THE DOG & PARTRIDGE
James Rogers
The Churchwarden's copy of the lease of the Dog & Partridge to Jonathan McKenzie is now lost but Stilwell and Stooks both agree that the McKenzie lease was made in 1829. McKenzie established his brewery in Hartley Wintney in 1922 when the Malthouse Brewery was conveyed to him by Dame St John Mildmay of Dogmersfield. This was the brewery which, in 1836, would be purchased by William Cave, the young maltster of Yateley, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. When he took the lease on the D&P McKenzie evidently appointed the young James Rogers to look after his interests and draw the pints. Simonds had only paid £21 per year rent but McKenzie agreed to pay £60. Simonds' lease should have ended in 1830, a full 42 years after 1788 It had ended in 1829 because the lease had been renewed early, in 1808. However Blackall Simonds, WB's able son, had been running the Reading brewery since 1814. It may be that he had prior knowledge of the First Beerhouse Act 1830, since he rode to hounds with the Duke of Wellington, then the Prime Minister. Blackall Simonds is said to have carried a small notebook with him while hunting, to note suitable locations for the new beerhouses within brewers' dray distance of Reading. It is small wonder then that he "let go" the D&P's lease, before it had expired, when the Churchwardens wanted to almost triple the rent. McKenzie, on the other hand, not realising that one of the main turning points of licensing history was less than 12 months away, and probably hungry for strategic tied houses, must have been extremely happy to sign a contract to give himself what he thought would be a monopoly on beer supply in Yateley.
James Rogers was 80 years old when he died in Feb 1886. In 1830 he was only 24 when he began running the D & P. We know from his later history that he had a very smart business head. He was a grocer, baker, a bricklayer, and a builder. He later opened the White Lion Inn and owned Monteagle Farm. He did the printing for the Church and he was agent for the Norwich Union. He also became the Postmaster. John and Barbara Sandford had set up a beerhouse down the road at the Royal Oak and James Rogers would have read newspaper reports of the 50 beershops that were being set up in Liverpool every day. McKenzie and Rogers would now have been very nervous paying triple the lease when Simonds' man, John Bedford, had set up a beerhouse on Cricket Hill, taking some of his loyal customers with him, and when any householder could now pay two guineas and sell beer. The only legal way for McKenzie to get out of the lease would be for the Churchwardens themselves to terminate it and award it to someone else. James Rogers suggested he should be awarded the lease at £31 10s 0d. The Vestry agreed, but the Out-tything, Hawley and Cove, were furious. A very large vestry meeting was called (some three years later; things were much slower then) and a resolution was passed that the McKenzie lease was still in force.
Eventually it was agreed to take counsel's opinion, which was in favour of the lease. James Rogers therefore became liable for all arrears. But Mr Ellis proposed:
"That upon payment by Mr. Rogers of all law expenses incurred by, or chargable to, the Parish, in and about the case and opinion, and the consultations and advising with the parish solicitors; and also on payment of all the accounts of the Churchwardens for the repairs of the Church and Vestry due up to this time, a receipt in full be given for all arrears of the rent of the Dog and Partridge up to Michaelmas last." Carried 13 to 4.
It is not clear whether James Rogers did become the legal tenant, in place of Jonathan McKenzie. James Rogers remained "Mine host" until 1840 when he was bequeathed the property which he later licensed as the White Lion.
Back to 1997 Exhibition: Inns, Alehouses & Maltsters of Yateley
NEXT page in 1997 Exhibition