Keen & Co was perhaps the largest mustard manufacturer in the world before it was overtaken by Colman’s in the 1860s.
Thomas Keen establishes a mustard factory
English mustard became an increasingly popular condiment throughout the eighteenth century, with production largely centered at Durham and Tewkesbury.
Thomas Keen became the first commercial producer of mustard powder in the City of London from 1742, with a factory at Garlick Hill.
By 1792 the partners were Henry Sutton (died 1799), John Keen and Joseph Smith, and the firm traded as Sutton, Keen & Smith.
The factory was entirely destroyed by fire in 1806.
The business traded as Keen, Son & Co by 1811.
A Joseph Teale exited the business in 1824, leaving John Keen, John Henry Keen and James Keen (1780 – 1849) as partners.
John Keen retired in 1828, leaving Thomas Keen (1800 – 1862) and James Keen (died 1849) as sole partners.
The business was known as Keens & Welch by 1841. James Keen died in 1849, leaving Thomas Keen and John Welch (1805 – 1856) as partners.
Thomas Keen was a wealthy man by 1851; he kept nine servants in his household.
Keen Robinson Bellville & Co
Thomas Keen died in 1862, and Thomas Keen & Son was merged with Robinson & Bellville of Holborn, manufacturers of patent barley. The merged firm traded as Keen Robinson Bellville & Co.
Keen’s mustard was described as “world famous” by the Morning Post in 1868.
William John Bellville (1829 – 1891) was sole proprietor of the firm by 1876.
William John Bellville (1829 – 1891)
Keen operated the largest mustard factory in London by 1881, and it was supposedly the oldest mustard factory in the world. Additional factory premises were acquired at Denmark Street, London, in the 1880s.
William John Bellville died with an estate valued at £638,000 in 1891. The firm was inherited by his wife, Emma Bellville (born 1847).
The Garlick Hill premises was said to the oldest factory in the City of London by 1892. It spanned five floors. Most mustard seed was grown in the East of England, although some was imported from the Netherlands. There were extensive granaries in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and Boston, Lincolnshire. The firm employed over 1,000 people, and was notable for not employing women, except for in sack mending.
Keen Robinson is acquired by J & J Colman
The business was registered as Keen Robinson, with a capital of £300,000, from 1893.
Keen Robinson was acquired by J & J Colman of Norwich, a rival mustard manufacturer, in 1903. Frank Ashton Bellville (1870 – 1937) joined the Colman’s board of directors.
It appears that Keen’s mustard advertising was immediately withdrawn in favour of the Colman’s brand.
Production was centralised at Colman’s Carrow Works in Norwich from 1925.
The two brothers and heirs to the Keen Robinson fortune both died in 1937. Frank Ashton Bellville left an estate valued at £394,397, and William John Bellville (1868 – 1937) left an estate valued at £393,709.
The Keen’s mustard brand appears to have been phased out in Britain following the Second World War.
Colman was sold to Unilever in 1995.
The Australian rights to Keen’s mustard, where the brand remains popular, were sold to McCormick & Co in 1998.
Unilever continue to produce Keen’s mustard for the Canadian market.
Sarson’s is the leading brand of malt vinegar in Britain.
Early days
Sarson’s claimed in 1860 that the business had been established for “upwards of fifty years”, which suggests an establishment date of around 1810.
A Mr Sarson was established as a vinegar brewer on Craven Street, City Road, London, by 1822.
Premises had been removed to the corner of Brunswick Place, City Road, London by 1830.
James Sarson (born 1791) was head of the business by 1841.
Sarson’s “Pure Malt Vinegar” was being advertised in the press by 1842.
James Thomas Sarson (born 1821) had joined his father in business by 1846, and the firm began to trade as Sarson & Son.
Henry Sarson enters the business
Henry Sarson (born 1825), brother to J T Sarson, had joined the business by 1847.
James Thomas Sarson was described as a vinegar and mustard merchant in 1851. The business was relatively small at this time.
