Taylor, Moody and Taylor
East Street
Brewing commenced Before 1789
Acquired by Coopers brewery possibly 1839?
I do not know when or where this brewery started, although I believe that it was at the Turks Head, see below, before 1789. The business was started by Walter Taylor, Richard Vernon Moody, and Samuel Silver Taylor, in East Street.
The National Archives have a record of insurance from 27th March 1789, the insured being ‘Richard Vernon Moody, Southampton, banker’, relating to ‘other property or occupiers: near the town pond, Southampton (Messrs Taylor and Co Brewers); the Turk's Head, King Street, Spring Gardens, Southampton.’ A similar entry is for the Fox & Hounds Lyndhurst.
Numerous sources refer to the Cowherds on Southampton Common, being run by Edward Dyett in 1774. He was also a brewer and the pub, then known as the Southampton Arms, was leased to the East Street brewers Taylor Moody & Taylor in 1789. I assume that they did not brew at the Southampton Arms, and simply supplied them with their own beers.
Walter Taylor made rope blocks for ships, and for gun carriages on ships, and he had a mill at South Stoneham, as well as his brewery interests. I have found an interesting item, a halfpenny ‘trade token’ produced by Taylor Moody and Co, in 1791 and inscribed “success to the brewery and block manufactory”. See images below, taken from the-saleroom.com and which are freely available.
Richard Vernon Moody died in 1792. Samuel Silver Taylor died 2nd August 1823, aged 58 years and 11 months. His son in law was John Sadlier Moody. Later, the partnership was between Samuel Silver Taylor, John Sadlier Moody and Thomas Sadlier Moody. Messrs Moody ‘disposed’ of the business to what would become the William Cooper brewery (See the Coopers brewery page).
The 1793-1798 Universal British directory shows Samuel Taylor as a brewer, and in
Pigots Hampshire directory of 1823/4, Taylor & Moody East Street, which is the same entry in 1836, but with the addition of ‘Paradise Row’ appears as an address.
I cannot find much further information on this brewery, so I will just include some items which may be of interest. They were presumably good employers as there is a brief reference to the death of ‘Murrell’ aged 43, who had worked at the brewery for 24 years as a cooper (newspapers of 1st December 1823).
When John Sadlier Moody died in 1823, the Hampshire Advertiser reported that he was connected to a large and respectable brewery. In November 1832 William Moody “brewer of this city” married Maria Camis
In January 1837 there appears in newspapers a notice for the letting of the Southampton Arms public house, which included stables, and premises, situated close to the race course, and within a mile of Southampton. Details were to be obtained from the office of Messrs Taylor and Moody East Street. Two years later in newspapers of 16th February 1839, the licensing authorities agreed to the transfer of the lease of the Southampton Arms by the brewery. The lease was for 14 years from 20th May 1831, and the assignee (person receiving the lease) was Mr J Cooper of Seaford Sussex. By June 1842 Sadlier Moody is referred to as a ‘retired brewer’.
I cannot tie down when the transfer of the business to Cooper’s took place, but it may well have been in 1839, and the transfer of the Southampton Arms was perhaps part of the deal.
It seems that Taylor & Moody, Sanders, JR King, and of course Coopers, all styled themselves as East Street Brewery, which is confusing! Sanders was possibly acquired by JR King. Taylors and JR King were both acquired by Coopers, and who were more commonly known as the East Street brewery.