A.M & E.Sergeant & Co. Ltd Round Tin

A.M & E.Sergeant & Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s. Antonie Middlemoor Sergeant and his brother Edward Sergeant formed the business in the 1840s. In 1852 A.M & E.Sergeant's brewery had been built. By 1893 the Company was described as 'brewers, maltsters, wholesale wine & spirit merchants, cigar importers, hop & coal merchants, agents for plate glass and agents for for insurers'. The Company was registered in 1928 as A.M. & E.Sergeant & Co. Ltd. Sergeant's Dolphin Ale had won 1st Prize at the Brewer's Exhibition in that decade. The business was taken over by Hewitt Brothers Ltd in 1954. Hewitt Brothers Ltd was itself taken over by United Breweries Ltd in 1961, becoming Charrington United Breweries Ltd in 1962 after a merger with Charrington & Co. Ltd. When Charrington United Breweries Ltd merged with Bass, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd in 1967 to form Bass Charrington Ltd, Sergeant's brewery was closed by the end of the year. Sergeant's Brigg Bitter, featured on the tray, was briefly brewed at the Tadcaster Tower Brewery in the late 1960s. The tin tray featured is identical to an earlier alloy version.