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Benjamin Greene (5 April 1780 – 26 November 1860) was an English businessman, newspaper owner and the founder of Greene King, one of the United Kingdom's largest brewing businesses.[1] He later became the owner of multiple plantations in the British West Indies and supported slavery.[2]
Benjamin Greene | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 April 1780 Oundle, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 26 November 1860 (aged 80) Bloomsbury, London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, brewer, planter, newspaper owner |
| Known for | Founder of, Greene King |
| Children | 13 |
Benjamin Greene was born on 5 April 1780 in Oundle. He apprenticed at Whitbread, a British multinational hotel and restaurant company.
Greene initially founded a brewing business in 1801 with John Clark in Bury St Edmunds.[1] Then in 1806 he dissolved that partnership and established a new venture with William Buck at the Westgate Brewery.[1] It was this venture that became Greene King.[1]
On the death of Sir Patrick Blake, 2nd Baronet he became the executor and, on the subsequent death of Sir Patrick's widow, the owner of some estates in the West Indies.[1]
He was a supporter of the arts and in 1819 lent £5,000 to William Wilkins to build the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.[3]
He acquired the Bury and Suffolk Herald in 1828 and as proprietor took an ultra-conservative position opposing both the Reform Bill and the Slavery Abolition Bill.[1] This position attracted much criticism and three libel actions.[1] He left Bury St Edmunds in 1836 and established with his son, Benjamin Greene & Son, West India merchants and shipowners, at 11 Mincing Lane, London.[1]
He made three claims under the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 and was awarded a total of £4,033 15s 7d compensation for the 231 slaves he had owned on his estates in Montserrat and St Kitts.[4][5][6] The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership at UCL describes him as an enthusiastic supporter of slavery, being particularly active between 1828 and 1833.[7] In June 2020 Greene King announced that it would be paying reparations to BAME charities in recognition that he and by extension the company had benefited from slavery.[8]
He died at Russell Square in London on 26 November 1860 and is buried at Highgate Cemetery.[1]
He was married twice: first in 1803 to Mary Maling and then in 1805 to Catherine Smith with whom he went on to have seven sons and six daughters[1] including:
- Benjamin Buck (1808–1902) of Midgham House in Berkshire, Governor of the Bank of England
- Mary (1812–1870)
- Edward (1815–1891), Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds (1865–1885) and Stowmarket (1886–1891); Took charge of running the brewery.
- William (1824–1881)
- Charles Henry (1865–1942)
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