by Malcom Clegg
The Whitbread Family
John Robert WHITBREAD was born on the 17th July 1916. He was a man of private means resulting from a family inheritance. The family wealth had been accrued over many generations. In this respect, I carried out research into his family history from the eighteenth century, just prior to the birth of his 3 x Great Grandfather Samuel Whitbread who later became known as Samuel Whitbread the first. The family roots go back much further within the County of Bedfordshire, and records do survive which show that the Whitbread family were living in the County as far back as 1254 when one Roger Whythbread was recorded as living in Gravenhurst. Further reference to the family living in the same area was recorded in 1314 (Referred to in the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society, volume 32 pages 37/38). It would appear that the Whitbread family seem to have come from the Hamlet of ‘ion’ in Upper Gravenhurst.
Samuel Whitbread (1st)
SAMUEL Whitbread was born in Cardington near Bedford on the 20th August 1720. He was the youngest son of Henry Whitbread and his second wife Elizabeth (Nee Read). His father Henry Whitbread was a wealthy yeoman stock farmer and land owner in Bedfordshire. He also had a family holding in Gloucestershire. In addition, Henry was receiver for the land taxes of Bedfordshire County. Henry died in 1727, when Samuel was just seven years old. In 1735 his widow Elizabeth paid the vast sum of £300 to one John Whitman a leading London brewer to employ her son Samuel as his apprentice. After serving his apprenticeship, Samuel went into partnership with Thomas Shewell who owned two small breweries in London. Samuel paid Thomas the sum of £2,600 which he had received as a family inheritance. Together, they founded the ‘Whitbread’ brewery, which was built in Chiswell Street, London in 1750. In 1765, Samuel bought out Thomas for the sum of £30,000. The company at that time had become one of the largest brewers of porter in England. Samuel Whitbread married Harriet Hayton in 1758 and she gave birth to a son, Samuel Whitbread (2nd) in January 1764 but sadly she died on Easter day less than three months later. In 1769 Samuel married Lady Mary Cornwallis daughter of Charles (1ST Earl Cornwallis) but tragically she died in December the following year whilst giving birth to a daughter. The daughter, later christened Mary in honour of her mother survived until 1858. Samuel did not marry again.
Samuel Whitbread (2nd)
Samuel Whitbread (1st) took great care of his only son, sending him to Eton College, accompanied by his own private tutor. He later continued his education at Christ Church, Oxford, and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he met Charles Grey who became a lifelong friend. After university, Samuels’s father sent Samuel on a tour of Europe. This included visits to Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Prussia, France and Italy. When Samuel returned in May 1786, he joined his father running the extremely successful family brewing business. The following year, he married Lady Elizabeth Grey (the sister of his friend Charles Grey) eldest daughter of the first ‘Earl Grey’. They would later have five children, William Charles (1789-1791), William Henry (1795-1867), Samuel Charles (1796-1879) and two daughters (Elizabeth and Emina Laura).
Charles Grey was elected MP for Northumberland. Samuel also decided to go into politics, and in 1790 he was elected MP for Bedford. Whitbread and Grey became followers of Charles Fox, leader of the radical ‘Whigs’. A passionate supporter for reform, Samuel Whitbread soon became a powerful critic of the Tory Prime Minister William Pitt. Whitbread argued for an extension of religious and civil rights, and an end to the slave trade. He also campaigned for the establishment of a national education system. In 1795 Whitbread introduced proposals for a minimum wage bill for agricultural workers, but the bill was opposed by William Pitt and his Tory government and was defeated when it was put before parliament in December 1795. In 1796, his father Samuel Whitbread (1st) died and in 1799, the brewery adopted the name ‘Whitbread & Co. Ltd’.
In 1807 Samuel Whitbread proposed a new Poor Law to increase the financial help given to the poor and also the establishment of a free educational system. He proposed that every child between the ages of seven and fourteen who was unable to pay should receive two years free education. The measures were seen as too radical and easily defeated in the House of Commons. Samuel refused to be disillusioned by his constant defeats, and
although he was unable to persuade parliament to accept his ideas, he used his considerable fortune (made by the brewing industry) to support good causes, and gave generous financial help to establish schools for the poor.
When the Whigs gained power in 1806 Whitbread expected the Prime Minister Lord Grenville to offer him a place in his government and was deeply disappointed when this did not happen. Many people believed that this was due to the fact that his views were too radical at that time. He also had sympathies towards Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France, which were considered by many as completely unacceptable. He began to suffer from depression, and on the morning of the 6th June 1815, Samuel Whitbread committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor, a mere 12 days before the battle of Waterloo.