Sarson & Son branded its product as “Virgin Vinegar” from 1861 in order to indicate its purity at a time when food adulteration was rife. Most vinegar brewers added sulphuric acid to their product to decrease the necessary fermentation period.
Sarson & Son did not add caramel to darken their vinegar, unlike most brewers, so their product had a much lighter colour than its rivals.
Sarson was advertised as a high quality vinegar. It was packaged in capsulated bottles to prevent tampering, and sold through 3,523 outlets by 1871.
Henry Sarson employed 20 people, including four carmen, four van boys, three clerks, three women and six salesmen, by 1881. The business was still a relatively modest concern.
Henry Sarson & Sons; mass production
Henry Sarson’s two sons, Henry Logsdail Sarson (1861 – 1918) and Percival Stanley Sarson (1867 – 1951), had entered the business by 1892, which began to trade as Henry Sarson & Sons.
Percy Sarson was a keen businessman, with a feisty personality.
Henry Sarson retired from the business in 1893.
Henry Sarson & Sons had been converted into a private limited company by 1900.
Over one million gallons of vinegar were brewed in 1913.
In 1919 Sarsons fired an employee of 16 years service after she took her sick child to hospital.
In 1921 the company was accused of fixing the market to keep the price of malt vinegar artificially hight.
Acquisition by Crosse & Blackwell Crosse & Blackwell acquired Henry Sarson & Sons and Champion & Slee, another large London vinegar brewer, in 1929. The merger brought together the three largest vinegar brewers in the South of England. Crosse & Blackwell closed down the Sarson’s brewery and concentrated production at the Champion & Slee site.
The Crosse & Blackwell vinegar interests were merged with those of Distillers and Beaufoy Grimble to form British Vinegar with a capital of £450,000 in 1932.
Over five million gallons (around 23 million litres) of vinegar were brewed in 1950.
The Virgin Vinegar brand name was phased out in the 1950s.
Holbrooks & Co, with a vinegar brewery in Stourport, was acquired in 1954.
A site was acquired from the Co-op at Middleton, Manchester in 1968.
Subsequent ownership
Nestle of Switzerland took full control of British Vinegar in 1979.
The London vinegar brewery was closed in 1991.
The Stourport brewery was closed in 1999 with the loss of 22 jobs. Production was relocated to the larger Middleton site.
Sarson’s vinegar was the leading vinegar brand in Britain by 1999, with around a third of the market.
Sarson’s was acquired by Premier Foods in 2002. Over 5.5 million litres of vinegar were sold every year.
Mizkan of Japan acquired Sarson’s in 2012.
Sarson’s is made from a 9.5 percent alcohol barley wine that the company brews itself. The vinegar is matured for seven days in large oak vats.
John Moir was a pioneer in the early tinned fish and meat trade. It survives as a leading dessert brand in South Africa.
John Moir and Benjamin Moir
John Moir (1766 – 1833) was born in Musselburgh, Scotland. He established himself as a provisions merchant with premises at 56 Virginia Street, Aberdeen.
John Moir became the first person in Britain to mass produce tinned fish, initially salmon, from around 1812. Moir largely targeted export markets. Soon, tinned meats, game, soup and vegetables were also sold.
Progress was initially slow, as a sceptical public had to be convinced of the merits of tinned foods.
Benjamin Moir (1807 – 1872) joined the firm, which became known as John Moir & Son. He was regarded as an excellent businessman.
John Moir died in 1833.
John Moir & Son won extensive contracts to provide preserved meats to British and French troops during the Crimean War in the mid-1850s. For six consecutive weeks the works produced 5,000 6lb tins of meat every day.
John Moir & Son was the largest preserved food manufacturer in Scotland by 1868. Annual preserved meat production averaged around 2.5 million lbs (c. 1.1 million kg). Produce was largely sent to London to be sold through high-end retailers. Key export markets included India, China and Australia. The business held a Royal Warrant to supply the Duke of Edinburgh.
John Moir & Son first produced marmalade for the home trade from 1869.
John Moir Clark
Benjamin Moir died unmarried in 1872, and the business was transferred to his nephew, John Moir Clark (1836 – 1896). The business was to greatly expand under his leadership.
