Thomas Strong, the eighth of fourteen children, was born on the 25th of
December 1830 in the Westminster District of London and was Christened in the following January at St James, Westminster. He father was Samuel Strong who at the time was a Linen Draper and silk Merchant in Oxford Street. His mother was Mary Eliza the daughter of George Robinson a builder and property developer who had done very well for himself and his family indeed.
Five or six years later Samuel had moved into the Brewing industry with the help of his father-in-law's financial backing. As a ten year old Thomas was attending a boarding school at Admiralty House, Queen Street, Deal in Kent. Then in 1857 a Thomas Strong of 8 Union Street Southampton was listed as been entitled to vote in one of the Southampton constituencies. The following year in 1858 aged 28 Thomas leased the Horsefair Brewery in Romsey along with 22 tied licenced Houses from a Charles Hall. The name of the Brewery derives from the fact that the entrance is off a short street called Horsefair.
He learnt his trade from his father, Samuel. His Grandfather, George Robinson, had purchased the old Woking Brewery in 1847 it is believed for about £2,900 from Thomas Newman and leased it out to Samuel. The whole thing could have ended up disastrously as the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle reported that on the evening of the second of February of that year a fire broke out at a stable and other buildings connected to the Brewery, the big worry was that the flames may have reached the Brewery itself. The nearby Guilford fire engine was contacted and arrived fairly quickly. Prior to their arrival the part of the building connected to the Brewery had been pulled down thus allowing the engine to concentrate on the burning part of the building. In the end the damage was not that extensive, however if the fire had started later while nobody was about the whole thing could have gone up in flames. When Samuel gave up the Brewery to part manage his late father-in-law’s estate it was sold to one of Thomas's brothers Richard Isaac Strong who in turn sold it on to W H Charrington in 1870
In 1859 in the Romsey addition of Whites directory for that year is listed under the sub-heading "Hundred Brewery" is the firm of Strong & Wiles, Horsefair. Now the main High Street in Romsey is called the Hundred. But I have been unable to find any further information on this listing. However there was a brewery in that area which seemed to have evolved into Cressy's brewery. Things were beginning to stir in Romsey, the railway was been developed. They had a canal nearby Southampton Docks were being to grow & the population was staring to increase
The 1861 Census tell us that Samuel & Mary Eliza had invited as many of their unmarried off-spring who could spare the time to stay with them at their rented holiday villa on the Isle of White. This party included Thomas and another brother James. Who had served in the Her Majesty's Indian Navy as a Lieutenant and in 1861 was part of Messrs Strong & Co Brewery according to his obituary notice in a newspaper. In March 1863 at the age of 29 James sadly died of an aneurysm of the aorta in his father's house at Clarence Lodge, Shirley, Hampshire The value of his estate was just under £4,000.00 which was quite a tidy sum in those days. His demise must have been a shock to the family as he had been quite active in the local community. For example a month before his death in the February of that year he had been co-opted onto a committee proposed by Thomas at a public meeting in Romsey to organise the public celebrations for the marriage of the Prince of Wales. This was followed in the same year by the death of Thomas's mother, Mary Eliza, in the June of that year.
Around the same time in 1863 Thomas was appointed as a Land Tax Commissioner for the County of Southampton and the Isle of White which although not a very onerous task it did indicate he was going up in the world as a man who could be trusted to do the right thing.
Two year later on the 13th of August 1865 Thomas married Catherine Mary Francis at St Mark's Church, Torquay. She was the fourth daughter of the late Richard & Elizabeth Francis of St Andrew's House, Droitwich which was built in the eighteen-twenties as the home of the Town Clerk of Droitwich. Richard was described in the 1851 Census as a J. P.D.L. in other word a Justice of the Peace & a Deputy to the Lord Lieutenant for the County. A few days after this pleasurable event Thomas put on a supper for 60 for all his workmen and their wives at the Swan Hotel which seemed to be much appreciated by those who benefited from this piece of philanthropy. While at the same time Thomas was entered in to a Court action at the Hampshire Assizes against Messrs John Foster and George Foster, although I have as yet to figure that one out.
