Henrietta Read, later Henrietta Meares
British, born 1760
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyHenrietta Read was born around 1760 and baptized on June 25, 1765, the second of three daughters of Frances Truman (1726-1801) and Henry Read (d. 1786) of Crowood, Ramsbury, Wiltshire. Her mother's family had been in the brewing business for several centuries, and the firm of Truman, Hanbury, and Buxton of Spitalfields, London, was founded by her great-grandfather. Under the direction of her grandfather, Benjamin Truman (1699-1780), it became one of the largest industrial enterprises in England, chiefly through the production of porter, a black stout that could be brewed in massive quantities without deterioration. Little is known of Henrietta Read's life. On July 12, 1790 she married John Meares of Eastington, Pembrokeshire. They evidently had no children and the date of her death is unrecorded.