mediaeval coffin of polished oak, panelled with massive
brass furniture’ was laid to rest next to that of his long
dead daughter, his first wife Rosalind, his nephew Henry
Marshall and his brother George. Foxearth church was
filled to overflowing with many mourners having to stand
in the churchyard. That nagging sense of anti-climax and
unfinished business that often surrounds the burial of the
dead did not arise. The congregation, which included ‘a
large number of ladies’ heard that their parish priest had
turned his apparent deficiencies into virtues which, allied
to a strong character, enabled him to dominate the
imaginations of so many friends, admirers, acquaintances
and detractors.
business to her son David, making him the company‘s first
chairman. Although she had been an innkeeper at The Lion
(having received its on-licence in 1890) she had spent fifty
out of her seventy-three years guiding the brewery from its
modest beginnings.
four decades since Charlotte and George had begun
brewing in 1848. The rich man at his castle; the poor man
at his gate was the ordained social order of the Victorian
village and to question it was to question God’s will; but
within that structure there was room for movement.
Essentially, though, the social structure of the village was
static, certainly compared to our fluid society. Everyone
from the landed gentry to the labourer knew their place.
Farmers showed elaborate deference to squires, labourers
tugged their forelocks to their employers.
with the interests and point of view of the squire and
farmer. As a class they so closely identified themselves with
the gentry as to give the impression that they regarded
themselves as a sort of spiritual squireachy, which left
them outside the real modern life of the village. Foster had
come to Foxearth at a time when to many villagers it must
have seemed that their whole world was owned and ruled
by those they worked for and their masters expected
directors and formed a class above the rest of the
workforce, though those there with a special skill, such as
the cooper, lifted themselves into an exalted position. The
position of the landed gentry was not unassailable,
led to many clashes of will and personality.
done, and many of the new residents like David Ward, now
living at a fine farmhouse on John Foster’s estate called
Carbonell’s Farm (or Red Farm) at Foxearth, bought
themselves social status.
difference to the parish. Most of his parishoners, it has to
be remembered, were people who lived a life of unending
toil and frequent domestic chaos, their lives advanced only
slowly, but by his investing in various local projects there is
clear confirmation of better living standards in terms of a
more varied diet and possessions of small luxuries such as
watches and bicycles.
and move up the social ladder meant huge benefits for the
immediate area and beyond. During this period, the
industrial history of the brewery, sees workers arriving not
only from nearby villages such as Glemsford, Cavendish
and Clare but faraway towns such as Stoke and Newcastle.
Diamond Jubilee, Foster’s former brewing empire displayed
more excited growth. On September 1st Charlotte Ward cut
the ribbon at an elaborate topping out ceremony in the