Leonard Parker Mew

Leonard was a director of Mew & Langton & Co, one of the largest breweries on the Isle of Wight. They were among the first in Britain to can beer, from 1937, using the cone top design with crown cap. He was known as Leonard Parker Mew Junior.

A First World War veteran he was appointed from Private to Second Lieutenant in May 1915 in 2nd Wessex (Howitzer) Brigade and was awarded the British and the Victory Medals.

He was reportedly one of the first to be recruited on the Isle of Wight as he had gone to school with Sam Watson who remembered him as a yachting man, possessed a motor cruiser and knew the Solent intimately. He transferred to 19 Hampshire Battalion Home Guard May 1943. Jim Caws recalled that this was because he was too old to remain with Auxiliary Units.