Around 250 people, principally young women, were employed by 1873.
King Alfonso XII (1857 – 1885) of Spain granted John Moir & Son an exclusive licence to pulp oranges for export in Seville from 1877. Close to the source of the fruit, it avoided wastage losses which occurred during transit, and allowed the company to use the freshest oranges.
John Moir Clark relocated the focus of the business to London. He had established a factory at Glasshouse Fields, Brook Street and a head office at 148 Leadenhall Street by 1878.
John Moir & Son is established as a limited company
To increase funds for expansion, John Moir & Son became a limited company from 1881 with a capital of £150,000. The company had over 10,000 wholesale customers.
An American canning factory was established at Wilmington, Delaware from 1881. The one acre site was chosen due to its strong distribution network of waterways and train lines. The building and machinery cost $40,000, and it was one of the best equipped canning facilities in the United States. A staff of 200 to 300 was employed during periods of peak demand. The factory had a capacity to produce five million lbs (c.2.3 million kg) of goods a year. Produce was predominately destined for the London headquarters. Alphonse Biardot, a French chef of repute, was appointed as manager of the factory.
John Moir Clark retired from the board of directors of John Moir & Sons in 1886.*
Company capital was reduced to £50,000 in 1888 due to profit losses sustained in America and elsewhere, and the Delaware factory was divested.
John Moir Clark entered into bankruptcy in 1893, and died in 1896.
The head office was relocated to 9-10 Great Tower Street, London from 1898.
John Moir & Son held a valuable contract to supply rations to the British Army during the Boer War.
King Edward VII awarded John Moir & Son a Royal Warrant for preserved provisions in 1901.
The Aberdeen factory was closed in 1910 in order to reduce costs.
Robert Falcon Scott took Moir tinned meat with him on his fatal expedition to the Antarctic.
The company benefited from extensive military contracts during the First World War.
A small factory was acquired in Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa from 1920.
Decline of the business
The wartime economic boom was soon followed by a slump, which hit the preserved foods industry hard. The British business made successive profit losses due to low sales between 1920 and 1925. The South Africa subsidiary remained profitable.
John Moir & Son rejected numerous takeover offers in 1925, and instead entered into steady decline. The Virginia Street premises in Aberdeen were divested in 1927. Company capital was reduced from £150,000 to £45,000 in 1933.
The South African subsidiary was divested in 1948.
John Moir & Son entered into voluntary liquidation in 1950 and the London premises were divested.
The South African branch continued to prosper however, and as of 2015, Moir’s is the leading brand for jellies, custard powder and instant desserts in that market.
Notes
* John Moir Clark presumably resigned due to pressure from the other board members, given the company’s decline in profitability.
Batger & Co was the largest jam manufacturer in Britain by the 1870s, and became one of the largest employers in East London, with a workforce of 2,000 people.
Batger & Co was acquired by Needlers in 1970. Is last-surviving product, Chinese Figs, was discontinued around the turn of the 21st century.
Origins
The Batger (pronounced Batch-er) family had a background in the London sugar refining trade. The business claimed that it was established by a Miss Batger in 1748.
John Batger (1754 – 1825), a Quaker, had established a grocery business at 16 Bishopsgate Street, London by 1783. He was manufacturing confectionery by at least 1813.
Batger & Co had a four-storey factory at 15-16 Bishopsgate Street by 1847.
Samuel Hanson & Son acquire Batger & Co
Batger & Co was acquired by Samuel Hanson & Son, wholesale grocers of Botolph Lane in Eastcheap, in 1856. There were around twelve employees.
An annual, expenses-paid excursion for staff was introduced from 1856. About 25 people were employed by around 1860.
A new factory was established at 103 Broad Street, Ratcliff, London from 1863.
Frederick Machin enters the business
Frederick Machin (1826 – 1902) and Samuel Hanson (1804 – 1882) had control of Batger & Co by 1864. Machin was responsible for the subsequent growth of a relatively small and declining business.
The Bishopsgate premises were divested in 1867.
