John Edmund Martineau (1904 – 3 June 1982) was an English

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

and brewing executive, who served as President of the Institute of Brewing.

Life

John Edmund Martineau was born in 1904, the eldest son of Maurice Martineau, of Walsham-le-Willows in Suffolk. In 1936, he married Catherine Makepeace Thackeray (1911–1995), second daughter of William Thackeray Dennis Ritchie (1880–1964), of Woodend House in Marlow, Durham, a descendant of

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

.Mostyn-Owen, William (8 November 1995
"Obituary: Catherine Martineau"
''The Independent''. Retrieved 28 April 2016. Martineau was the great grandson of an earlier John Martineau who was an early part owner of Whitbreads in the 1800s, when in 1812 Whitbread had merged with the Martineau Brewery. However, John Martineau, his great grandfather had died in an industrial accident in a yeast vat in the brewery in 1834 and his shares in Whitbread passed to his son, who also took a role in future management. Martineau was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, where he completed a classics degree. He worked at Mure's Brewery in Hampstead, before joining

Whitbread & Co Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

's in 1925; promotion to managing director followed in 1931, making him the fifth member of his family to sit on Whitbread's Board since it took over the family business, Martineau and Bland, in 1812."Obituary"
''Journal of the Institute of Brewing'', vol. 88, 1982, pp. 297–298 (subscription required). Retrieved 28 April 2016. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, rising to the rank of

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

and ending with a posting at the Directorate of War Organisation in the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

. After the war, he returned to Whitbread's and was responsible for overseeing research and technical affairs, including the re-opening of its laboratory in 1946. Martineau worked closely with the Head Brewer, Bill Lasman, and the pair tried to apply scientific advances to brewing. According to his obituary, Whitbread's Luton brewery "would never have been built in that matter if not for the training and encouragement they gave to the technical staff". In 1950, Martineau joined the Council of the Brewers' Society, an appointment which would last for sixteen years. At the same time, he was appointed Chairman of the Publications Committee at the Institute of Brewing, in which post he remained until 1952. Between 1954 and 1956, he served as President of the Institute of Brewing and in 1955 he was appointed Master of the Brewers' Company for a year. He had overseen the reconstruction of the latter company's bomb-damaged hall after the war as Chairman of the Hall Committee. Away from his profession, Martineau was also chairman of the governors at

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (also known as Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's; referred to by the acronym DAOS) is an 11–18 mixed, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It i ...

and

Aldenham School Aldenham School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to ele ...

. His obituary in the ''Journal of the Institute of Brewing'' records that "his heart was especially close to research and to education" in the brewing industry; he was described as

don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

-like and an intellectual. He died on 3 June 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martineau, John Edmund 1904 births 1982 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople Alumni of New College, Oxford English brewers Masters of the Worshipful Company of Brewers People educated at Eton College People from Walsham-le-Willows Whitbread people