[BEER] Thomas Cadell, brewer : entire letter, sent from his Hawkesbury Brewery at Windsor, New South Wales, to his uncle in Scotland, dated November 1839.

Manuscript in ink, [3 1/2] pp., quarto, cross-written; headed ‘Hawkesbury Brewery, Windsor, Nov. 26th 1839’; the letter is addressed ‘My dear Uncle’ and signed at the foot ‘Very sincerely yours, Thos. Cadell’; the outer panel is addressed ‘Robert Cadell Esq., Athole Crescent, Edinburgh, North Britain’; prepaid 10d in red ms. and octagonal framed ‘WINDSOR / POST PAID’ in red; oval ‘PAID SHIP LETTER / NO 29 / 1839 / SYDNEY’ in red at left; reverse with ‘WINDSOR / N.S.W.’ in black, oval ‘GENERAL POST OFFICE / SYDNEY’ in black (Nov. 29), London transit stamp (May 30) and arrival stamp dated the following day (31 May 1840); original folds, two small perforations where seal was broken (no significant loss of text), but remarkably clean and crisp.

An unpublished letter which sheds light on an early commercial brewing enterprise on the Hawkesbury during Gipps’ governorship.

THOMAS CADELL (1787-1857):

Thomas was the youngest son of John Cadell Esq. of Cockenzie, near Prestonpans in Scotland. In 1801, soon after entering the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 14, his ship was captured by the French and he spent seven years as a prisoner of war in France before managing to escape across the Channel. He then entered business as a brewer in Edinburgh, a trade in which his forebears had been involved for generations. In 1832 he emigrated to New South Wales with his family, bringing with him a letter of introduction to the Rev. Dr. John Dunmore Lang, who invited the Cadells to stay with him temporarily at his York Street residence. Cadell’s close friendship with Lang would last up until his own death.

An obituary for Cadell published in The Empire (Sydney), 16 May 1857, states that Cadell spent the next fifteen years in Sydney and did not establish his brewery at Windsor until 1847; the present letter, written by Cadell at his brewery on the southern bank of the Hawkesbury in November 1839, demonstrates that this information is wildly inaccurate: his Windsor enterprise had in fact been operating since around 1834 – a year before Tooth and Newnham established their Kent Brewery on the Parramatta Road. Although mentions of him in newspapers indicate that Cadell kept a town residence in Queen’s Place, Sydney throughout the 1830s, the following marriage notice which appeared in the Sydney Gazette, 22 April 1834, proves that his principal residence was already at Windsor by this time:

‘MARRIED, On Saturday last, at Windsor, by the Rev. Mr. CLELAND, JOHN NEILSON, Esq., Surgeon, of Hunter-street, Sydney, to MARY, eldest daughter of THOMAS CADELL, Esq. of Windsor.’

In 1836 the brewery narrowly escaped destruction by suspected arson. From The Australian, 25 March 1836:

‘We regret to hear that the Brewery of Windsor, now in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Cadell, was nearly consumed by fire, apparently wilful, and from the circumstances attendant, we have no doubt would have been so, had not the gentlemen and inhabitants of that town and vicinity promptly attended.’

The letter informs us that Cadell’s brewery was already a financial success by 1839, owing to the high demand for harvest beer among the settlers and the ‘incessant cry of the Publicans for Ale’. Cadell prospered: a pencil drawing of his impressive two-storey residence at Windsor, which he named Cockenzie House, done by his brother (or uncle?) Robert Cadell, has survived, although the house itself no longer stands. We learn from the letter that Thomas was joined in Sydney and Windsor by his parents, his brother and another uncle, and that his growing brewery business was aided by his family’s knowhow and astuteness with investments.

A combination of factors, including the discovery of gold in New South Wales in 1851 which led to an exodus of much of the male population to the diggings, contributed to the demise of Cadell’s brewing business in the 1850s. By the time of his death at Windsor in 1857 his brewery premises, with their expensive steam machinery, were left untenanted. (The brewery itself would be demolished in 1899). Cadell is buried in the Windsor Presbyterian Cemetery.

EXTRACTS FROM CADELL’S LETTER TO HIS UNCLE, ROBERT CADELL:

‘What with the demand for harvest Beer among the Settlers and the incessant cry of the Publicans for Ale – keeping us at it day and night – I have not had a spare Minute on my hands these some days to enclose you the within...’

‘It is now fully a fortnight since hearing Mr Anderson had disposed of our Sheep. I had a rapid ride to Parramatta to fix on what is to be done with our place and to know what about the Cash. I found he had retained one half of it and paid the other anatomy account on one of the Banks. I thought it best to let you know it was divided and hurriedly wrote out the enclosed leaving a copy with Uncle to whom I have sent the [duplicate] of the set of Bills to forward to you. He agreed still to hold the Land we bought up the Country and endeavours to let it. We can let it to considerable advantage when so disposed...’

‘I have been much astonished at my Uncle’s conduct in this matter but have not altogether quarrelled with him. My Father and Mother have espoused my Cause more warmly and have not spoken either to him or Dr. Nelson for some time. I think I told you Dr N & Mr Anderson had purchased a druggist’s business in Parramatta which seems to thrive. They are also busily engaged just now in Building a Brewery in opposition to ours I suppose, but there is a wide field and abundance of room for s all and they cannot I think in any way affect us…‘

‘I mentioned in my last that my Father had purchased a property in Windsor and that he is preparing materials for the erection of a Malting therein … It s to be finished by 1st March ad I expect we will begin Malting in it by the end of hat month. I see my way very clearly for as to meeting pecuniary demands (£525) while building and hope Uncle [to] have something left to stock it well with Barley. All materials I have paid for, and pay as laid down. I have every encouragement that man could wish for, for to push it on, a continued demand for Ale much exceeding what we can supply...’

‘The children [are] glad their holidays are so near when they and my Mother come up here for a month. My brother John has been with me for some time … he takes charge of the Malting when ready...’

‘Our harvest is about half cut down. An abundant one in most places, reapers have been scarce and 25/- per acre has been readily paid for reaping. Wheat ought to be moderate this year, so also Barley I hope, having most to do with that grain. The very high price of it has been much against us  for some time. We have sufficient Derwent Barley left to keep us working till nigh February. We never stop brewing last year even in the hottest weather...’

‘[My Father] has also (rather prematurely) bought a house in Sydney. It is a good one and in a good situation. I will say nothing as to price terrors till more of it is paid. My father has a few bales of wool ready to ship for you…