This material is from an alphabetical company list found in Business and History at Western at the University of Western Ontario.
This essay was written in c 1967. It was copied from the May 1967 "Centennial Issue" of Industrial Canada held in the Western Libraries at the University of Western Ontario. The original article should be consulted since this copy may contain some errors. The text and/or the images are being made available to researchers for scholarly purposes. They should not be used for commercial gain without the permission of the author or publisher.
A farmer of Upper Canada named Tom Carling, whose home brew so pleased the officers and men of a neighboring British Regiment that they persuaded him to start brewing commercially, located his first brewery across from a military camp in what is now London, Ontario in 1840. It consisted of two potash kettles, a horse to turn the grinding mill and six strong men to work the mash tubs. Carling's sons William, 18, and John, 12, were helpers and on their father's death in 1845 the boys were able to take over the business.
In 1849 William and John reorganized the company as W. & J. Carling Co. John Carling, who was knighted in 1893 and appointed to the Senate in 1896, became a prominent figure in Canadian politics. He was a member of the Canadian Assembly for London for the 10 years prior to Confederation and afterwards held portfolios in both the Federal and Ontario cabinets. As Commissioner of Public Works, Agriculture and Immigration in the Ontario house, Sir John established the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, now Guelph University, and as Federal Minister of Agriculture from 1885 to 1892 he originated the Federal system of experimental farms.
In 1875 the brothers extended their partnership to include one of John's sons, Thomas H. Carling, and two members of the Dalton family who were connected with the brewery management. The firm became known as Carling and Company. A new brewery was completed in 1878 at the cost of a quarter of a million dollars, and was almost immediately destroyed by fire. William Carling, who worked through the night with other citizens to battle the blaze, contracted pneumonia from exposure and died within a fortnight. Only about two-thirds of the damage to the brewery was covered by fire insurance. The company's fortunes were at their lowest ebb, but John Carling, although saddened by his brother's death, accomplished the seemingly impossible and had the brewery restored and functioning 10 weeks after the fire, a feat which earned him a respectful editorial salute from the Toronto Mail. In 1882 the company was reorganized as the Carling Brewing and Malting Company of London.
Sir John Carling died in 1911 and in the years that followed many problems were encountered, including the advent of prohibition. In 1927 the company became The Carling Breweries Limited and in 1930 became a member of the Canadian Breweries family. The London plant continued operations until 1936 when it became Carling Kuntz Limited and operations were transferred to the Waterloo plant of the former Kuntz Brewing Company, which itself dated from 1844. In 1940 the name was changed from Carling Kuntz to The Carling Breweries Limited. The company today has plants in main cities throughout Canada and Carling brands are marketed on a world-wide basis.
With the introduction of the "beer by permit" system in 1927, the company became The Carling Breweries Limited once again. In 1930 it became a member of Canadian Breweries Limited.
The London plant continued operations until 1936, when it became Carling Kuntz Limited and operations were transferred to the Waterloo plant of the former Kuntz Brewing Co., which itself dated from 1844. In 1940 the name was changed from Carling Kuntz to Carling Breweries Limited.
