Samuel Whitbread Establishes His Brewing Business

On December 11, 1742, Samuel Whitbread entered into partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell to establish a brewing business in London. Whitbread had begun an apprenticeship with London brewer John Wightman in 1736. The new partnership acquired the Goat Brewhouse near the junction of Old Street and Whitecross Street as well as another brewery in Brick Lane. The enterprise became one of the leading breweries of the London porter trade. In 1750, Whitbread and Thomas Shewell transferred their operations to the larger Chiswell Street site, where the brewery subsequently expanded through large-scale production and industrial technology. The business founded in 1742 thus formed the starting point for one of the most important names in British brewing history.