Batger & Co employed 200 people by 1871. “Harlequin” Christmas crackers began to be produced from 1872.
Batger & Co was described as the largest jam manufacturer in Britain in 1873.
The Batger & Co factory covered two acres, all built upon, by 1875. 450 people were employed; rising to 550 at Christmas and 700 during the English fruit season, when jam was made. Around 2,000 tons of sugar and 1,000 tons of English fruits were used each year. Machinery was used extensively.
Frederick Machin had assumed full control of Batger & Co by 1880.
Batger & Co employed 400 people (250 men, 100 women and 50 boys) by 1881. The company was one of the largest manufacturers of jam and confectionery in London.
Batger & Co employed a workforce of 500 to 600 people during peak periods by 1887.
Batger & Co was one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in Britain by the turn of the 20th century. Nearly 1,000 workers were employed. Batger & Co was credited as the longest-established confectionery business in Britain.
Frederick Machin died in 1902 with a net personalty valued at £48,995. Control of the firm passed to his son, Stanley Machin (1861 – 1939).
Sir Stanley Machin (1861 – 1939) in 1932
Batger had introduced Chinese Figs by 1903. They were oval sweets consisting of real figs, fruit jelly and a sugar coating.
Christmas crackers were a major part of the Batger & Co business, and proved popular due to their high quality and low price.
A healthy export trade saw Batger & Co enjoy record sales in 1906, and the factory was extended.
Batger & Co was the largest ratepayer in East London by 1910.
Batger & Co employed a workforce of up to 2,000 people during peak periods by 1912. Joseph Hetherington (1873 – 1937) was manager of the confectionery factory by this time.
Batger & Co won a lucrative contract to supply the Army with jam during the First World War.
Chinese Figs were well-established as the most important confectionery line by 1920, with thousands of boxes sold during the festive period.
Batger & Co is acquired by Crosse & Blackwell
Batger & Co was acquired by Crosse & Blackwell for £522,902 in 1920. Batger retained its old management, and Stanley Machin was appointed a director of Crosse & Blackwell.
Batger & Co was the sole profitable Crosse & Blackwell subsidiary in 1923. However Crosse & Blackwell directors discovered that a confectionery business lacked synergies with a company largely concerned with preserves.
Machin and Hetherington family ownership
Crosse & Blackwell divested Batger & Co Ltd as a private company under the sole control of Stanley Machin and Joseph Hetherington in 1926.
Stanley Machin died in 1939. An obituary hailed him as one of the “leaders of commercial life in the City of London”.
Harold Stanley Machin (1891 – 1979) succeeded his father as managing director of Batger & Co.
The Broad Street factories were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940. A new factory was opened at 44 Southside, Clapham Common.
Batger & Co held a valuable contract to supply the J Sainsbury supermarket chain with own-label confectionery by the early 1960s.
Christmas cracker production is believed to have ended in around the late 1960s.
Sale to Needlers
Batger & Co was sold to Needlers Ltd of Hull, a rival confectionery manufacturer, for £263,000 in cash in 1970. John Hetherington and Colin Machin joined the Needlers board of directors.
The Batger factory in Clapham was sold for £330,000 in 1971, and production was relocated to Hull.
The last remaining Batger’s product, Chinese Figs, was discontinued around the year 2000. Its demise represented the end for one of the longest-established confectionery brands in Britain.
Fletcher’s was best known for its Tit-Bits and Tiger bottled sauces. Fletchers sauce was sold in Britain into the 1990s.
J P Fletcher establishes the business
Joshua Percy Fletcher (1879 – 1960) was the son of a prosperous coal merchant in Silsden, West Yorkshire. He had established himself as a drysalter (pickle manufacturer) by 1901.
Fletcher initially produced sauce at the Airedale Works in Shipley. He also had a glass bottle manufacturing plant in Leeds.
Fletcher’s (Shipley) Ltd was registered with a share capital of £20,000 in 1907.
J P Fletcher described his principal occupation as sauce manufacturing by 1911.
Fletcher’s acquired the rights to produce the popular Tit-Bits sauce from Stamp, Bointon, Junior & Co in 1913.
