Charles Bate was born in Marchwiel on 24 October 1810, his wife Eliza Davies was from Chester. They married in 1840 and by 1841 Charles and Eliza were at the Union Tavern which was on the corner of Yorke Street and Mount Street. Charles was both a bricksetter and the inn keeper but he had founded the Union Brewery about 1840.
By 1851 he was still in Yorke Street and a brewer employing 3 men. The couple had 3 children by now, Agnes born 1841, Louisa born 1844 and George born 1848.
The Union Vaults was now occupied by John Thomas from Oswestry and in April 1857 the Union was advertised as to be let.
PUBLIC HOUSE TO BE LET WITH immediate possession if required, the old established Public House called the Union Tavern (with spirit licence attached). The house is fitted up with every convenience and has an excellent business. Apply to Mr. Charles Bate, Wrexham.
A Richard Evans had been a brewer at Charles` brewery but he announced he was moving in 1859.
RICHARD EVANS, (LATE of THE HOP POLE). WILLOW HOUSE BREWERY. BEGS to thank his Customers for the liberal support he has hitherto received and also begs to inform them that he has removed from the brewery he lately occupied, under Charles Bate, to his new and more commodious premises adjoining the Willow House. Farmers and the trade supplied with choice Ales, and Table Beer in Casks, from nine gallons and upwards.
The family moved to 7 Bridge Street by 1861, Charles was a “master brewer”, they stayed there for many years and eventually his son George also took up the same occupation. Over the years many Inns were advertised to be let both in and out of Wrexham town , even as far as the Crown in Llandegla, applications were to be made to Charles Bate, Union Brewery, so it looks like he had a thriving business. The Union Brewery became one of most successful in Wrexham as both Charles and his son were keen businessmen and owned many properties in the town.
In 1871 Charles announced that his son George was becoming a partner in the business.
UNION BREWERY, WREXHAM. CHARLES BATE BEGS respectfully to thank the inhabitants of Wrexham and the public generally for the generous support accorded to him as A BREWER FOR UPWARDS OF THIRTY YEARS, And to inform them that he has TAKEN INTO PARTNERSHIP, HIS SON GE0RGE BATE) With the hope that their united efforts will meet with as great a measure of public support as hitherto. The style and name of the firm will be CHARLES BATE & SON, And those who have hitherto honoured the UNION BREWERY with their support, may rely that every effort will be made to secure a continuance of their favour. UNION BREWERY, WREXHAM. August 1st, 1871.
Charles died on 31 March 1881 at 7 Bridge Street, Agnes died there on 24 December 1888, she was 47, Eliza remained there until her death on 15 December 1893. They are both buried in Wrexham Cemetery.
In 1906 the Union Tavern had been rebuilt, and the existing building has the name Bents Brewery, Liverpool and Stone which was the company that took it over.
AGNES BATE 1841 – 1888
Agnes was the eldest child and was born 25 October 1841. At the age of 9 she was at a boarding school on King Street in Wexham, with younger sister. The school mistress was Jane Rogers from Ruabon. In 1861 she was with her parents in Bridge Street, but went to live with her sister in Chorleton for a while. She came back to Wrexham and in 1881 is with her mother, her other siblings and brother in law in 7 Bridge Street. The census was taken on Sunday 3 April 1881, so it was only a few days after her father’s death and the day before his burial on the Monday. Agnes never married and died on 22 December 1888. She was buried with her father.
LOUISA BATE 1844-1935
Louisa was born in the summer of 1844, at the young age of 5 she was boarding in a school on King Street in Wrexham, her elder sister was also there. By 1851 she was a resident at Lingdale House a girls boarding school, in Oxton, Wirral. On 7 September 1879 she married William Perks who was from Liverpool, William was the son of William Perks an iron merchant and the event was published in the Wrexham Advertiser.
11th September 1869
PERKS-BATE-On the 7th inst., at the parish church, Wrexham, by the Rev. Wm. Davies, William Perks, of Eccles, near Manchester, to Louisa, youngest daughter of Chas. Bate, brewer, of this town.-No cards. The couple moved to 196 Brunswick Street,Chorlton upon Medlock by 1871, William was working as a sales man. In the next 10 years Louisa and William had children born in various districts so the family seemed to have moved around quite a bit.
When Louisa was with her mother at the time of her father’s death, William was in Moss Side, Liverpool with their children. He was a piano and harmonium dealer.
William died in 1898 aged 53 and was buried in Ardwick Cemetery with 3 of their children who died young.
Louisa moved to Southport by 1901 with daughters Edith and Ada, she was living off her own means and employed a nurse and a general servant. Louisa had assembled a family photographic album, circa 1903, as well as an earlier more general photographic album which still remains in the family.
She remained in Southport until her death in 1930.
GEORGE BATE 1848-1935
In 1871 George became a partner in his father’s business, and later moved to live at the “White House” near Bersham. The “White House” had been once owned by William Rowe, engineer at John Wilkinson’s ironworks at Bersham and Brymbo. In 1891 George married Millicent Mills in Kensington. Millicent had been born in Boxford, Suffolk and was about 16 years younger than her husband.
The event was announced in the Wrexham Advertiser on 25 April 1891.
