The Gray and Dacre Brewery was located in West Ham Lane,

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Founding and early history

The brewery 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 A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

as a "brewer"). Gray received financial help from his father, Owen Gray, a brewer in

March, Cambridgeshire March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. It was the county town of the Isle of Ely which was a separate administrative county from 1889 to 1965. The administrative centre of Fenland ...

, in order to set up the business in West Ham. In 1822, following successful experiments to improve

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

, it was reported that the Gray and Dacre Brewery would be adopting a new fermentation system, using equipment provided by the copper merchants

James Shears and Sons James Shears and Sons was a firm of London coppersmiths and braziers who were active from c1785 to 1891. The firm was founded by James Shears (c1750-1820) and continued by his two sons Daniel Towers Shears (1782–1860) and James Henry Shears (178 ...

. Gray subsequently visited France to observe fermentation techniques there.

Later history

Gray died in 1826 and was buried under the floor of the nave of All Saints Church, West Ham. His widow Lydia (1794-1855) continued to manage the business with the Dacre family. Lydia was the youngest daughter of the coppersmith James Shears. John and Lydia's children included Ann Thomson Gray, author of ''The Twin Pupils: Or, An Education at Home'', and Frances Gray, who married her cousin the Rev.

Frederick Spurrell Frederick Spurrell (2 August 1824 – 23 February 1902) was an Anglican priest and archaeologist. Early life and education Frederick Spurrell was born at 23, Park Street in Southwark at a time when his father, Charles Spurrell (1783–1866), wa ...

. They were also related, through marriage, to the

Watney family The Watney family is an English family known for its association with the brewing firm Watney Combe & Reid,Janes, H. ''The Red Barrel: A History of Watney Mann'' (1963). as well as for its political activities, philanthropy and missionary work. Mem ...

of brewers. The Gray and Dacre Brewery was auctioned in 1846 and acquired by Charrington and Co.''The Times'', 6 June 1846

References

{{reflist Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom 1846 disestablishments in England Breweries in London Brewing in London West Ham Watney family