Dawes & Co.

McCord Stewart Museum states the Dawes Brewery was founded in 1826 by Thomas Dawes. City of Montréal heritage records connect Dawes to Joseph Chapman's earlier brewery, which Dawes took over after Chapman's death in 1836. Dawes later became one of Montréal's major brewers and joined National Breweries in 1909. FILLED 2026-09-24: closedYear 1952 is the company's end inside Dow, not the plant's last brew (UNKNOWN). Related: national-breweries-limited (1909-1952), dow-brewery-limited (TB-7TJYMPKH, the renamed group). Whether the Musée de Lachine occupies former Dawes buildings is not established by the City's page.

A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.

1. 1811
   Thomas Dawes at Lachine — 1811 or 1826

   "Thomas Dawes immigrated from England to Lower Canada in 1808 and three years later established a brewery in Lachine" (Dictionary of Canadian Biography; French Wikipedia agrees on 1811). The record's founded year, 1826, is the land-and-buildings date in the heritage tradition. Both kept; the record's field is unchanged.

2. 1861
   The stone brewery

   "Construite en 1861 en pierre des champs, la Vieille-Brasserie-Dawes" — at 2801, boulevard Saint-Joseph, Lachine; a City of Montréal heritage place, today a reception hall with a terrace on Lac Saint-Louis in the complexe culturel Guy-Descary.

3. 1878
   The third generation

   "On the death of his father in 1878 [James Pawley Dawes] inherited, with his brother Andrew Joseph, his father's share in the business. Together with their uncle Thomas Amos Dawes, the two brothers directed the enterprise."

4. 1909
   National Breweries

   "In 1909 [Norman James Dawes] joined his father in forming National Breweries, the largest brewing merger in Canada to that date, involving 14 Québec companies" (Canadian Encyclopedia; French Wikipedia says sixteen). Dawes became the group's ale and porter brewer; Königsbier — Kingsbeer from 1914 — was its 1912 lager, filed in this archive on the Dow record that later owned the mark.

5. 1939
   Dawes Black Horse Brewery

   "En 1939, elle devient la Dawes Black Horse Brewery" — the company renamed for its ale.

6. 1952
   Into Dow

   When Canadian Breweries turned National Breweries into Dow in 1952, "la Dawes Black Horse Brewery disparaît". The year brewing ended at Lachine itself: UNKNOWN. Black Horse survives as a Newfoundland beer: "The only place in Canada today where Black Horse is available is, to my knowledge, Newfoundland."

7. 1999
   The collection

   "La collection Dawes Black Horse du Musée de Lachine se compose de plus de 800 objets", assembled by the collector and antiquarian Michel Ste-Marie and held by the museum since 1999; exhibitions 'Pour boire il faut vendre!' and 'La Brasserie Dawes à Lachine' closed with a farewell evening on 10 February 2023. Family papers: the Dawes-Leishman Family Fonds at McGill.