On the twenty-six of September 1865 the Corner stone of Romsey's new Town Hall was laid by the then Mayor, Charles Dynott. The town council, which may have included Thomas Strong, had invited the local big wig, Lord Palmerstone to take part in the ceremony however he was not able to oblige them due a health problem. They had a vellum parchment inscribed with the names of members of the council at the time along with the statement out lined above. This was sealed in a bottle which was lowered down into the hole before the corner stone was put into place above it. The architect for the new Town Hall, Alfred Bedborough received several commissions from Thomas such as additions and alterations to Horse Fair Brewery (1866), alterations to the Bell Inn (1865) and the Star Inn (1866), near Stockbridge, and rebuilding an Inn (possibly the New Inn) at Spearwell.
In the following March at Hampshire Assizes: William Chilcott pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the country house of Thomas Strong at Romsey and stealing certain monies on the 17th of January 1866 and was sentenced to six months hard labour.
March 1869 seemed to have been a very unlucky time for Thomas, his father, Samuel Strong, died on the 6th followed by another traumatic event which happened when on one Saturday morning shortly after three o'clock a fire broke out at the Angel Inn in Bell Street, Romsey believed to have been one of the oldest Inns in Romsey at the time which held, the then , old assembly-rooms. They had managed to get the fire- engines to the spot reasonably quickly, and as good luck would have it a good water supply was close at hand and they soon set to work on the fire. However the Angle Inn seemed to be burning even faster than before they started working on it: So the adjacent premises were drenched in water so that the fire was confined to the Inn, which ended up a totally destroyed. People were worried that the houses on the opposite side of the street were liable to catch fire due to the wind fanning the flames so as to make an almost perfect fire arch which luckily did not quite reached across the street. The fire was so intense that almost all of Romsey was illuminated and the whole thing became a fearsome sceptical. It was not until well after 10 o'clock that evening before the fight to suppress the fire could be slackened off although one of the engines was left on to play on the smouldering embers of the mainly timber built property which took up until the following Monday to die out. Sensibly Thomas had the place insured along with the rest of the Horsefair brewery and other properties with the Atlantic Fire office. Mrs Reid the landlady who was a widow with a large family did not carry insurance of her own so lost all her household furniture and fittings along with most of the family's clothing as by the time they got out the fire was well ablaze. In many cases in those days it was difficult to work out how things started but in this case Mrs Reid stated she had left some children's clothes in front of the fire in the small bar when she went to bed and a spark must have flown out and set them on fire. The Angel Inn was rebuilt, although now-a-days I am led to understand it is renamed and has become a restaurant.
The 1871 Census tells us Thomas & Catherine and their servants were living in Horse Fair near the Brewery and by 1878 he is listed in the Hampshire directory Strong & Co brewers malters and Spirit merchants, Horsefair Brewery Timsbury House, Church Street Romsey. The 1880 entry of Kelly's Directory tells us Thomas strong, Harefield House, private residence: & Co etc. Horsefair Brewery. Which was Thomas's last place of residence. It seems that on the 6th of October 1879 Thomas purchased some 17 acres of land in Romsey from Alexander Stead JP of Woodley House with the rider that "the said Thomas Strong or all future owners of the premises respectively covenant with Stead and his heirs and Assigns that not building whatsoever shall at any time be erected save one private dwelling-house with the necessary offices out-buildings" and so on. One wonders how the next generation got out of that one. A magazine entitled "the Builder" tells us That the architect was a Mr J. Hunter who was paid £ 4,224 11shilling and 5pence for the work. In a codicil to Thomas's Will which bears the date the seventh day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy one he states the following information
"This is the second Codicil to the last will and testament of me Thomas Strong of Romsey in the County of Southampton Brewer which will bears date the seventeenth day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy one whereas since the date and execution of my said will I have purchased a piece of land containing about seventeen acres situated in the Parish of Romsey Extra in the said County and have erected therein a dwelling-house with offices Greenhouse hot houses coach-house stables Gardens and Coachman's cottages entrance lodge and outbuildings all which premises are known by the name of “Harefield” and are at the date of this my will in my own occupation and are hereinafter called the Harefield Estate."
The Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists informs us that Mr Charles Smith spent twenty-one years gardening for Mr Arthur Anderson at the Grove Norwood, and whilst there he got his reputation as an exhibitor. He afterwards laid out Harefield House, Romsey. He retired from his profession about sixteen years ago.
It's interesting to note that on the 1891 census that Thomas's nearest next door neighbour was a retired Brewer from the Bell Street Brewery (which was another small local brewery along with the Cressy Brewery a few years later, bought up by David Faber the next owner after Thomas of Strong & Co) named William Bentley George and his family. He had been the Mayor of Romsey in 1871 and 1891. Bentley eventual came out of retirement and worked for Faber.
