William Henry Clark (brewer)

William Henry Clark (approx. 1815–1870) 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 on land he owned near Strathalbyn.

The brewery was unpopular with nearby residents due to the stench of the waste liquid discharged into the Gilles Street gutters. 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. Clark and Simms had around this time commenced on a second brewery, at the west end of Hindley Street, which would become the West End Brewery. 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.

Clark died sometime between 1862 and 1873, but not mentioned in the newspapers of either colony. His death is not registered in South Australia. Nor has his date of birth been established, but it could be assumed he would have been between 20 and 30 years of age when he emigrated and married.

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 their wine and spirit business, and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.

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