Martyn Cornell died earlier in the year, sadly just before his book on porter was published.
Whenever I wrote about porter- invariably in an historical context-Martyn would pop up and offer invaluable advice and knowledge. One exchange we had is extracted below. It relates to the Cato St Conspiracy in central London, the 205th anniversary of which is marked this year.
Martyn and his vast beer knowledge will be much ,missed
Just put together a map showing the 25 biggest porter brewers in London in 1794. Particularly delighted to include Cratchrode Whiffing (Queen Street, Ratcliffe Cross, Limehouse, since you ask.) He was raided by the excise authorities in 1813, who found 2.5cwt of illegal additives
did some incidental research recently on what all involved at Cato St(23rd Feb 1820) were drinking on the day. The answer, both conspirators & police appears to have been porter at the Horse & Groom opposite the hayloft
Martyn Cornell 27th April 2020
Three big porter breweries about equidistant from there, Meux in Tottenham Court Road, Combe in Covent Garden and Elliott (later Watney) in Pimlico
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