Robert Cain
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- For the VC recipient, see Robert Henry Cain
Robert Cain (1826-1907) was the founder of the firm Robert Cain and Sons, a brewer in Liverpool, England.
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[edit] Birth and youth
He was born on Spike Island, County Cork, Ireland on April 29, 1826, the son of James Cain (1797-1871), a private soldier in the 88th Foot, a regiment of the British Army, and Mary Deane (died 1864).
[edit] Career
After a period working at sea as a cooper Robert Cain married Ann Newall in 1847 and began brewing in Liverpool around 1848 on Limekiln Lane in the Scotland Road area. He soon expanded his operation to a nearby brewery on Wilton Street and finally moved to the existing Mersey Brewery (now known as the Robert Cain Brewery or Cains Brewery) on Stanhope Street, Liverpool in 1858.
[edit] Businessman
Cain became one of Liverpool's most successful businessmen with a passion for using the most modern techniques and equipment. He expanded the brewery several times, most notably in 1887 and in 1900-1902, when the landmark redbrick part of the brewery was constructed. By the time of his death on July 19, 1907 Cain was one of Britain's richest men, leaving a personal estate of £400,000 (around £28 million at 2005 prices). He also had political influence, working behind the scenes to help the Conservative Party maintain control of Liverpool throughout the late nineteenth century. In fact he was so influential in the area of Toxteth Park, Liverpool where he lived that he became known as "King of the Toxteths".
[edit] Example of social mobility
Cain is also notable as an example of social mobility in Victorian and early twentieth-century Britain. From the early 1860s the Cains lived in the affluent enclave of Grassendale Park and later owned mansions on Aigburth Road and in Hoylake on the Wirral. In all the Cains had 11 children, including five sons and six daughters. Despite their Irish immigrant background two of his sons, William Cain, and Charles Cain, became baronets. Charles Cain, later Charles Nall-Cain, entered the House of Lords in 1933 as the first Baron Brocket, joining several other brewers in what became known as The Beerage.
[edit] Bibliography
- “Life of Robert Cain, The Large Local Brewer”, in The Liverpool Review, September 17, 1887, p. 10. Lithograph portrait of Cain on p. 1.
- Tony Lane, Liverpool: Gateway of Empire, (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1987).
- Tim Malcolm, Anti-Booze Crusaders in Victorian Liverpool, (Birkenhead: Countyvise, 2005).
- Christopher Routledge, Cain's: The Story of Liverpool in a Pint, (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, forthcoming, 2008). ISBN-13: 978-1846311505
