Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet (pronounced "Mews") (8 May 1770 – 7 April 1841) was a British brewer, owner of the London brewery which became the Meux Brewery.[1]
Early life
Meux was baptised on 8 May 1770. He was the second son of brewer Richard Meux (c. 1734–1813)[2] - whose portrait was drawn in 1796 by Henry Bone copied from a painting by Sir William Beechey - and Mary (née Brougham) Meux (c. 1744–1812).[3][4] Henry's elder brother was Richard Meux, who died in 1824,[3] leaving his daughter, and heiress, Elizabeth Meux, who married Thomas Starling Benson of Champion Lodge (parents of Richard Meux Benson, SSJE, and Gen. Henry Roxby Benson).[5] Another sister, Fanny Meux, was the wife of Vicesimus Knox.[6]
Meux was descended from an old Isle of Wight family. The elder brother of his grandfather's grandfather, Sir John Meux, MP for Newtown, had been created a baronet in 1641; but the title became extinct with Sir John's grandson in 1705.[a] Sir Henry's maternal grandfather was Henry Broughman of Brougham Hall, Cumbria, and his uncle was Henry Brougham, father of Lord Broughman and Vaux.[5]
Meux's father owned the Griffin Brewery on Liquorpond Street in Clerkenwell, London, and Meux learned the business from him.[8] His father built in 1795 the largest recorded vat, that held 20,000 barrels and cost £10,000.[9] However, Meux "left his father's employ, in 1809, after an argument"[9] and acquired the Horse Shoe Brewery, a brewery in the City of Westminster that had been formed in 1764. Meux renamed it "Henry Meux & Co." and it became a major producer of porter. In 1814, his brewery was the site of the London Beer Flood, which killed eight people after a porter vat burst.[10] After his death in 1841, his son took over the brewery.[11]
On 1 November 1816, Meux married Elizabeth-Mary Smith, a daughter of Thomas Smith of Castlebar House, Middlesex.[5] Together, they were the parents of one son and three daughters:
Emma Martha Meux (1822–1905), who married Arthur de Vere Capell, Viscount Malden, eldest son and heir apparent of Arthur Capell, 6th Earl of Essex, in 1853.[7]
Sir Henry died at Theobald's Park, Hertfordshire on 7 April 1841,[5] and was succeeded by his only son, Henry. His widow, Lady Meux, died on 18 September 1851.[7]
Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was a grandfather of William St Julien Arabin, Alice Charlotte Arabin (wife of Hon. Arthur Charles Lewin Cadogan, a son of Henry Cadogan, 4th Earl Cadogan), and Marianne Elizabeth Arabin (wife of John William Gordon Woodford, son of Sir Alexander George Woodford).[7]
^Cokayne, G.E.; with Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H.A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand, Duncan; and de Walden, Lord Howard; editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 282.
^Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (9 September 2011). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Pan Macmillan. p. 90. ISBN978-0-230-73878-2. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
