. Trains were also provided as an incentive, and they would lodge near the breweries. The Norkies would buy local gifts to take back, and being ‘The Potteries’, this often took the form of a teapot. There is currently a pub in Norwich called the Norkie commemorating these workers.
Premises may be a family business, but were often retirement plans for servants, sportsmen, or could be part-time with another trade, so you may find a variety of trades or backgrounds. You will also find many women who ran pubs (who could be the widow or daughter of a previous tenant).
There are many sources when looking for publican ancestors. Start with reference books that will give you the basic information, but there are also many sources online when looking for pubs or people.
Specifically look for licensee records in the local archives. In Cambridgeshire these are in record series Q/RL, but Cambridgeshire Licenses Victuallers can also be searched on FindMyPast.
Newspapers (specialist such as the Victuallers Gazette or general and local titles) are also a great source for information about a pub or publican’s history. It can be a good idea to look for “Brewster Sessions” in the area you are interested in. One term we use for a pub is ‘my local”. There is a sense of community. They are places to meet and socialise. Therefore, you may find information about work groups, clubs, friendly societies, sports and hobby groups. But, they could also be a hot spot for meeting and dissent and looked upon with suspicion.
When looking for information beware of skewed surveys by temperance movement or those who think the hoi polloi should not drink (and get drunk).
Members then went on a tour of locals. Most images came from Andy’s books, but other sources were used from museum, libraries and archives, as well as online (online community sites and Facebook groups for local history are a wealth of images) to look at many lost pubs of Wisbech, noting changes in name, and recalling old haunts and their memories.
It was also worth searching out ephemera on sales sites. Susanah had brought in some local stoneware flagons.
Other possibilities are matchbox covers and postcards. There was also a small discussion on pub names, but that is a whole different and long story for another day!
Another hint was to look for information about infrastructure (roads, canals, railways). You will often find pubs associated with these and may find snippets of information or images. Pub names and locations are always worth a ‘Google’.
Susanah recalled how often you were given directions via pub names. As a teenager she was once told get off a bus “by the Charcoal Burner” and was confused until realising it was a pub.
Susanah ended the presentation with the finding of her own family connection to a pub. Her Great Grandfather’s brother’s daughter Blanche (Phillips) Peacock was the landlady at the Black Lion in Southfleet, Kent. Susanah had been lucky enough to find a Getty image online of Blanche serving one of her regulars in 1954.