OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: September 19, 2019
Webpage revised: April 06, 2022

        

WHO WAS WHO IN OLD PLYMOUTH

CHARLES PEARCE BROWN (1885-1965)

After gaining early experience in the grocery trade in London and Scotland and marrying Miss Catherine Jane Arrowsmith in Clifton, Bristol, in 1877, Mr Joseph Pearce Brown (1850-1936) arrived in Plymouth in 1879 to join the family business, Messrs Brown, Wills and Nicholson, wholesale provision merchants.  When his uncle, Mr Eldred Roberts Brown (1809-1885) died on February 4th 1885, Joseph Pearce Brown and his brother Mr John Brown took over the management of the business.

Joseph and Catherine had a large family.  Their first two children, Kenneth Arrowsmith Brown and Harold Arrowsmith Brown, were born while they were still in Scotland but the remainder, Ralph Roberts Brown, James Arrowsmith Brown, Charles Pearce Brown, Dorothy Brown and Muriel Brown, were all born in Plymouth.  The 1891 census shows them living at number 2 Beaumont Villas, Stafford Terrace, Houndiscombe Road, Mutley, along with a cook, a housemaid and a nurse.

But in 1885, when Mr Charles Pearce Brown was born, the family were living in The Abbey, as it was then called, in Finewell Street, where the business was situated.

Mr Brown became chairman of the Plymouth Council of Social Service upon the death of his father, Mr Joseph Pearce Brown CBE JP, on July 14th 1936.  The Council later became the Guild of Social Service.  During the Second World War he helped to organise the distribution of Red Cross messages from troops serving on the Continent and also arranged for a panel of visitors to call at the homes of every casualty in the City after an air-raid.  He became chairman of the Old People's Welfare Committee in 1941 and at a rally of some 800 old folks held in 1956 great tribute was paid to his work.  At different times he also served as president of the Plymouth Rotary Club, the Plymouth Public Dispensary and the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce.

To commemorate the jubilee of the Guild of Social Service and Mr Brown's chairmanship of it for 21 of those 25 years, he was presented in 1957 with a silver model of the Elizabethan House in New Street.  The model is now held by the City of Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery.

Mrs Mary Elizabeth Brown died suddenly in April 1945 at the young age of 56 years and was buried at Buckland Monachorum Parish Church.  A memorial service was held at the same time at the Anglican Church of Saint Matthias, Plymouth.

Part of the red-brick Beechwood factory in Alexandra Road, Lipson.
© City of Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery.

Their premises in Alexandra Road, Lipson, (pictured above) suffered great damage during the Second World War and during the 1950s the Company built a brand new grocery warehouse, offices and garages at Prince Rock at a cost of £150,000.

In May 1955 the Company got a quotation for its shares on the London Stock Exchange and in June 1955 issued 23,689 6½ per Cent Preference one pound shares and 122,000 five shilling Ordinary shares.  The Annual Report for 1957 showed that the Company's net profits had increased by £3,062 from the previous year. 

Mr Charles Pearce Brown, chairman and joint managing director with his son, Mr C L Brown, and who was recovering from an accident earlier in the year, retired from the role of chairman of directors in 1958 following the sale of the business to Messrs Aplin and Barrett Limited, of Yeovil, Somerset, manufacturers of the Saint Ivel dairy range of products.  They were part of the Messrs Cow and Gate Limited dairy empire.  He remained as senior managing director.  The other directors were Messrs Doney, company secretary; I A Roberts and L H Knight.  At that time the Company was manufacturing at their premises in Alexandra Road, Lipson, "Beechwood" sausages, pies, cooked meats, bacon, ham and pilchards.

During 1959 Messrs Cow and Gate Limited were merged with Messrs United Dairies Limited to form Messrs Unigate Dairies Limited, which the following year sold the meat products factory at Lipson and the bacon factory at Newnham Park Industrial Estate, Plympton, to Messrs Bowyer's (Wiltshire Bacon) Limited.  This left the original Company with the wholesale grocery and provisions business at both Plymouth and Hayle, Cornwall and their factory at Prince Rock.  The two units in Plymouth would be managed by Mr L H Knight, who transferred over to Bowyer's.

Mr Charles Pearce Brown died at his home, "Challock", Crapstone, Yelverton, Devon, on Tuesday May 18th 1965 at the age of 80 years.  The funeral was held at the Ancient Parish Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Buckland Monachorum, Devon, and a memorial service was held at the same time at the Ancient Parish Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Plymouth.  Mr Brown was survived by his two sons, Mr Laurence Brown and Mr Philip Brown, and daughter, Miss Phoebe Brown.

The old factory at Lipson was demolished in 1979 and the famous chimney, alongside the main railway line, disappeared on the morning of May 15th 1980.