The Watney Family and Wandsworth
Research notes
The Watneys are best known for the brewing firm Watney Combe & Reid. But for a generation the family worked the mills on the Wandle at Wandsworth, ran a distillery in York Road, and married into Wandsworth families.
These are working notes, added to as the research goes on. The newest findings are in the research log at the foot of the page.
How sure each point is: Burke in Burke’s Landed Gentry, 1898; confirmed in another reliable source; to check stated somewhere but not yet verified; lead an inference, not yet sourced.
Contents
- The family in outline
- The Wandle mills and the York Road distillery
- The Langton marriages
- Other marriages with local families
- The two Daniels: distiller and surveyor
- Burke’s pedigree, 1898
- Open questions
- Research log
- Sources
The family in outline
Based on Burke’s pedigree. Names in bold are the people with Wandsworth connections.
Daniel Watney of Wimbledon (1705–1780), married 1730 Mary, daughter of Joseph Acres of Wimbledon. Burke
John Watney of Wimbledon and Cannon Hill (d. 1814), married first Barbara, daughter of William Rose of Wimbledon; secondly Mary Anne, daughter of John Caslake of Putney. Burke
Daniel Watney of Mitcham (1771–1831), Lay Rector of Mitcham, miller at Wandsworth, married 1792 Mary Galpin of Mitcham. Burke
Daniel (1799–1874), miller and distiller at Wandsworth, married 1823 Eleanor Langton of Wandsworth.
James (1800–1884), miller at Wandsworth, then brewer at the Stag Brewery, Pimlico; married 1829 Rebecca Spurrell.
John (1804–1875) of Mitcham, married 1833 Susannah Dormay of Clapham.
Elizabeth, married 1820 Thomas Langton of Wandsworth and Dunsfold.
Barbara, Mary and Eleanor (married Walker and Lyon; Templer; Norris).
The Wandle mills and the York Road distillery
From the wandle.org mill histories. confirmed
- 19 November 1817. Daniel Watney (1771–1831), miller, occupies both Upper Mills, corn and oil, at Wandsworth.
- Early 1820s. He buys the freehold of the Upper Mills from George Augustus Ferguson and takes his son James into partnership. He buys the Middle Mill about 1826.
- 17 May 1826. Thomas Bush leases the Lower Mill to Daniel junior (1799–1874) for 21 years at £800 a year. He is the occupier on the 1834 deposited plan and the 1838 Wandsworth tithe map.
- 27 June 1829. Daniel senior retires and James carries on alone. Daniel senior dies on 10 June 1831, leaving the Upper and Middle Mills to James.
- About 1834. Daniel junior leaves milling for the Waterside Distillery in York Road. James takes on the Lower Mill as well.
- 1837. James buys a share in the Stag Brewery, Pimlico, the start of Watney & Co.
- About 1847 to 1861. “Watney and Wells”: James in partnership with William Henry Wells. In May 1848 they buy the basin and wharf of the Surrey Iron Railway, which had closed in 1846.
- Later. The Waterside Distillery becomes John Watney & Co, under Daniel’s son John (1828–1904). Booth’s Distillery takes a majority interest in 1923.
The Langton marriages
Burke’s shows that the Watneys married into the Langtons of Wandsworth twice, three years apart. Burke
- 16 May 1820. Elizabeth Watney, daughter of Daniel Watney of Mitcham, married Thomas Langton “of Wandsworth and Dunsfold, Surrey”. He died on 5 March 1864 and she on 12 March 1868, “leaving issue”.
- 10 July 1823. Her brother Daniel Watney married Eleanor, “only dau. of Daniel Langton, of Wandsworth, Surrey”. He died on 16 March 1874 and she on 6 May 1883.
Burke’s calls Eleanor an only daughter, so she may have had brothers. Thomas Langton could be one of them. lead
The Brewery History Society says Daniel “married into the local Langton brewing family”. Burke’s does not say what the Langtons did. to check
Daniel and Eleanor’s sons were born in Wandsworth while the family ran the mills:
- Alfred (1824–1873), married 1848 Ellen Eliza, only child of Alexander Raby of Brynmor, Carmarthenshire; hence the family’s Welsh property at Pontyberren.
- Daniel, “of Coombe” (born 5 August 1825), distiller; see below.
- John (born 1828), the distiller of John Watney & Co, York Road. He married first, in 1855, Charlotte Walker of Terrington St Clement, Norfolk; secondly, in 1872, Constance Furze Vickers, of Templeton, Roehampton.
- Henry, who died young; and daughters Ellen (married Rev. John Jones), Mary (married Rev. James Booth, LL.D., F.R.S.), Anna Maria (married Thomas Symonds Howell) and Fanny, who died young.
Other marriages with local families
- Acres of Wimbledon, 1730. Family tradition says Joseph Acres, a farmer with no heirs, took Daniel in, and the Watneys later had the Acres farm. Burke for the marriage; the story is tradition.
