DEATH IN THE BREWERY - Sheffield 1900
The 1881 Census records the family of ISAAC HORNSEY living at an address in Silver Street, Sheffield. From the information it looks as though the family originated in the Scarborough area of Yorkshire. There is a record in the GRO indexes for the September quarter of 1873 (Scarborough) for the marriage of Isaac Hornsey to Annie Rainton (Vol 9d Page 499). Soon after the birth of their daughter Mary in 1874 they must have moved to Sheffield where Isaac found work as an Engine Fitter.
Dwelling 43 Silver Street Sheffield, York, England
Public Records Office Reference RG11 Piece / Folio 4641/31 Page 21
| Name | Rel | Status | Age | Place of Birth | Occupation | |
| Isaac Harland HORNSEY | Head | M | Male | 31 | Hovingham, York, England | Engine Fitter At Works |
| Annie HORNSEY | Wife | M | Female | 29 | Cayton | |
| Mary HORNSEY | Daur | Female | 7 | Scarborough | Scholar | |
| Annie J. HORNSEY | Daur | Female | 5 | Sheffield, York, England | Scholar | |
| Emma HORNSEY | Daur | Female | 3 | Sheffield, York, England | ||
| Sarah A. HORNSEY | Daur | Female | 1 | Sheffield, York, England |
|
DEATH BY AMMONIA FUMES Isaac Hornsey 51,was employed at the Don Brewery Sheffield where his duties included the care of the refrigerator, which is charged with ammonia. In the early hours of the morning he opened the valve of the refrigerator and immediately afterwards accidentally dropped the key which fell through an opening in the floor, and could not be recovered at once. Fumes of ammonia began to fill the room and though Hornsey did his best to close the valve with a spanner, his efforts were unsuccessful and in a few minutes he was overcome and fell back unconscious. He died a few days later. |
Photo of the brewery on Penistone Road, Sheffield where Isaac worked 1890
From what I can gather, ammonia was widely used as a coolant in the refrigeration units of the time. The late nineteenth century had seen major developments in the brewing industry. Temperature controlled malting gave the finished beer more consistency and refridgeration aided beer production in the summer months (Isaac died in June)
The Don Brewery had been in existence 75 years at the time of the accident. Founded in 1828 under the style of Warburton, Turton & Howe, it remained so until 1849 when it was acquired by William Smith and Joseph Redfern. Smith was already a wealthy man living in Barnes Hall, Ecclesfield, a suburb of Sheffield. From the information available it looks as though Redfern busied himself in the brewing process and the running of the business whilst Smith set about building up a tied estate. In the following twenty years they acquired 28 public houses and leased another six. Their sons, Alfred Harrison Smith and Joseph Redfern jnr ,joined the board and took over the running of the business. Redfern died in 1889 and so Alfred Harrison Smith took over full control of the brewery. At the time of his death the estate stood at about 40 public houses. The business continued to expand and at the time of Alfred's retirement in 1900, the estate had more than doubled in ten years to 83. It had also become a public registered company just prior to Smith's retirement.
Expansion continued into the twentieth century albeit at a slower rate. By 1915, a further 17 had been added bringing up the hundred.(1) But with the government of that great liberal Lloyd George hankering to introduce prohibition and uncertainty with the war in Europe, the shareholders accepted an offer from the Tennant Brothers for both the brewery and the tied estate.
The actual Don Brewery was sited at the junction of Penistone Road and Infirmary Road, more or less adjacent to St Philip's Church. Tennant's "mothballed" the brewery until 1958 when parts were then sold off in a piecemeal basis. Tennant's were amalgamated to Whitbread's in 1962. A Sheffield City Council road widening scheme finished the site off soon after. The stone that is on the site now is just a cast of the original plaster sign that disintegrated when they tried to remove it
Notes
A brief history of refridgeration
The News of The World dated 14th June 1900 Page 4
Beer Matters - Sheffield - November 2007
This page was last updated on 23/11/07 14:16