The sauce and bottling works were transferred to a model garden factory at Selby near York in 1915.
An employee profit-sharing scheme was introduced in 1917. This followed a larger scheme of employee welfare work, such as the encouragement of gardening and other outside interests.
Millions of bottles of Tiger Indian Sauce were sold each year by 1922. A fruity brown sauce, it was so-named because it used spices from the Indian subcontinent.
Arthur Lambert Foster (1880 – 1955) was managing director by 1931, with J P Fletcher assuming the role of chairman.
Foster was later joined in management by Tom Byass Fletcher (1912 – 1994), the only son of J P Fletcher.
Fletcher’s is acquired by HP Sauce
HP Sauce of Birmingham acquired Fletcher’s Sauce Co Ltd in 1947. HP was motivated by the opportunity to increase its presence in the North of England, particularly Yorkshire. The management of A L Foster and T B Fletcher was continued.
J P Fletcher died in 1960 and left an estate valued at £93,324.
Fletcher’s was a leading brown sauce in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire as late as the 1970s.
HP sold the Selby site to Hazlewood Foods in 1982, and transferred the production of Fletcher’s sauces (to which they retained the rights) to their Birmingham site. Hazlewood manufactured pickles and cooking sauces at Selby.
The Selby pickle factory as of 2006
Tiger Sauce and Tit-Bits Sauce survived until as late as 1994. HP may have discovered that Fletcher’s sauces were cannibalising sales of HP Sauce, and there were synergies involved in concentrating on their leading product.
Meanwhile, Hazlewood was acquired by Greencore in 2000, who continue to operate the factory at Selby. It is the largest manufacturer of private label pickles and sauces in the UK.
The Slee & Co vinegar works were operated on the same site in London from 1812 until 1992.
Slee & Co was founded by Noah Slee at Church Street, Horsleydown, London in 1812. He was soon joined by Josias Slee (1773 – 1829), who emigrated to London from Honiton, Devon.
John Vickers joined in partnership from 1823, and the business traded as Vickers & Slee.
Josias Slee left the business in 1826.
Vickers & Slee was the fifth largest vinegar brewer in Britain and Ireland by 1832. The firm held about seven percent of the market.
In an age before refrigeration, vinegar was a much more important commodity than it is today, due to its preservative effect on foodstuffs.
John Vickers left the partnership in 1838.
The business was owned by Noah Slee, William Payne and Edward Richardson Slee (1815 – 1878), the son of Josias Slee, in the 1840s. Payne was a brother-in-law.
Noah Slee was declared bankrupt in 1842, and the business continued as Payne & Slee.
Payne & Slee was the fifth largest vinegar brewer in Britain by 1844.
An analysis conducted for The Lancet in 1852 found that Payne & Slee vinegar contained the highest amount of sulphuric acid of any of the major vinegar producers in Britain. The addition of sulphuric acid was a low-cost method of speeding up the acidification process of the vinegar, but it was considered hazardous for health.
Payne left the business in 1860.
The business employed 36 people in 1861.
The business traded as Slee & Slee by 1868.
49 people were employed in 1871.
The Horsleydown site sourced water using an artesian well, sunk to a depth of 303 feet. The water source was of a high quality for brewing vinegar, and had a high content of calcium sulphate and sodium chloride.
Slee, Slee & Co held a stock of nearly half a million gallons (c.2.3 million litres) of vinegar in 1874.
Batty & Co, sauce and pickle manufacturer of Finsbury Pavement, was acquired in 1874.
Edward Richardson Slee died with a personal estate valued at under £60,000 in 1878. His stake in the business was inherited by his son, Herbert Hutton Slee (1853 – 1933).
The business was run by Cuthbert Britton Slee (1818 – 1900) and Herbert Hutton Slee from 1878.
Slee, Slee & Co was one of the longest-established vinegar brewers in Britain by 1887. One of their vats had been in use since the reign of George III (1739 – 1820).
Export sales began in earnest, principally to New Zealand, from 1889.
The business became a limited company from 1895.
