Hi Stan Many thanks for the information, it's fascinating to learn about it, appreciate your help. So by 1896 when William was a Beer House Keeper he would have had to apply for a license from the justice? Would there be any way to obtain a copy of the application for this? Would the records be held somewhere still? I am trying to prove or disprove the family story that William was born in France so anything which might have personal information on him would be really useful. I know Margaret Coutts worked in her uncles pub before she married William Murrell in 1896, so it seems quite natural to learn that William, and Margaret were involved in some way in the alcohol trade. Family stories also have William, and his family as a Wine merchants/tasters. Unfortunately (from a genealogy viewpoint, perhaps not so for Margaret :o) ) by 1901 Margaret Coutts was living with husband no2 John Lisle, so very little is "known" about William Murrell. Many thanks again. Sarah On 15/12/2007, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Sarah, > Liquor licensing legislation in this country is extremely complex. The > Beer > House Act 1830 enabled any householder of reputable character to obtain a > beer house licence for a tenement or dwelling of rateable value, > by merely > paying the small sum of two guineas to the Excise. This meant that > more or less > anybody could obtain a licence to sell beer without the necessity > of having to > apply to magistrates, in contrast to a licensed victualler who could sell > all > types of drink. This Act opened the floodgates to a spectacular > proliferation of decidedly downmarket drinking-dens, most of them in the > front rooms of > terraced houses. The Act was repealed by the 1869 Wine and Beerhouse Act > (32 > and 33 Vic. c.27) which re-introduced the stricter controls of > the previous > century. It was now necessary for retailers selling beer and wine > to obtain > their licenses from justices, and in addition, it was also necessary > to obtain > similar licenses to sell alcohol off the premises. > > Stan > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >