Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

8 Mann, Crossman and Paulin: 1819 to 1914 door to the (later notorious) Blind Beggar public house, was sold to Blake and Mann. Blake left the active management to James Mann and remained in Lambeth running the Standridge Brewery until its lease expired in 1821. James Mann, with his wife and two infant sons James and Edward, moved into the house adjoining the Albion Brewery. A third son, Thomas, was born in 1822. Blake sold his interest in the Albion Brewery in 1826 to James Mann for £100 who continued to develop the business and by 1843 was able to take both elder sons, James and Edward, into partnership, renaming the firm James Mann and Sons. But the father was soon taken ill and management was taken over by the sons James and Edward. Then tragedies struck with the death of Edward from typhus fever in 1845 and, three weeks later, the death of his father. With his younger brother Thomas not yet due to qualify as a partner until his twenty-fourth birthday in September 1846, James was reluctant to assume full responsibility for management and decided to seek an experienced partner from outside the family. Robert Crossman, now aged 43, had been manager of the Isleworth Brewery near Brentford since 1841 and James sold him a quarter-share in the Albion Brewery in March 1846. Although Thomas Mann inherited a quarter-share of the business six months later, James was persuaded by Richard Crossman to bring in another experienced partner, his friend Thomas Paulin from the Border Brewery at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was soon evident that James did not share his younger brother’s enthusiasm for the business and he began to spend more time at his country estate, happy to leave management in the hands of Richard Crossman, as senior partner, supported by Thomas Mann and Thomas Paulin. After twelve months James offered to retire from active participation in the firm, confident that the three remaining partners would continue to ensure the growth and prosperity of the Albion Brewery. In exchange he would receive a fixed annual income while retaining his investment. A strong connection with the brewery at Berwick-upon-Tweed was established and several young men were invited down to Whitechapel to play a part in the development of the Albion Brewery into one of the leading brewers in London. Within three years the three partners were welcomed as members of the Brewers Company and honoured as Freemen of the City of London. New generations of all three families began to arrive and some of the sons began working in the brewery as soon as they were old enough, although others sought careers elsewhere. Richard Crossman transferred some of his share to his eldest son James Hiscutt Crossman in 1860; when Thomas Paulin died in 1873 William Thomas Paulin inherited his share. Thomas Mann transferred some of his share to his eldest son Thomas James while Richard Crossman did the same for his other son Alexander Crossman. This meant that there were now six active partners and they immediately expanded the business further by building a new brewery at Burton upon