Samuel Charles Whitbread
Samuel Charles Whitbread (third son of Samuel Whitbread 2nd) was born on 16th February 1796. Samuel Charles was Member of Parliament for the constituency of Middlesex from 1820 to 1830 and became High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1831. His interests were astronomy and meteorology and he was President of the Royal Meteorology Society from 1850 to 1853. In June 1854 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1824 he married the Hon. Juliana Brand Trevor, daughter of Henry Otway (Trevor) Brand, 21st Baron Dacre (1777-1853). They had two sons, Samuel Whitbread (known as Samuel Whitbread 3rd) born 1830, and William Whitbread, born in 1834. Juliana died in 1858 and her husband Samuel Charles died in 1879.
William Whitbread
William Whitbread was born on the 6th August 1834. He was raised in London and Bedfordshire with his older brother Samuel and they were sent to Cambridge University to prepare them for careers within the church or in politics. After finishing his education, William met and married Laura Emily Maria Robarts (1844-1930), the daughter of Abraham George Robarts, a wealthy barrister, and a family member of the Robarts Banking Dynasty. William spent his working life as a brewer in the family brewery. Upon the death of their father Samuel Charles, the older brother Samuel Whitbread (3rd) was willed succession to the entailed Whitbread estates, and the non-entailed estates (including the Chiswell Street Brewery premises) were passed on to William. William died at the relatively young age of forty five and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church, Cardington, Bedfordshire. He and Laura had two sons, Charles (1866-1896) and Robert.
Robert Whitbread (Father of J.R. Whitbread)
Robert Whitbread was born in 1876. He was educated at Eton College in Berkshire. After leaving the college, he continued his education at Cambridge University. He later joined the Coldstream Guards as a career officer and was promoted through the ranks to Major. He was called up for active service after the outbreak of WW1 serving in France in the capacity of Acting Lieutenant Colonel but was wounded in action and evacuated back home. In 1915, Robert Whitbread married Josephine Peck at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square in London.
Josephine Peck (Mother of J.R.WHITBREAD)
Josephine Peck was born in Chicago, America in 1882, the daughter of Harold Stoughton Peck who was the son of Philip Ferdinand Wythe Peck.
Philip Ferdinand Wythe Peck
Philip was born in 1808 and was seen by many as the founder of Chicago.
He moved to Chicago from Buffalo, New Jersey in July 1831 to open a store. At that time Chicago was little more than a Fort (Fort Dearborn) and Trading Post.
Philip made his fortune buying up real estate in the area and built the first brick built residence in Chicago on the Corner of South Water and La Salle Street. Philip was a founder member of the first Fire Department to be set up and he himself was a volunteer fire fighter. Ironically he was killed during the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. One hundred and twenty bodies were recovered from the remains of the fire, but it was thought that the death toll could have been as high as three hundred. His considerable wealth was passed on to his sons, Walter Leslie Peck (born 1839), Clarence Ives Peck (born 1841), Harold Stoughton Peck (born 1845) and Ferdinand Wythe Peck (born 1848).
Harold Stoughton Peck. As previously stated, Harold was the father of Josephine, who married Robert Whitbread in 1915. Josephine first came to London on a visit with her three sisters, Annah, Haroldine and Marion. Like many wealthy American heiresses at that time, large numbers visited England where they met and married titled husbands. They were sometimes referred to as ‘American Princesses’. This however was not the case in the marriage of Robert and Josephine, as Robert did not have a title although he was a person of considerable means, as was Josephine. Robert and Josephine appear to have had a happy marriage together. Josephine died in 1938 and Robert died in 1950. Robert & Josephine had two children, John Robert Whitbread (born in 1916) and Sylvia Anne Whitbread (Born 1918).
For the Purists
Set out below is a direct line of ancestors from the year fifteen hundred leading up to the time of Samuel Whitbread (1st). They were all born in the vicinity of Upper Gravenhurst in Bedfordshire.
Thomas Whitbread (c.1500-1552). Thomas Whitbread (c.1518-1585). John Whitbread (1547-1598). William Whitbread (1573-c.1639). Henry Whitbread (1600-1657). William Whitbread (1624-1701). Henry Whitbread (1664-1727).
In 1750, Samuel Whitbread (1st) built the Chiswell Street Brewery in London. It was given the name the Hinds’ Head Brewery after the three red hinds’ heads which appear on the family coat of arms.
Monuments & Memorials
The seat of the Whitbread family is at Southill Park, Bedfordshire, but the family also has an estate in Cardington and some of the family are buried in Cardington Church. Various monuments and memorials relating to the Whitbread family can be found within the church.
Extract from the April 2014 edition of History Lines (No. 56)