Bert The Publican

Herbert Arthur Hewitt was born on 20^th May 1872 at 26 Townsend Cottages, St John‘s Wood, London. His father was an organ builder and Bert’s older brothers; Charles, Thomas junior and Frederick were all involved in their father’s business. Bert was the youngest in the family. He was baptised on 1st November 1874 at St Stephens the Martyr, Avenue Road in St John's Wood.

Bert's birth certificate

Bert spent his childhood growing up at 26 Townsend Cottages and according to the census in 1881, was attending school. His older brothers, Thomas junior (24) and Frederick (22), helped their father build and repair pipe organs. His sister Emma (20) was a dressmaker and his other sister Mary (13), was at home with their mother. Bert’s eldest brother, Charles, had left home.

As Bert grew up he must have been surrounded by the tools of his father’s trade and their home probably had its own workshop. Despite this, there is no evidence that Bert ever took an interest in the family business. By 1891, at the age of 18, he had already left the family home to start his own life. Unfortunately Bert does not appear in the 1891 census, so it is impossible to determine what his life was like at this time, but he may have worked behind a bar.

Bert next appears in 1901. By then he was 28 years old and the joint manager of a pub called The Dreghorn Castle. The pub was situated at 157 Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Town, London. He ran the pub with a woman named Elizabeth Chillystone. Together they were in charge of three barmen (Ernest Smith, John Tomkin and Frederick Bouchien) and a cook named Louisa Butson.

Running a pub was hard work. Bert and his staff would have typically worked 12-13 hour shifts on weekdays and 9-10 hours on a Sunday. At the time, the majority of pubs opened at 7:30-8:00am and did not shut until 12:30am, although some pubs (those near markets) opened at 5am and shut earlier at around 10:30pm. An hour to an hour and a half was allowed for meals and occasional time off was granted at the discretion of the manager.

Just three years later, on 17^th April 1904, Bert married Ada Louisa Deacon at Christ Church on Albany Street, London.  The church was close to Regents Park and at the time of the wedding, both the bride and the groom were living at nearby Clarence Gardens. Ada at no.46 and Bert at no.48. There were numerous pubs in the area including two on Clarence Gardens itself and it is likely that Bert was working at one of the local pubs when he met Ada.

Soon after they were married, Bert and Ada moved into The Gosset Arms at 111 Gosset Road, Bethnal Green. Given his newly married status, Bert may have been the licencee rather than just the pub manager. Not long after they had moved in, Ada became pregnant. Ada gave birth to a son on 17^th July 1905 and they named him Herbert John Hewitt.

Excerpt from Electoral Roll for 1909

He next appears in the Electoral Roll in 1909. He's living at 73 White Lion Street in Pentonville which according to local directories from the period,  was the address for the Three Johns public house. The following year, Bert and Ada had moved back to the East End and were living at 21 Mare Street, Hackney. Bert was no longer a licensed victualler and was instead working as a grocer/beer retailer in the ground floor shop below their living quarters. Why had they left the pub and why had he ceased to be a publican? We will probably never know. One scenario is that there was some incident which resulted in him losing his license. He wasn’t to become a license holder again for several years. 

Lilly's birth certificate

On 5^th March 1910, Bert and Ada had a daughter whom they named Lillian Alice Hewitt. Within a year of her birth, they moved to 5 Sutherland Road, Bow. According to the 1911 census Bert’s parents, brother Frederick and sister Alice were also living at the address. By this time Bert was working behind the bar at a pub called Whittington Stone on Highgate Hill in North London.

Whittington Stone in 1911 (now demolished)

Highgate Hill is quite a distance from Bow, especially for someone who worked long hours behind the bar. The long commute probably spurred Bert and Ada to move closer to his place of employment and by the time their third child, Frederick Henry Hewitt, was born on 13^th March 1912, they were living at 4 Wedmore Gardens in Upper Holloway. Their new address was just a 10 minute walk from the Whittington Stone and this would have made life a lot easier. It seems that Bert and Ada remained at the same address for several years and their third son, William Arthur Hewitt was born on 10th April 1915.

War broke out in August 1914. At 42 years old, Bert would have been too old to join the army and he probably continued working at the same pub. The outbreak of war had a profound affect on pubs in the UK. The government, concerned about troops getting drunk when on leave, decided to drastically reduce the number of hours a pub was allowed to open. Under the new legislation, pubs opened between midday and 2:30pm and then between 6:30pm and 9:30pm. These opening hours remained unchanged for many decades after the war had ended.

Bert’s next big break arrived on 10^th March 1917 when he became the joint license holder of The Plough in Ilford Lane, Ilford, Essex. The pub was huge and Bert would have needed to employ a team of staff to help run it. Later that year, on 18th October, Bert and Ada had another daughter, Winnifred Hewitt and on 25^th May 1919, Daisy Eveline Hewitt was born. Both daughters were born at the pub.

Bert continued to run The Plough until 8^th November 1924 when ill health forced him to give up the license. At this stage he had been suffering from a stomach ulcer for over a year and his condition had worsened to the extent that he was unable to continue. By this stage, Bert (junior) had left home to join the merchant navy and Bill, Win and Daisy were all boarding at the licensed victualler’s school in Slough. Bert, Ada, Lily and Fred moved to a nearby flat at 10 Harts Parade on Ilford Lane.

The Plough, Ilford Lane (now demolished)

Bert’s health took a serious turn for the worse on 17th March 1925 and he was rushed to hospital. He died three days later on 20^th March of a perforated stomach ulcer. He was just 52 years old. The cause of his death suggests he may have been a heavy drinker, which isn't surprising given his chosen profession. Sadly, I don't have any photos of Bert and I don't know what he looked like.

Bert wouldn't recognise Ilford Lane now. The Plough was demolished in 2007 to make way for a health centre. According to Ben Judah's new book This Is London, the surrounding area has just a 10% white British population and Ilford Lane itself has become a red light district.