Hester Parnall

Hester Parnall was born in St Austell, Cornwall, England, in 1868.^[1] She married Thomas Rogers Parnall in 1904, a widower 28 years her senior. She was widowed in 1915.^[2]

St Austell Brewery was founded in 1851 by Parnall's father, Walter Hicks, at St Austell.^[3][4] In 1911, Hester's brother Walter Junior died after a motorcycle accident at Helston, Cornwall, and Walter returned to run the brewery aged 82.^[3] Another brother, Gerald, died at Flanders during World War I in 1915.^[1] Parnall joined St Austell Brewery as a director in 1911 and became company chairman after her father's death in 1916.^[5][3][6] She remained in this position until her 1939.^[7][8][9] She was succeeded by her nephew Egbert Barnes (1898–1979).^{[10][11][page needed]}

Under her leadership, St Austell Brewery expanded, horse-drawn wagons were replaced with steam-powered ones and by the 1920s production had doubled in comparison to before the war.^[6] The brewery output was 38,000 barrels per annum, equating to 9.5m pints of beer.^[1] Parnall also grew the company's hospitality holdings, purchasing over 75 pubs and hotels,^[12] including The Yacht Inn in Penzance,^[13] The Crown Inn in St Ewe^[14] and The White Hart Hotel in St Austell.^[15] In 1934, she acquired Christopher Ellis and Son’s steam brewery in Hayle, Cornwall, along with the estate of 30 pubs.^[6] A room at Pedn Olva in St Ives is named "Hester's" in her honour.^[16]

Parnall was a "matriarchal figure"^[17] and was feared by her employees. The first person to see her chauffeur-driven Daimler car pulling into the brewery would bang on the water pipes to warn that she was arriving.^{[3][18][page needed]} In 1963, she was described by Clifford Hockin, then the brewery’s company secretary as "ruling the Company with the grace of a duchess combined with the aplomb of a successful business man".^[6]

Parnall travelled everywhere with her Pekinese dogs and was a supporter of the Conservative Party.^[1] In 1926, she became the tenant of the country house Tregrehan House near St Austell.^[1] She invited Edward, Prince of Wales, Wallis Simpson, and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Tregrehan.^[17] In 1931, Parnall acquired Point Neptune villa at auction and she modernised and redecorated the house between 1936 and 1939.^[2][19] Parnall died in 1939 in Fowey, Cornwall.^[1][4]