Sam Smith's v John Smith's: The family feud that divided a North Yorkshire town
Traditional dray horses deliver Sam Smith's barrels from its brewery at Tadcaster
Sam Smith's v John Smith's: how a family feud split Tadcaster, by MAXINE GORDON
SAM Smith's and John Smith's brews are known the world over – but who really knows the story behind the family feud that created two brewing giants in one small North Yorkshire town?
The rivalry between Samuel Smith's and John Smith's breweries is one of the most famous family disputes in Yorkshire business history, with its roots firmly in Victorian Tadcaster.
The story began in the mid-19th century when John Smith, a businessman from Leeds, acquired Tadcaster's original brewery in 1852.
The brewery prospered thanks to the town's mineral-rich water, which was ideal for brewing pale ales.
It coincided with the development of the railways, opening up the market for ale.
Samuel Smith Brewery, Tadcaster.
John Smith built the business into one of the region's leading breweries, bringing in his brother William to help him.
In 1873, John bought a large piece of land along Centre Lane, which was largely set to orchard at that time, and employed architects to build a grand new, state-of-the-art brewery.
Sadly, John didn't live to see its completion: he died in 1879 and the new brewery opened in 1883.
What followed next was a battle within the family which led to a total split and the creation of two rival breweries in the town.
The dramatic details are recorded in the Tadcaster History website (tadhistory.org.uk), which states that John left the brewery to his two brothers: William, who had been working with him in the business, and Samuel, a tanner from Leeds who was not involved in the brewing industry.
John Smith's Brewery, Tadcaster.
John stipulated that on the deaths of his brothers, the business would transfer to their descendants.
There was one hitch: only Samuel had an heir (a son also called Samuel) because William was a bachelor.
In a further twist, no provision had been made for John's nephews – Frank and Henry Riley – who had been working at the brewery with him.
Not unlike will disputes today, the terms laid the foundation for a family feud which still shapes the Tadcaster brewing businesses today.
After Samuel died, the unmarried William realised that – on his own death and on account of having no heir – the brewery would pass out of his nephew's hands.
However the new brewery was not covered by the will, so – cannily – William transferred the stock, equipment and trade name from the old brewery to the new site.
Traditional dray horses deliver Sam Smith's barrels from its brewery at Tadcaster
When William died in 1886 his nephew Samuel (son of the late Samuel, William's brother), came to claim his inheritance.
He must have been surprised to discover that all that was left to him was an empty building at the old brewery site.
Meanwhile over at the new brewery, business was going great guns under the captaincy of William's nephews, the Riley brothers, who had since changed their names to Riley-Smith, therefore keeping the Smith name forever attached to the new venture.
Samuel the younger reportedly sought legal advice over whether the family name should have remained with the old brewery, but he lost the argument.
Undeterred, he refitted the old premises and reopened the business under his own name, Samuel Smith's Old Brewery.
And so it came to pass that two rival breweries were up and running by two different branches of the same family in the same small Yorkshire market town.
Over the following century, the businesses took very different paths.
John Smith's grew into one of Britain's biggest beer brands. Through a series of mergers and takeovers it eventually became part of the brewing giants Courage, Scottish & Newcastle and later Heineken, remaining a major national brand.
Brewery boss Humphrey Smith photographed in 1988.
Samuel Smith's, by contrast, remained fiercely independent and family-owned.
The brewery became known for its traditional brewing methods, historic pubs, horse-drawn drays and resistance to modern trends, under the leadership of family patriarch Humphrey Smith, great grandson of the original Samuel Smith who inherited the old brewery from his uncle John in 1886.
Sam Smith's beers developed a strong following in Britain and overseas.
Today, the legacy of the historic rivalry is visible throughout Tadcaster itself.
Few towns the size of Tadcaster (population just over 6,400) can boast of two internationally recognised breweries bearing the same family surname.
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The split between John and Samuel Smith helped shape the town's identity as one of Britain's great brewing centres, creating two very different brewing empires whose contrasting approaches continue to lure beer lovers more than 130 years later.
Following the death of Humphrey Smith, boss at Sam Smith's Old Brewery – announced last month – the future of this world-renowned business is firmly in the hands of the next generation of this famous brewing family.
Who knows what the next chapter of this family saga will bring?