The Brewery's sole ownership had been in the hands of Charles J Hall since 1834 whose widow's heirs had sold the business onto Sir Edward Bates M.P., with Thomas Strong as the tenant on a 45 year lease paying a rent of £470 per annum, it was almost entirely Freehold with a first class Brewer and 22 public-houses. The Horsefair Brewery, had all the buildings necessary for carrying on the large and well established trade for many years connected therewith, including a brewhouse, hop store, two large malthouse, extensive cellarage, and a capital modern private Residence, with garden, Paddock, occupying six acres: Many of the 22 Public-Houses and Beer-Houses had gardens and meadow land and attached cottages and so on. The lease would have run out in 42 years from Michaelmas 1858. Thomas had built a new residence, and greatly improved and in some cases entirely rebuilt some of the public-houses.
Presumably Thomas was not in the position at that time to outbid Sir Edward. However the business was eventually sold to Thomas in the July of 1883. It does not seem to have been advertised in the local newspapers on this occasion althouh details of the sale appeared in the Law Times so one can speculate that it was a private deal between both the parties. There is a probability that Thomas's Grandfather, George Robinson's trust fund made to provide annuities for all his ten children, eight of whom were girls, whose capital would have been transferred to their husband, but not their income, under the law at that time. George had made his two sons trustees under the terms of his will, however they died within four years of their father's demise, and as a consequence the estate went into chancellery & the Court ordered that the trust had to be liquidated so that all the good assets George had built up over the years were gone. When the matter was sorted out the new trustees Samuel Strong, (Thomas's dad) & William Bird another of George's son-in-laws, were constantly looking for new investment vehicles such an interest paying mortgage to Strong & Co would have fitted in there nicely or for that matter helping to finance up grading all the premises when he first took on the business. Sadly by the time of his eventual purchase of the business The Law Times listed:- 22 Public Houses and Beer Houses which read some thing like this The Market Inn, Romsey: The bridge Tavern, Romsey: The Lamb Inn, Middlebridge St Romsey: The Three Tuns, Middlebridge St Romsey: The Bell Inn, Romsey: The Swan Inn, Market Place Romsey: The Vine Inn, Romsey: The Hussars, Romsey: The Lord Nelson, Chevelle St Romsey: The Star Inn, Romsey: The Angel Hotel with a barber Shop attached, Bell St Romsey: The new Inn, Spearwell: The Fox Inn, Mountford: The Dog and Crook, Michelmersh: The Malthouse, Timsbury: The Elephant and Castle, Eling: The Three Horse Shoes, Botley: The New Inn ....... The White Hart Cadenham: The Anchor and Hope Lymington: The railway Inn Lymington: The Waterloo Arms Lymington.
In the December of 1883 Romsey Working Men's Conservative Association was founded it used to meet in the Dolphin Hotel and the town Hall. Thomas Strong was named as the first president and provided two chessboards with men complete and two draughts boards with two boxes of dominoes; along with six packs of cards and two cribbage boards - all for which he was duly thanked. After the Swan Inn closed in 1894, David Faber the next owner of Strong & Co made the building available for the Club at a peppercorn rent. Subsequently he gave them the building.
In the History of the First volunteer battalion of the Hampshire regiment, they tell the tale of an event on one of their summer camps at a landing stage called the Colonel's Hard (where ever that is) which stated one of the chief difficulties was the transport of thirty barrels of beer to the camp, which was given by Thomas Strong Esq of Romsey, in answer to the appeal for subscriptions. It was found impossible to get them into small boats and consequently cask after cask was rolled and towed ashore by any means that could be devised, and when on shore loaded in farm carts and so found its way to camp.
One of the thorns in the side of the late 1800s brewer was the Temperance Movement who preached and pledged sermons on total abstinence which was not good for trade to say the least. In the February of 1885 Thomas attended the twelfth annual session of the Licensed victuallers National Defence League in Southampton. The President in his opening speech announce that in the last year there had been no less than six Sunday closing bills to rebut in Parliament and four local bills such as Durham and the Yorkshire Bills. There had also been two general closing bills. If it was a sin to drink a glass of beer in Durham or Yorkshire on a Sunday it was surely no virtue to drink in Southampton or other place. The address went on in a similar vain for some considerable time.