Batty & Co was sold to Heinz, who desired a British manufacturing facility, in 1905.
Champion & Co, vinegar brewers of City Road, London was acquired to form Champion & Slee Ltd in 1907. The company had a share capital of £140,000. The takeover was motivated by the scope for economies of scale. The Slee brand was phased out, but all production was relocated to the Slee premises, where there was ample room for expansion.
A large proportion of production was exported to foreign and colonial markets.
Champion & Slee was acquired by Crosse & Blackwell, who merged operations with Sarson’s, in 1929 The Champion brand was phased out in favour of Sarson’s.
Hammonds Sauce Co was the largest privately-owned sauce manufacturer in Britain. Hammonds became best known for its Chop Sauce, a light and spicy brown sauce.
Background
Herbert Bowdin Hawley (1880 – 1952) was born in Grassington, Yorkshire, the son of a farmer of 95 acres.
Hawley left home at the age of 21 with just £10. He worked in a grocer’s warehouse in Halifax, and later as a salesman. He had established himself as director of a soap manufacturing company in Shipley, near Bradford by 1911.
Herbert Hawley entered into partnership with his brother Richard to form H B and R Hawley Ltd, cake flour manufacturers, in 1914. H B Hawley acted as chairman of the company, which had a nominal capital of £50,000 in 1920.
Hammonds Sauce Co
H B Hawley founded a sauce manufacturing company, at Wellcroft Mills, Shipley, in 1924. Initially there were four employees.
As demand increased, additional space was acquired at the site in 1926 and again in 1928.
Expanding sales saw production relocate to a new factory at Dockfield Road, Shipley, from 1930. Hammonds Chop Sauce was introduced from that same year, and soon became the principal product.
The company took on the name of Hammonds Sauce Co from 1933.
Over one hundred people were employed by 1934.
The factory was expanded to accommodate increasing demand for Hammonds Chop Sauce around 1935.
During the Second World War most of the factory was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a storage warehouse, although production of Hammonds Chop Sauce continued.
H B Hawley was a keen bandmaster and composer, and he formed the Hammonds Sauce Works Band in 1946.
H B Hawley died in 1952, and left an estate valued at £27,000. He was hailed as one of the leading bandmasters in Yorkshire. His son, Horace Routledge Hawley (1910 – 1983), took over Hammonds Sauce Co.
Hammonds Sauce Co employed a staff of around 100 by 1954.
Goodall, Backhouse & Co of Leeds was acquired in 1959. Goodall’s were sauce manufacturers best known for Yorkshire Relish.
Hammonds Sauce Co was the largest privately-owned sauce manufacturer in Britain by 1974, with a range of 70 products. 34 million bottles of sauce were sold that year, with a significant proportion exported, largely to the United States. The American market was particularly fond of Hammonds Steak Sauce and Yorkshire Relish.
Horace Hawley retired as managing director in 1975, but continued as company chairman.
Loss of independence
Hammonds was acquired by US food conglomerate Pillsbury, best known in Britain for Green Giant sweetcorn, for £2.4 million in 1982.
Pillsbury centralised all production at a new £1 million factory on Harrogate Road, Bradford from 1985. The Goodall Backhouse factory in Leeds and the Hammonds factory in Shipley were closed.
Pillsbury was acquired by Grand Metropolitan in 1988 who sold the UK business to Dalgety in 1990. Hammonds had an annual turnover of £11 million in 1990.
Hammonds was acquired by Albert Fisher for £12 million in 1991. Albert Fisher ended sponsorship of the Hammonds Sauce Works band after 47 years in 1993.
Hammonds was acquired by Unigate in 1999. The Bradford factory was closed in 2002 and production was relocated to a former vinegar brewery on Whitelees Road, Littleborough, Lancashire.
McCormick, the American seasonings company, acquired Hammonds for £12.2 million in 2003. Hammonds Sauce largely served the catering industry.
The three principal ingredients in Hammonds Chop Sauce are water, sugar and modified corn starch as of 2020. The sauce derives its flavour from acetic acid, spirit vinegar, apple puree, molasses, tomato paste and spices.