- Rose of Wimbledon, and Caslake of Putney: John Watney’s two wives. Burke
- Galpin of Mitcham, 1792: landowners, not brewers. The Galpin arms are quartered in the Watney arms. Burke
- Coombes of Clapham, 1819: Thomas Watney of Wimbledon married Ann, only child of Richard Coombes. Burke
- Spurrell of Southwark, 1829: James Watney married Rebecca, eldest daughter of James Spurrell, brewer and hop merchant. Burke
- Dormay of Thanet House, Clapham, 1833: John Watney married Susannah, only child of Peter Dormay. Burke
- Vickers of Templeton, Roehampton, 1872. Burke
- Rainsford. Herbert Watney, James’s son, married Sarah Louisa, eldest daughter of Rev. Marcus Rainsford of Belgrave Chapel. Burke’s gives 22 January 1873; Wikipedia gives 22 January 1872, at All Saints, Wandsworth. to check
- Barclay. Joseph Gurney Barclay (1879–1976), of the Quaker banking family, married a daughter of Herbert Watney. A twentieth-century marriage, not a South London brewing link. confirmed
The two Daniels: distiller and surveyor
Two Daniel Watneys of the same generation are easily confused.
Daniel of Coombe (born 5 August 1825), the distiller. Born in Wandsworth, the son of Daniel and Eleanor (née Langton). He married in 1855 Jane Aston, daughter of Augustus William Rixon of Gordon Square; she died in 1874. Burke
In the 1881 census he is a widower aged 55, born in Wandsworth, living at Kingston with his daughter Eleanor J. and son Theodore. He founded D. Watney & Son, brewers at Richmond, with his son Theodore Herbert, and died at Brighton in 1893. confirmed
Daniel of Burleigh Lodge, Croydon (born 23 May 1835), probably the surveyor. The son of John Watney of Mitcham and Susannah Dormay. He married on 20 September 1860 Ellen Sarah, second daughter and co-heir of Stephen Dendy of Leigh Place, Surrey. Their sons were Walter Daniel (1861), Dendy (1865) and Arthur Gordon (1868). Burke
Dendy Watney was a surveyor and architect, and president of the Surveyors’ Institution in 1926. That strongly suggests his father was the Daniel Watney who set up as a surveyor at 26 Poultry in 1859 and was president of the Institution in 1895–97. Burke’s does not give his occupation. lead
His elder brother, Sir John Watney, Clerk to the Mercers’ Company, married Ellen’s sister Elizabeth Dendy in 1864: two brothers married two sisters.
He was not a founder of the Surveyors’ Institution, which was formed in 1868 under John Clutton. confirmed
Burke’s pedigree, 1898
“Watney of Haling Park”, from Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 9th edition (1898), vol. 2, pp. 1553–4. The Watney entry begins halfway down the second column of page 1553 and fills the first column of page 1554. Click to enlarge.
Page 1553: Vernon James Watney; the lineage from Daniel Watney of Wimbledon; the Langton marriage of 1823 and the Wandsworth-born sons. The whole page.
Page 1554: Daniel of Burleigh Lodge, the Langton marriage of 1820, James Watney’s family, and the arms. The whole page.
Two slips in Burke’s: John Watney of Wimbledon is said to be born “8 July, 1777”, though his son was born in 1771; and Mary Watney is said to have married James Templer in 1851, a year after his death in 1850.
Open questions
- Who were Daniel Langton and Thomas Langton of Wandsworth? Brewers? Where did they live? Try the 1838 tithe apportionment, the rate books, the All Saints registers (the marriages of 1820 and 1823 are probably there) and wills.
- Was Thomas Langton Eleanor’s brother?
- Where did Daniel and Eleanor Watney live in Wandsworth, 1823 to about 1840? The baptisms of Alfred (1824), Daniel (1825) and John (1828) should say.
- Confirm that Daniel of Burleigh Lodge, Croydon, was the surveyor (an obituary, 1923?).
- Herbert Watney’s wedding: 1872 or 1873, and was it at All Saints, Wandsworth?
- Did any Watney own property on or around Wandsworth Common?
Research log
29 October 2026. Sharper scans of Burke’s added: the Watney entry is on pages 1553–4 (not 1552–3, as first noted).
29 October 2026. Burke’s pedigree read. It confirms the Langton marriage (Daniel and Eleanor, 1823) and adds a second (Elizabeth Watney and Thomas Langton, 1820). It also separates the two Daniels: the Wandsworth-born distiller of 1825, and the 1835 Daniel of Burleigh Lodge, Croydon, probably the surveyor.
29 October 2026. Notes started. Checked a summary of the family’s history against published sources. The 1825 Daniel was not the surveyor; the surveyor was not a founder of the Surveyors’ Institution; the Barclay link is twentieth-century; the Galpins were Mitcham landowners.
Sources
- Burke, Landed Gentry, 9th edition (1898), vol. 2, pp. 1553–4, “Watney of Haling Park”.
- Wandle Industrial Museum / wandle.org mill histories: Upper Mill, Wandsworth; Lower Mill, Wandsworth.
- Brewery History Society Wiki: The Watney Family; Watney & Son Ltd.
- Mitcham History Notes: Coats of Arms (4 January 2017).
- Wikipedia: James Watney; Norman Watney; John Watney; Watney family.
- Daniel Watney LLP: About us.
- Grace’s Guide: Surveyors’ Institution; John Watney and Co.
- 1881 census, Kingston, Surrey: Daniel Watney (Findmypast index).