YATELEY'S ALEHOUSES

The White Lion

The first new alehouse licence was granted in 1856 to our old friend James Rogers who had relinquished the Dog & Partridge to John Lingwood in 1841. In 1842 James Rogers inherited from his uncle Aaron all that customary messuage and 9 perches of land... lying and being in the Tything of Yateley ... heretofore in the tenure or occupation of James Turner afterwards of Edward Mitchell then of Thomas Bunch since of James Warner and of Sarah Slade and late of James Ellis.

Aaron had been a timber merchant of Greywell. The description of the property in his will is more revealing: all those copyhold messuages shop garden and premises situate in the parish of Yateley. James Roger is described in the Manorial Court book as "bricklayer and victualler" when he took out a mortgage for £300 on his new property. It is entirely possible that, having left the Dog & Partridge, he immediately opened up the White Lion as a beerhouse. Undoubtedly he ran his grocery business from the premises, which we know later housed the village store. In the 1851 census James Rogers gave as his occupation "Farmer of 102 acres employing 3 in & 1 outdoor laborers. Builder employing 2 carpenters, 2 bricklayers & 2 laborers, & Grocer". Nothing about being a licensed victualler or a beerhouse keeper. Then in 1861, by the time the White Lion was fully licensed, he described himself as "Farmer of 90 acres employing 3 Men 1 Boy". Again no mention of being an Innholder, but by that time Samuel Wix was the licensee.

James Rogers died in 1886, but long before that, in 1870, the White Lion passed to his son, Frederick William Rogers, by then a grocer of Hartley Row. Fred Rogers put the inn up for auction in 1873. The White Lion was knocked down to Thomas Kenward of Hartley Row three years before Kenward bought the Hartley Wintney Brewery after William Cave died. Kenward was then described as a retired Grocer and Draper, so perhaps Kenward bought the White Lion as an investment to secure the grocery business in Yateley, knowing that the experienced Rogers family was in charge. Perhaps there was money trouble in the Rogers family, as the White Lion was then subject to mortgages totalling £1,200. However it turned out well for Kenward and the Rogers. Kenward retained the White Lion until the day he died; James' second son Francis Rogers, was still the licensed victualler in 1881, and James Rogers lived next door as the Postmaster.

Note 2008: The earlier history of The White Lion, before it became a pub, is now available and will shortly be linked from this page. Please also see the White Lion listed building page

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Original page written by P J Tipton for the Yateley Society's 1997 Exhibition: Inns, Alehouses & Maltsters

Additional research by Richard Johnston & Elizabeth Tipton

Original page may now have been revised to include the Society's latest Research

(c) The Yateley Society, 1997 & 2008

Page Exhib.1997.19