Lord Denman, Mistley

It is thought the building dates from around 1850; in 1845 the mansion, Mistley Hall, was demolished and the land sold off in small plots - it is thought this area, New Mistley, is build on such plots. The 1870 Post Office directory shows Hunneyball, Elizabeth (Mrs) at the Lord Denman (along with a Thomas Hunneyball, gardener and beer retailer). The 1855 Post Office directory doesn't mention the pub but does mention a John Hunneyball as a beer retailer in Mistley. Whites directory of 1848 doesn't mention the family, though does list a few keepers of Beer Houses in Mistley, so the building might have been earlier. Lord Denman retired as chief justice in 1850 and died in 1854. He was popular with the general population for his defence of the Luddites and of Queen Caroline (of Brunswick), which might have been the reason the pub became so named. Kellys Directory in 1929 lists George Albert Hunneyball at the Lord Denman so it looks likely that at least three generations of the family ran the pub (John and his wife Elizabeth, their son Thomas, and his son George).