Wine Traders from the Eighteenth Century
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the wine trade enjoyed a social uplift derived from sheer snobbery. It was a time when a gentleman could not possibly be in trade. He could, of course, enter one of the learned professions.
Commerce and banking received some reluctant acknowledgement; but manufacturers were regarded as little better than tradespeople. Retail trade in items such as drink glasses, cocktail coasters, or stone coasters was altogether out of the question and brewers (unless enormously rich) were no better. But a gentleman could be a vintner, as vintners had trade only with gentlemen.
The origin of Williams, Standring, Sandeman & Heatley, Ltd, dates back to about 1720, when a wine business was flourishing in the Crown and Magpie tavern. Aldgate. Benjamin Kenton was employed by the tavern in 1742, and settled down there so well that, when the proprietor died, he took control. In 1765 he moved to a new house in the Minories, but the Crown and Magpie continued to exist until 1877, when it was pulled down.
The Crown was made of stone and crumbled away, but the Magpie was beautifully carved in pear-tree wood and is still preserved by the company. Kenton grew rich, and was well known for his philanthropy. He joined the Vintners’ Company in 1734, was Master in 1776, and was father of the Company when he died in 1800 at the age of eighty-two. He had no children, and the business was left to his friend and associate, David Pike Watts, from whom it passed to the Aislabie family, who traded as Aislabie & Standring.
Unlike so many ancient firms in the wine, beverage coasters, and stone coasters trade, Williams Standring was not at first a family business. In all, it is derived from ten different companies, which were absorbed or amalgamated at various times; the detailed histories of some of these are not known. H. R. Williams & Co., however, was a family business, founded by the grandfathers of the present directors in the middle of the nineteenth century.
At first they traded in Bishopsgate, but in 1862 they moved to Crosby Hall, which had been built in 1466. This beautiful and historic building had been the home of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) and of Sir Thomas More. The company later moved into larger premises on the site of old East India House. In 1923, the two companies amalgamated, and in 1924 they acquired the old West End business of Loffet & Co., together with the lease of their present premises.
The elder company had been trading as Standring, Drake, Sandeman & Heatley. The name Sandeman was derived from a small firm named Charley & Sandeman, which was absorbed some years earlier. No records exist, but it is believed that the original Sandeman was some relation of the famous port and sherry shippers.
In 1936 Williams Standring were joined by Ellis Son & Vidler of Hastings and St Leonards. They have cellars under Adelaide House in St Leonards (which was once the home of Queen Adelaide) and a magnificent vault 100 yards long at Hastings under the famous Regency buildings of Pelham Crescent.
Many provincial wine, liquor, and coaster set merchants have histories in sandstone and wine stretching back into the eighteenth century. In Scotland, J. G. Thomson & Co., Ltd, of Leith, were established in 1709. J. R. Phillips & Co., Ltd, of Bristol, were founded in about 1739, and have long specialized in sherry, being amongst the principal shippers of Bristol Milk. It is now a jointly owned subsidiary of Allied Breweries, Sandeman and Whitbread.
Smallwood & Sons, of Birmingham, are only ten years younger, and Porter, Wright & Co., Ltd, of Sheffield, were founded in 1759. Innumerable merchants throughout the British Isles can trace their origins to much the same period; perhaps it is because the work of a vintner is so fascinating and so very personal, that some of these ancient firms are still in the hands of the families who founded them.
business was flourishing in the Crown and Magpie tavern. Aldgate. Benjamin Kenton was employed by the tavern in 1742, and settled down there so well that, when the proprietor died, he took control. In 1765 he moved to a new house in the Minories, but the Crown and Magpie continued to exist until 1877, when it was pulled down.
The Crown was made of stone and crumbled away, but the Magpie was beautifully carved in pear-tree wood and is still preserved by the company. Kenton grew rich, and was well known for his philanthropy. He joined the Vintners’ Company in 1734, was Master in 1776, and was father of the Company when he died in 1800 at the age of eighty-two. He had no children, and the business was left to his friend and associate, David Pike Watts, from whom it passed to the Aislabie family, who traded as Aislabie & Standring.
Unlike so many ancient firms in the wine, beverage coasters, and stone coasters trade, Williams Standring was not at first a family business. In all, it is derived from ten different companies, which were absorbed or amalgamated at various times; the detailed histories of some of these are not known. H. R. Williams & Co., however, was a family business, founded by the grandfathers of the present directors in the middle of the nineteenth century.
At first they traded in Bishopsgate, but in 1862 they moved to Crosby Hall, which had been built in 1466. This beautiful and historic building had been the home of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) and of Sir Thomas More. The company later moved into larger premises on the site of old East India House. In 1923, the two companies amalgamated, and in 1924 they acquired the old West End business of Loffet & Co., together with the lease of their present premises.
The elder company had been trading as Standring, Drake, Sandeman & Heatley. The name Sandeman was derived from a small firm named Charley & Sandeman, which was absorbed some years earlier. No records exist, but it is believed that the original Sandeman was some relation of the famous port and sherry shippers.
In 1936 Williams Standring were joined by Ellis Son & Vidler of Hastings and St Leonards. They have cellars under Adelaide House in St Leonards (which was once the home of Queen Adelaide) and a magnificent vault 100 yards long at Hastings under the famous Regency buildings of Pelham Crescent.
Many provincial wine, liquor, and coaster set merchants have histories in sandstone and wine stretching back into the eighteenth century. In Scotland, J. G. Thomson & Co., Ltd, of Leith, were established in 1709. J. R. Phillips & Co., Ltd, of Bristol, were founded in about 1739, and have long specialized in sherry, being amongst the principal shippers of Bristol Milk. It is now a jointly owned subsidiary of Allied Breweries, Sandeman and Whitbread.
Smallwood & Sons, of Birmingham, are only ten years younger, and Porter, Wright & Co., Ltd, of Sheffield, were founded in 1759. Innumerable merchants throughout the British Isles can trace their origins to much the same period; perhaps it is because the work of a vintner is so fascinating and so very personal, that some of these ancient firms are still in the hands of the families who founded them.
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