MARRIAGE OF MR GEORGE BATE.—On Wednesday, Mr George Bate, brewer, of Wrexham, was married in London to Miss Millicent Mills, niece of Mr C. B. Beaumont, of the Caia, Bersham. The happy pair have left for the Continent. On Wednesday evening, the employees at the brewery had a supper at the Union Vaults, when Mr H. W. Page, the manager, presided. The Chairman proposed the health of the bride and bridegroom, which was cordially received, and Mr J. H. Wilde, traveller, proposed the health of Mrs Bate, senior.
The Llangollen Advertiser also announced the news.
April 22nd, at the Oratory, Brompton, Kensington, by the Very Rev. Sebastian Boden, George Bate, White House, Bersham, Wrexham, to Millicent, only surviving daughter of the late Mr. William Mills, Rodbridge House, Long Melford, Suffolk.
The couple moved back to the “White House” and eventually had a least 4 children, George was doing well and had a governess to teach the children as well as a cook and a housemaid.
George had retired by 1911, but remained in Bersham.
There was a connection to Hope and Caergwrle as George, and the business manager, Mr R. N. Woolett purchased land of great significance to the future development of the Caergwrle area. In 1907 Rhyddyn Hall and 80 acres of land, including the wells, was sold to a syndicate represented by R. N. Woolett of Wrexham, who was the managing director of a brewery Messrs C. Bate & Son, Wrexham. This syndicate developed the wells as an outstanding tourist attraction.
16 January 1909.
WELSH RABBIT FARM. CURIOUS ACTION AT WREXHAM. A case which excited a great deal of interest was heard at the Wrexham County Court on Wednesday before Judge Moss. The plaintiff was a retired woodranger, named William Davies, of Hope, Flintshire, and he sued George Bate and Ralph Neville Woollet, brewers, Wrexham, and the owners of the Caergwrle mineral springs and wells, for £ 75, damages for trespass. The plaintiff’s case was that in February 1906, he rented the Brynygaer mountain from the owner, Mr Frank Jones, auctioneer, Wrexham, ait £.20 a year. The mountain, to the extent of 31 acres, he turned into a rabbit warren, spending a good deal of money in enclosing it. In May, 1908, he estimated that there were about 1,500 rabbits in the warren. Men were seen on the mountain, cutting turf, and although ordered to desist they refused. Turf was removed from about half an acre and carted down to the pavilion at the Wells, and there used to make a bowling green on the defendants’ property. Mr Bate, for the defence said it was ridiculous to say the 1,500 rabbits had all vanished through a wicket-gate. The turf taken was estimated by a most, competent man as not worth more than £ 1.
Their son George Beaumont Bate was born in 1895; sadly he was killed in action in 1917.
The Roll of Honour Card gives the address of George Beaumont Bate as being of Rhyddyn Hall. 0n 18th May 1917 the County Herald reported that Lieutenant Bate, son of Mr Bate of Rhyddyn Hall, had been killed in action. George and Millicent retired to Bayswater where Millicent died in 1925 at 51 Colvill Gardens, she was 60. She was brought back to Wrexham to be buried. George died in 1935 aged 86, he was at 35 Stanhope Gardens, London at that time. He was also brought back to Wrexham and reunited with Millicent.
GEORGE BEAUMONT BATE 1895 – 1917
George Beaumont was born in the summer of 1895, and when he was aged 15 he was attending Downside School, in Bath, Somerset. He joined the forces with the Public School Brigade, and gained his commission with the 9th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. On 26th September 1915 he would have been with this Regiment when it mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne. He spent two winters in trenches and afterwards was attached to Royal Flying Corps. Military notes record his first flight was on 28th March 1917 and on 23rd April 1917 was the first time he was engaged in a fight in which he brought down the first hostile machine he had ever encountered. In one month from his first flight he had three enemy machines to his credit. Sadly he was killed 29th April 1917 which was the worst day in the aviation history of the Royal Flying Corps when it came under attack from a hunting squad led by Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.
A surviving pilot, Second Lieutenant G. H. S. Dinsmore made his own account of the courageous stand made by his observer, George Beaumont Bate, as the plane went down:
My machine engaged three of the enemy. One circling in front, one coming from top and rear and one from beneath to the rear. My observer (Bate) fired about thirty rounds at the front. He motioned to me to pull up the nose of the machine and then engaged the top rear machine. This was evidently hit and dropped out of the fight….At the same time the bottom rear machine fired a heavy burst from below. My observer fell over and the rear gun, instruments, etc., were all hit. The observer had been killed instantaneously. Twenty-one year old George Beaumont had been shot through the heart. He was the third victim of the day of Lieutenant Kurt Wolff. He was originally buried about 3000 yards north of Beaumetz-les-Cambrai, but he was re-interred after the War in Quéant Road British Cemetery.
Second Lieutenant George Beaumont was regarded as a hero and was in mentioned in many books.
Please look at this website for the full information.
Many thanks to Dave Healey for the military details. Peter D.J. Hardman, a descendant of the Bate family for the family photos and to Cari Pugh for her help.
Researched by Annette Edwards. October 2020.
The BATE family portraits supplied by Peter D. J. Hardman.
Charles Bate during the 1840’s Charles Bate during 1870’s Charles Bate in later life.
Agnes BATE
Eliza Bate as a young woman Eliza Bate in later life.
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