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Vinegar Factories

Anne Watton

Anne Watton

master brummie
Hello Everyone,
Have not been on the forum for some time. My husband has had some serious health issues, had a major operation but thank goodness is now doing really well.
I was thinking about my family history and recalled a story that my Grandad Dobbins had a girlfriend before he met my Grandmother (he was older than her) who worked at a vinegar factory and died because she drank too much (vinegar).
Could anyone confirm if there were any vinegar factories in the Birmingham area circa 1900 please?
Many thanks,
Anne
 
In 1901 for Vinegar Brewers there were
Beaufoy and Co (W Nock agent) 4 Corn Exchange passage High St 4
Fradons Vinegar Co Lim Glover St
Holbrooks Limited 203 Ashted Row
Manor Vinegar Brewery Co Ltd Gower St Lozells
Midland Vinegar Co (Edwin Moore manager) Aston Cross
Standard Pure Malt Vinegar Brewery LTD Grovener Road Handsworth


Anne Watton said:
Hello Everyone,
Have not been on the forum for some time. My husband has had some serious health issues, had a major operation but thank goodness is now doing really well.
I was thinking about my family history and recalled a story that my Grandad Dobbins had a girlfriend before he met my Grandmother (he was older than her) who worked at a vinegar factory and died because she drank too much (vinegar).
Could anyone confirm if there were any vinegar factories in the Birmingham area circa 1900 please?
Many thanks,
Anne
Click to expand...
 
Hi Anne, sorry to hear your husband has been very poorly it must be a huge relief to you both that he has had surgery and is now doing so well.
I think the HP factory at Aston started off as a Vinegar Brewery - I am sure other forum members will know more and be able to help you.
Do you know the girlfriends name and year she died? Sounds a horrible way to die - why would anyone drink vinegar - yuk!
Good to see you back on the forum
Polly
 
Probably because vinegar is distilled in the same way as whisky and may, at some stage, been quite palatable.
 
Postie, I didn't know that - I suppose I have never really thought about how it is made (although the clues are all there for me ....Vinegar Brewery!!) It makes me shudder just thinking about drinking it. I wonder if she died of a stomach ulcer?
 
Thank you horsencart, At least that confirms it is a possibility. It's a story I have often mulled over and wondered if it was true. I have looked on the internet and it seems it could be true but she must have drunk an awful lot. Apparently some people think it is a contraceptive!!! Amazing isn't it? Do you know if any of these breweries still exist?
Thanks again,
Anne
 
Thank you Pollypops, was a terrible time but thankfully all behind us now. I didn't know that fact Postie, could be why she liked it so much. Don't know her name or when she died, my Grandad wasn't very approachable and don't really know why it was common knowledge in the family but they did like to gossip. My Mother was one of eleven, and her Mother had 21 pregnancies in all. She had all these children at home but tragically her youngest daughter died in Dudley Road Hospital aged 18 years in childbirth in 1958. Kind regards, Anne.
 
My Mother worked at Holbrooks Vinegar factory in Ashted Row, she left to get married in 1913, I still have her wedding cards that friends sent to her. I also worked in Ashted Row in 1940 when the factory was bombed , the stink was awful for weeks afterwards.Geff
 
A quick look in the 1974 directory (the last one to be made) reveals that there were no Vinegar Brewery in Birmingham in 1968 there were only two
Fardons Vinegar Co Ltd Glover St 9
Midland Vinegar Co Ltd Tower Road, TN 0213594911
of course H P were in Aston but the were making sauce



Anne Watton said:
Thank you horsencart, At least that confirms it is a possibility. It's a story I have often mulled over and wondered if it was true. I have looked on the internet and it seems it could be true but she must have drunk an awful lot. Apparently some people think it is a contraceptive!!! Amazing isn't it? Do you know if any of these breweries still exist?
Thanks again,
Anne
Click to expand...
 
GEFF said:
My Mother worked at Holbrooks Vinegar factory in Ashted Row, she left to get married in 1913, I still have her wedding cards that friends sent to her. I also worked in Ashted Row in 1940 when the factory was bombed , the stink was awful for weeks afterwards.Geff
Click to expand...

Hello,

My great aunt and her friend worked at Holbrooks in 1911 according to the census, they were Beatrice Simmonds and Celia Caddick.
 
Hello MWS, My Grandad was born in 1889 and married my Gran during the first world war so I guess his first girlfriend would have been working at whichever vinegar factory at about that time. Pity I can't find out her name. I wonder if her cause of death was recorded as drinking vinegar. She must have been quite young I think. Anne
 
Hello Anne, would her death have been strange enough to have been reported in the newspaper perhaps?
 
Hello MWS, Possibly, but I don't know her name and when I googled death by drinking vinegar it brought up a recent case where a womand drank industrial strength vinegar to abort her baby and she died. I couldn't find anything from the early 20th century. I suppose this story confirms it is possible but I never heard about vinegar factories. I don't think I even wondered where it came from. You learn something new every day on this forum don't you? So many people with so much knowledge. I've missed everyone in recent months and it's good to be back. Regards, Anne
 
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