A MAN OF TO-DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9603, 18 December 1896, Page 2

A MAN OF TO-DAY.

THE RIGHT HON. LORD BURTON, BARON OF BASS'S ALE. There has been a groat deal of what is commonly called luck or chance about the story, of Bass's ale. For instance, the founder of the brewery, Lord Burton's greatgrandfather, was originally a carrier, and carted barrels from a small local brewery in Burton. He thought there seemed to be money in "beer, and so he began to brew on his own account. This was a remarkable instance of a man's achieving by a sudden change of profession. ' Bass's ale, however, did noib immediately take in England. William Bass did a certain amount of local trade, but the bulk of his annual output of some 6,000 barrels went to Russia. Then suddenly the Czar imposed prohibitive duty, arid there was an end to the Russian trade. . Luck, personified by a member of the East India Company, suggested that there was a wide field in India for an excellent light ale. Mr Bass (the son of William) took the question up, experimented, and finally produced the liquid now known as " Bass's ale." This succeeded admirably in India. A tremendous trade was created, and an enormous fortune followed. " It is a curious fact," said Lord Burton, " that for years this ale was very largely exported to every part of India, and yet was hardly known in England beyond the vicinity of Burton." Luck once more interfered to change that. In 1827 an India-bound ship was wrecked in the Irish Channel. There were 300 barrels on board, which went to the insurance company and were sold by auction in Liverpool. The" Liverpudlians tasted, liked the stuff, asked where it came from, and ordered more. In that year, Messrs. Bass doubled their business, and added to their Indian trade at least as large a sale in Lancashire and the north generally. At the Exhibition of 1851 a Bass exhibit figured, and was rewarded by medals. More important still, the ale thereby became known to the Londoners and the world at large. It met with general approbation. In tho year 1852, however, it seemed as if luck was at last going against Bass's ale. A French' lecturer of renown declared that large quantities of strychnine were used in the manufacture, and tremendous excitement arose in the English papers and among the beer-drinking public. Messrs Bass, however, got in the best experts, and arranged a most exhaustive enquiry, with the satisfactory result that the ale came out of the panic with a higher reputation than before.

From that moment it became the national drink, and its renown soon spread over the globe. This work had taken three generations to build up.

The founder of this house, William Bass, died in 1787, while the business was still a small ooncern. His son, Michael Thomas Bass, died in 1827, just before the northern trade was opened up. His son, Michael Thomas, developed the trade in England, and with the assistance of his son, Michael Arthur, the present Lord Burton, extended it to its present dimensions. He also laid the foundation of political importance of the Basses by entering Parliament, and representing Derby for thirty-flve years.

Michael Arthur Bass was born in 1837. By this time his father was a very wealthy man. Young Bass was sent to Harrow and afterwards to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1859. Even as early as this Michael Bass showed that there was not an atom of false pride about him—in short, the trait in his character which renders him content to be ancestored by the true founder of his house, William Bass, of the Burton Brewery, instead of going to the Herald's office in "search of Norman forebears, as niauy have done, is good proof of his sound common sense. He was riding with a friend in Cambridge when they passed a huge dray loaded with barrels. Young Bass delayed for a minute, to examine the barrels, and then, rejoining his friend, said:— " Yes. it is as I thought. They are my father's." He was destined very early for a political career, and the family influence enabled him to enter Parliament at the age of twentyeight as M.P. for Stafford, which he represented from 1865 to 1868. In the latter year he was elected as a warm Gladstonian for the new constituency of East Staffordshire, which he represented until 1885, when the constituency of Burton-on-Trent, created in that year, naturally selected him as its representative.

For some years, therefore, there were two Basses in Parliament, and they were joined by Arthur's brother Hamar in 1878. Mr Bass the elders political services, though not of a showy order, were great, and his purse was always open at his party"? call. His gifts to the town of Burton and to charity were also enormous. He was several times offered • peerage, bat declined it.

