Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd Round Black Backed Steel

Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the 1930s. The Black Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane in East London was founded in 1666. Joseph Truman, who had worked in the brewhouse, purchased it in 1679, and after acquiring more land around the original site, he built a more significant brewery. Joseph died in 1719 and by 1722 the brewery was being run by Benjamin Truman, Joseph's youngest son. Truman's flourished under Benjamin's leadership, and with demand increasing for porter beers, he invested heavily in the brewery resulting in Truman's being the third largest brewer of porter in London. Following Sir Benjamin Truman's death in 1780, Sampson Hanbury joined the business which he led from 1788 to 1834. Under Hanbury's control, Truman & Hanbury's expansion continued apace. He invested in the latest technology and equipment, and the highest quality raw materials. Porter production doubled between 1800 and 1820. In 1808, Hanbury's nephew Thomas Fowell Buxton joined the firm, and he soon achieved success by reorganising the Eagle Brewery, resulting in significant efficiency improvements. in 1811 Buxton became a partner of the business. By the 1830s Truman, Hanbury & Buxton was a major exporter supplying the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the East India Company, and Russia. Significantly, in 1839, the opening of the railway connecting Burton-on-Trent to the rest of the country, gave access to the now increasingly popular pale ale. In 1873 Truman's purchased the Burton-on-Trent brewery of Phillips Brothers of Northampton and entirely reconstructed it. By acquiring and rebuilding the second Black Eagle Brewery, as it was renamed, Truman, Hanbury & Buxton & Co. and became the world's largest brewer. The Burton brewery struggled in its first years, but by 1880 it began to turn a profit. Financing the business however, was proving difficult, and the need to modernise the brewery caused the firm to become a Public Limited Company in 1888. The business became Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd. A few years earlier, in 1884, the Company's famous Black eagle trademark was registered, Truman's continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century, increasing its pub estate and taking over many of its suppliers. However, as the century progressed, Truman's began to struggle in the face of competition from imported lagers, as well as the increasing number of mergers amongst British brewers. During the 1960s the entire business was restructured, which resulted in the closure of the Eagle Brewery in Burton-on-Trent in 1971. It also sold 73 of its public houses to Courage Ltd. The Company invested heavily in improving the Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane and the measures had the desired effect as profits grew. In 1971 Truman's became the centre of a bidding war between Grand Metropolitan Hotel Ltd and Watney Mann Ltd. Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd won. It acquired Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd and then Watney Mann Ltd in 1972. It merged Trumans and Watney Mann Ltd to form Watney Truman Ltd in 1974. After numerous poor strategic management decisions made by Grand Metropolitan, the Black Eagle Brewery in London ceased brewing in 1989. The site remains as an assortment of commercial buildings. The Truman's brand, which had been purchased by Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd, was purchased by two London businessmen in 2010, after S&N was taken over by Heineken. A new Truman's brewery opened in Hackney in 2013. Although there is no manufacturer's mark on the front, the tray was certainly produced by Hancock, Corfield & Waller Ltd, Mitcham, London as there is sample sticker attached to the back of the tray. The tray advertises Truman's Pale Ale brewed at their Burton-on-Trent Brewery in Staffordshire. The tray featured is pre-war, however an exact copy of this particular tray was produced both in the 1950s and the 1960s.