Gray and Dacre Brewery

The Gray and Dacre Brewery was located in West Ham Lane, West Ham, Essex, in the first half of the nineteenth century.

It was founded by John Gray (1791-1826) and the Dacre family, which resided in West Ham for several generations until the 1860s (Francis Dacre was described on the 1841 census as a "brewer").[1] John Gray received financial help from his father, Owen Gray, a brewer in March, Cambridgeshire, in order to set up the business in West Ham.[2]

John Gray died in 1826, leaving his widow, Lydia (1794-1855), to manage the business along with the Dacre family. The Gray and Dacre Brewery was auctioned in 1846 and acquired by Charrington and Co..[3]

John Gray is buried under the floor of the nave of All Saints' Church, West Ham.[4]

John Gray married Lydia Shears, the youngest daughter of the coppersmith James Shears. Their children included Ann Thomson Gray, author of The Twin Pupils: Or, An Education at Home, and Frances Gray, who married the Rev. Frederick Spurrell. They were also related, through marriage, to the brewer James Watney.[5]

References
  1. 1841 census
  2. The Gray’s (sic) of Grays Lane, Edna Stacey, March Museum, 2007
  3. The Times, 6 June 1846
  4. Fry K., History of the Parishes of East and West Ham (1888)
  5. Spurrell, J. C., The life of Charles Spurrell and his family's links to the Watney and Gray brewing families, Brewery History No. 138 (December 2010)
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