Thomas's particular local protagonist was Lord Mount-Temple of Broadland in Romsey who was a giant in the temperance movement. They had a number of newspaper debates on the issue of temperance one in particular was "entitled "The Romsey Teetotal controversy and the Broadland estate", in a letter to the editor Thomas stated as labourers wages are so low they cannot afford to rent descent housing in the town, so that it was incumbent on the estate owner to provide suitable housing for them on their land and that Lord Mount-Temple was not free from the sin of omission in this respect, one hundred years of talking and lecturing would not do half as much good as one single order to his steward to see that there is a cottage and a garden for every labourer on his estate. If teetotalism were call by that name there might be some sense in it for certainly the hate shown by the more violent section of that party to our trade and the abuse lavished on them on all who do not conform to their opinion, bear a close resemblance to the savagery of the real Mahdi (a Muslim sect who fought the British in the Sudan). Thomas continues his rant for well over a full broad sheet newspaper column. He must have felt very threatened by the Temperance movement. My Great-grandmother, Louisa Strong, one of his sisters, must have been very impressed with Thomas's letter, dated 13 April 1885, as she kept a copy of it in her scrap book.
The Newspaper Column headline read "Gigantic Entertainment at Romsey"
For the entertainment of his men and their families and friends Mr Thomas
Strong of Harefield Romsey kindly illuminated his grounds with the electric
light and made a variety of other provisions for their benefit last (Tuesday)
evening and a general invitation having been extended to most of the residence of the neighbourhood there was a large gathering it been computed that there was about five thousand persons present . Refreshments had been provided gratuitously in four large tents in one an excellent supper being laid for Mr Strong’s workmen there family and friends which full justice was done by a very large company. In the other tent substantial sandwiches, cakes,
beer, tea, were dispensed libitum and Mr Strong’s liberality and thoroughly appreciated and praise bearing the motto welcome and the whole of the well laid out and spacious demeans was brilliantly illuminated with the electric light and a promenade of the spacious grounds was thoroughly enjoyed. The Conservative vinery and peach-house and the kitchen garden attracted many visitors and the electric illuminations in the house and about the grounds were much admired. The electric light has been provided by Messer’s Laing
Wharton and Down of London and the motive power to provide the electricity was a large Otto gas engine is a very steady one. A number of members of the
Southampton and South Hants Licence victualler’s Association numbered between fifty and sixty many being from Southampton were entertained with a capital dinner by Mr Strong. In addition to other attractions Mr Whitley’s band, Westbourne, was present and an excellent vocal and instrumental concert was given the program been as follows:- ………. It then goes on to list the various songs played mentioning the vocalists who were Miss Forrester and Messer’s Reed (tenor) and Poole (base) Mr Goddard been the conductor of the band. There was a slight downpour of rain in the evening, and though it was somewhat cold the attendance was a very large one as we have intimated above and Mr Strong’s unbound hospitality was much and deservedly appreciated by all present. An illumination at the exit gate wished “good night to all” and hoped to meet the again. By arrangement with the manager of the Romsey gasworks the road from Romsey was properly lighted with gas lamps. An entertainment on such a large scale had never been known in Romsey at least not in the memory of her oldest inhabitants and Mr Strong’s hospitality was the theme of universal admiration
Harefield House was damaged by fire in 1915. However between 1942-1945 it it was used as a Second World War RAF supply depot.
Thomas Strong was very proud of Harefield and the house is mentioned on his tombstone which is in Botley Road cemetery and within sight of Harefield. Sadly the house was pulled down a few years ago, but three estate cottages survive and a gardener's bungalow, the latter having been built many years after Strong's death. The whole estate was acquired by Romsey Borough Council and the land was used for 1950s council housing, with the principal road being known as Viney Avenue.
Thomas had always wanted children of his own, but sadly that was not to be. His Will which was signed and witnessed on the seventeenth day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy one made substantial provision for any children from the marriage, however it must have been on the cards that after six years of trying for some off spring and Catherine been by then thirty eight years old this may not happen, as a consequence after providing a bequeath of one thousand pound for Catherine and the use of the house for as long as she needed it as well as the payment of any financial benefit he had received from Catherine's family to her, (the law at that time gave all a wife's property to the husband) he gave most of his wealth away to his eight remaining siblings in the form of an income for life percolating down to his nieces and nephews. Catherine on the other hand left her wealth to her brother & sisters and interestingly enough specified
"I desire to be buried in the vault in Romsey Cemetery with my late dear husband and in as a inexpensive a manner as possible and that no hearse be used at my funeral"
The events in Thomas's life may give us a clue towards helping us to understanding what happened next of a rather a melancholy character.
