W. H. Clark (brewer)
William Henry Clark ( – between 1862 and 1873) was a brewer in South Australia, the founder of the Halifax Street brewery, an antecedent of the West End brewery.
William Henry Clark was born in Newry, Ireland, and arrived in SA in June 1839 aboard Sir Charles Forbes from Liverpool; the following year he married fellow-passenger Sarah Ann Blakely.
He founded the Halifax Street brewery around 1844, and by May 1848 was described as an "enterprising brewer" when he founded a copper mine near Strathalbyn.
No expense was spared in the building and cellar construction, and equipping the brewery with all the latest refinements. He built a mill and malthouse on the same side of Halifax Street, with just the Rob Roy Tavern between them.
This was a time of economic recession: Clark sold the Halifax Street brewery to Henry Noltenius in February 1858, and continued to work as manager. In July Noltenius took on W. K. Simms as partner, then sold him his share of the business. Both Clark and Noltenius were in debt to the bank. Clark's house at Walkerville on the banks of the Torrens was advertised for sale in May 1858.
In 1859 a consortium of John Haimes, W. K. Simms and Edgar Chapman founded the West End Brewery on Town Acre 66, Hindley Street, and closed their smaller competing establishments, which included Halifax Street.
Clark left South Australia for Melbourne around January 1860, a few months before his insolvency hearing and out of reach of his creditors, leaving W. K. Simms and G. P. Gardner to run the business.
He died sometime between 1862 and 1873, but not mentioned in the newspapers of either colony. His death is not registered in South Australia.
Clark's Halifax Street brewery, after sixteen years laying idle, was revived by W. J. Disher in 1875 as the Imperial brewery, and by 1909 was the site of the Enterprise Boot Factory.
The West End Brewery proved profitable and Simms and Chapman became wealthy men. They joined with Edwin Smith, who in 1876 built a large brewery complete with malting facilities at Kent Town, William Rounsevell and Alfred Simms, as the South Australian Brewing, Malting & Wine & Spirit Co. Ltd., enlarging the brewing facilities at West End, and centering the malting work at Kent Town. The company began a campaign of purchasing hotels freehold or leasehold, and by the end of the 1880s had a stranglehold on the Adelaide market. In 1893 they sold off the wine and spirit business, and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.
...
Wikipedia