Postcard advertising STYM 1907. Source: Picture Sheffield.
John Wheatley came from Sutton Bonnington near Nottingham but was in Sheffield by 1841 working as a commercial traveller for an Ale and Porter brewery. In the early 1850s John set up his own business making both black beer and various cordials. Black beer was a non-alcoholic malt extract described in an advert as ‘extremely beneficial in cases of debility and weakness’. Although the temperance movement was a threat to the brewing industry, it was also an opportunity to develop new drinks for the temperance market as can be seem for the advert above for STYM, a hop bitters drink.
At the end of 1862 John was declared bankrupt, but by 1865 he was back in business now in partnership with his eldest son John Rutland, and the business had expanded to include aerated drinks. In the 1871 census John was listed as a brewer and manufacturer of cordials and aerated waters employing 10 men and four boys and the family was living in Henry Street at the brewery premises. John died in 1880 at the age of 72 and was interred in grave T1 128 in the Anglican area.
Their son John Rutland carried on the business which continued to expand as can be seen in the advert from 1889 and which now included alcoholic drinks [note the telephone number at the top of the advert].
In 1893 Wheatley and Son merged with another business to become a limited company Wheatley and Bates Ltd.
Three years later John Rutland became a Conservative councillor and was appointed Lord Mayor in 1903. He served as a councillor for 17 years. John Rutland was not buried in the Cemetery although his third son William Rutland Wheatley, also a manager in the family business, was buried in the same grave as his grandfather.
In the 1940s the Hope and Anchor Breweries took a controlling interest in Wheatley and Bates, and it was dissolved in 1966.