Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet
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Elizabeth Arabin
Marianne, Lady Bowyer-Smijth
Emma, Viscountess Malden
Sir Henry Meux, Bt | |
|---|---|
 Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet | |
| Born | 8 May 1770 |
| Died | 7 April 1841 (aged 70) |
| Spouse |
Elizabeth-Mary Smith
(m. 1831) |
| Children | Sir Henry Meux, 2nd Baronet Elizabeth Arabin Marianne, Lady Bowyer-Smijth Emma, Viscountess Malden |
| Parent(s) | Richard Meux Mary Brougham |
| Relatives | Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet (grandson) George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex (grandson) Henry Brougham (uncle) Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (cousin) |
Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet (pronounced "Mews") (8 May 1770 – 7 April 1841) was a British brewer, owner of the London brewery which became the Meux Brewery.[1]
Meux was baptised on 8 May 1770. He was the second son of brewer Richard Meux (c. 1734–1813)[2] - whose portrait was drawn in 1796 by Henry Bone copied from a painting by Sir William Beechey - and Mary (née Brougham) Meux (c. 1744–1812).[3][4] Henry's elder brother was Richard Meux, who died in 1824,[3] leaving his daughter, and heiress, Elizabeth Meux, who married Thomas Starling Benson of Champion Lodge (parents of Richard Meux Benson, SSJE, and Gen. Henry Roxby Benson).[5] Another sister, Fanny Meux, was the wife of Vicesimus Knox.[6]
Meux was descended from an old Isle of Wight family. The elder brother of his grandfather's grandfather, Sir John Meux, MP for Newtown, had been created a baronet in 1641; but the title became extinct with Sir John's grandson in 1705.[a] Sir Henry's maternal grandfather was Henry Broughman of Brougham Hall, Cumbria, and his uncle was Henry Brougham, father of Lord Broughman and Vaux.[5]
Career
Meux's father owned the Griffin Brewery on Liquorpond Street in Clerkenwell, London, and Meux learned the business from him.[8] His father built in 1795 the largest recorded vat, that held 20,000 barrels and cost £10,000.[9] However, Meux "left his father's employ, in 1809, after an argument"[9] and acquired the Horse Shoe Brewery, a brewery in the City of Westminster that had been formed in 1764. Meux renamed it "Henry Meux & Co." and it became a major producer of porter. In 1814, his brewery was the site of the London Beer Flood, which killed eight people after a porter vat burst.[10] After his death in 1841, his son took over the brewery.[11]
On 30 September 1831 he was made a baronet of the second creation of the Meux baronets, this time of Theobald's Park.[10]