His son had, in consequence, not only his own merits, bat those of his father and his brother to his credit. In 1882, therefore, Mr Gladstone conferred on him a baronetcy, with a special remainder to hie brother in default of male issue of his own. Mr Bass, the elder, died in 1884, and shortly after that Sir Arthur Bass turned the brewery into a limited company, of which he was elected chairman. This successful stroke of finance increased his wealth very considerably. Moreover, though he has been far from a sleeping partner, but has been most active in the interests of the tirm, the main burden of the business was shifted from his shoulders, and he was able at last to take some of the rest which he had earned. Sir Arthur Bass was elected a member of Brooke's Clnb in 1869, and that institution has always been the headquarters of the Whigs, who identified themselves more with the views of the Duke of Devonshire (then Lord Hartington) than with the more advanced section of Mr Gladstone's followers. When the great split in the Liberal party occurred over the Home Rule question in the spring of 1886, Sir Arthur followed Lord Hartington into the camp of the Liberal Unionists. The value of his accession, together with that of his brother, and also the long political services of himself and his father, were recognised by Lord Salisbury in August of that year by the gift of a barony. This creation was no doubt facilitated "by the fact that Lord Burton has no son, and so the peerage is merely a personal honour. The Bass motto contains a punning allusion to the name. It is, " Basis virtutum constentia " (constancy is the foundation of the virtues). In the year before he obtained his peerage Sir Arthur Bass purchased the fine old London residence of the Earls of Chesterfield known as Chesterfield House, in South Audley Street, from Mr Magniac, M.P., at the cost of £20,000. The great glory of this house is the marble staircase, which came from Canons, an old seat of the Dukes of Chandos. Each step is a single block of marble 20ft long. Another curiosity is a gilt hall-lantern holding eighteen candles. This came from Hoiighton, the seat of Sir Robert Walpole. It has been adapted for the electric light. The drawing-rooms are among the finest in London. It was in this house that Lady Burton gave the series of magnificent entertainments for her daughter's pleasure between that young lady's dSbiit and marriage. Miss Bass was married to Mr Baillie, of Dochfour, from Chesterfield House, in the summer of 18S4. Lord Burton has had some curious experiences. On one occasion, when he was in the train, a fellow-passenger entered into conversation with him, and eventually led the talk on the subject of brewing. On this topic, Lord Burton naturally had something to say, and he so impressed his fellowtraveller, who was one also of the trade, that the latter said : " You seem to know a good deal about brewing. Look here. lam a brewer down way. I want an active and promising young man, to act as manager under mc, and push the business. I have no family, and if he does well, there's a partnership ahead in the future. Now, is that a good offer ? " " An excellent one," replied Lord Burton. "And I regret that I cannot avail myself of it. But the fact is that my name is Bass, and I have a brewery of my own down at Burton, which you may possibly have heard of." On another occasion, when he was visiting some of the tied houses to see how things were going, and whether the beer was kept at the fight standard, he entered into conversation with the' landlord. The talk turned on the necessity for the brewing and licensed victualling interest to go solid together! "Ah, my lord," said the landlord, slapping his hand violently on the table. "We brother Bungs ought to stick to each other, that's what it is." The town of Burton owes a good deal to Lord Burton personally as well as to his family. In 1893 he presented the citizens with a handsome building for their municipal offices, and last year he built a fine broad bridge over the Trent as another present to the town, which has proved an enormous boon to the traffic. Some idea of the extent of the business done by Bass and Co. may be gathered from the faof that last year the firm paid nearly £50,000 into the Exchequer in the way of duty. aSonie notion of Lord Burton's own share in extending the business may be derived from the fact that in the years 1892, 1893, and 1894, the output increased some 30%. It may be imagined that such a business requires a small army of persons to carry it out. As a matter of fact, the men and boys engaged in the actual work of the breweries total up to 3000, and the number of clerks employed in the offices is nearly 300. Over this army Lord Burton is commander-in-chief, and he exacts the strictest discipline. He has ttie very genius of ■ organization and at the same time the eye of a martinet, which detects at once the smallest weakness or failure in any part of this huge staff. The breweries in themselves are among the largest producing establishments in the world. There are three of them, and they cover about 200 acres of land. This land is rapidly becoming so valuable as building land, that it is possible that in the future the company may transfer its works a few miles out of. Burton, and let the present sites of the breweries on building lease. On the other hand, i the cost of the transfer would be enormous. Against this must be reckoned the fact that a town would grow up at once round the new breweries on the company's land, and the increased value of the groundrents would go to the credit side of the account.

The immensity of this enormous business may be still further realised when it is added that the annual output is about 1,300,000 barrels, and the annual issue of bottling labels with the red pyramid on them is about 230,000,000. Moreover, no less than 80,000 acres are employed in growing hops for the manufacture of Bass's ale.