Catherine Strong had been away visiting at Torquay for some time and during the absence of his wife Thomas usually slept in a small bedroom in another part of the house. On the Sunday morning he attended church. Then in the afternoon he walked out with his friend, Mr Footner a local solicitor, then partook in a hearty dinner in the evening and had a glass of grog as usual, before retiring to bed and his manner throughout the day was cheerful and nothing out of character occurred. The light down stairs were extinguished about eleven o’clock and Thomas and the servants retired to their rooms. Thomas carried a candle with him as customary. At half passed seven the next morning he was called, as normal but the maid received no answer, so opened the door and saw Thomas upon the floor. She though he was having a fit and raised the alarm and the coachman hastened to Romsey to summon Mr F Taylor, surgeon, who, with Mr Plumb, the manager of the brewery, went to the bedroom, and found the body with the marks of three shots from a revolver on it. One was in the forehead, the bullet having flattened on the skull, and it is surmised that the deceased, after making this attempt on his life, took off his shirt and fired two shots into his left breast. The deed was evidently done on the previous night before retiring to rest.
Dr Taylor stated that he believed the act, if committed by the deceased
himself, was as a result of a suddenly deranged mind. Of late deceased had
suffered from dyspepsia, (indigestion) and could not sleep.
Mr Footner said that he had known Mr Strong for years, and he appeared to be about the last person in the world to commit suicide. He was with him on Sunday; he did not then seem quite well, but he was better towards evening. He was a man of deep religious convictions.
Mr Plumb said he last saw Mr Strong on Saturday; he was then particularly pleasant. He was, however, a man of very anxious mind. Thomas had made arrangements for his breakfast next morning saying he would rather have cocoa than coffee.
At the coroner's inquest the jury returned a verdict to the effect that, in
their opinion, the wounds were sufficient to cause death but there was no
evidence to show by whom they were inflicted, or as to the state of mind in
which deceased was at the time he met his death. Which it maybe suspected was more about the regard they had for Thomas than for the actual truth.
On 27th of March 1886 the day of his funeral a many of the local shops in Romsey closed for half a day as a mark of respect, the horse drawn glass sided open Hearse was followed by a number of carriages carrying friends and family, the polished oak coffin had four crosses and eight wreaths made up out of flowers. He was buried under a pink slate coloured tomb behind the Anglican Chapel in Botley Road. Catherine, his wife died six years later in 1892, she was interred in the same grave. Thomas had left £27,144 19s 3p (about 12-13 million in today's terms whereas Catherine's estate was worth £7,806 8s 2p
Thomas Strong had made a comfortable living due to a good line of credit from his Grandfather's children's trust fund with his well-managed locally based business providing secure employment for many people in Romsey and the surrounding area so we can say he did well enough like many other modest sized brewery owners of his era. On the other hand it has been suggested that out of the original 22 licensed houses at the time of purchase only 14 survived to be sold reducing production down to 3,000 barrels a year. It's very probable that while Thomas was the lease holder he was not in the position to sell off the unprofitable retail outlets and it was only in the last three years of his life that he could rationalise the business on his own behalf. less profitable assets may have had to be disposed of or converted to residential use to optimise profitability, not bad from starting from zero to a business that provide enough money for Thomas and his wife to live very comfortably indeed. In contrast to his successor David Faber who was very expansion minded.
After Thomas death his executors sold the Business to David Faber, who came from a very wealthy and well connected family who initially provide the finances to get started . Strong & Co of Romsey was registered as a limited liability company in 1894 and continued a policy of acquiring breweries and licenced and tied houses in Hampshire and the surrounding counties. Then in 1955 it became an associated company of the Whitbread Group who full acquired the Strongs with their 950 tied houses in 1968 and brewing finish at the Horsefair Brewery in 1981 and the residue site close in 1987
So why did he commit suicide?
At the coroner's inquest Dr Taylor stated he knew nothing professionally about the state of Mr Strong’s mind. For several years he had consulted a specialist in London named Dr Smith. Then put his Dyspepsia theory which he considered may have driven him mad enough to commit suicide.
There was a history of mental health problems in the family. His brother the Rev. Francis Strong was described as mad in the later stages of his life. & one of his nieces eventual died in Camberwell House, a private lunatic asylum although I suspect it would probably be called a care home nowadays.
Bryan Cooper Thomas Strong's Great-nephew
PS Many thanks to Phoebe Merrick from the Romsey LTVAS Group
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