Burgess’ Essence of Anchovies was introduced in 1775, and was the first branded sauce to enjoy a nationwide reputation in Britain. Burgess sauce is still sold.
John Burgess introduces Essence of Anchovies
John Burgess (1750 – 1820) was born in Odiham, Hampshire, the son of an affluent grocer. Burgess served an apprenticeship in London before he established his own premises at No. 101, the Strand by 1774. Burgess held the profession of “Italian warehouseman”, meaning he sold imported speciality foods such as hams and olive oil.
Burgess developed his reputation due to his keen business skills and his honesty. Growing trade saw the business relocate to larger premises at No. 107 the Strand from 1779.
Burgess introduced his Essence of Anchovies in 1775, and it was his best known product by 1788. The recipe was simple: anchovies were crushed, mixed with water and gently heated. Spices may have been added, and the sauce was strained.
His was the original Essence of Anchovies, but it inspired imitations from the likes of Elizabeth Lazenby, who began to sell her anchovy-based sauce from 1793.
His only son, William Robert Burgess (1778 – 1853), entered into an equal partnership with his father from 1800, and the firm became known as John Burgess & Son.
Burgess products were onboard Admiral’s Nelson’s HMS Victory in 1805. Lord Byron referenced Burgess’s fish sauce in his poem Beppo (1817). The novelist Walter Scott claimed that Burgess made the best fish sauce in 1823.
The second and third generation take control of the business
John Burgess died in 1820, and William Robert Burgess became sole proprietor.
By the early 1850s, due to public demand, Essence of Anchovies was adulterated with Armenian bole, an iron-rich clay, to imbue the sauce with a bright red colour. This was the standard industry practice at the time.
By the 1850s Lazenby and Crosse & Blackwell were encroaching upon Burgess’s market share with lower-priced imitations of Essence of Anchovies. W R Burgess stubbornly announced that the only change to Essence of Anchovies production that he would allow would be that twelve days pounding of fish by two men could be altered to six days pounding by four.
After the death of W R Burgess, the business was taken over by his wife, Elizabeth (1804 – 1884) and his son, Arthur Wellington Burgess (1840 – 1900).
A fire broke out at the firm’s pickling vaults and storehouses on the Strand in 1869. A large quantity of olive oil was destroyed.
Arthur Wellington Burgess was declared bankrupt in 1870, and the business was taken over by his mother and his sisters, Mary Ann Burgess and Louisa Elizabeth Burgess.
The Brooks family acquire control of John Burgess & Son
The business was acquired by the Brooks family, relatives of the Burgesses, in 1874.
John Burgess & Son was incorporated as a limited company in 1901.
The company relocated its manufacturing and offices to Hythe Road, Willesden in 1908.
The company was appointed purveyors to George V in 1911. That same year, Robert Falcon Scott took several bottles of Burgess’ Essence of Anchovies with him to the Antarctic.
The shop on the Strand was closed in 1914.
A Burgess gravy browning bottle from the mid 1990s
A takeover offer from George Mason & Co, the manufacturer of OK Sauce, was rejected in 1928.
The Willesden factory was damaged by German bombs in 1940.
John Burgess & Son is acquired by Rayner & Co
Rayner & Co acquired John Burgess & Son from the company directors, who were the sole shareholders, in 1954. Company operations were relocated to Edmonton, North London in 1960.
Burgess creamed horseradish was launched in 1960, following three years of research.
Rayner & Co had sales of just under £2 million in 1971. Burgess creamed horseradish was by now its leading product, a market leader in its field with sales of £100,000 a year. Sales of Essence of Anchovies had steadily declined from their Victorian heyday. Rayner & Burgess was established to jointly handle the increasing sales of both companies in 1972.
Burgess creamed horseradish was still available as late as 1993. It was a premium product.
Essence of Anchovies was still being produced as late as 1999. Latterly, its fans had included the celebrity chef Simon Hopkinson.
Rayner Burgess entered into liquidation in 2007. The Burgess brand was acquired by Greencore, a large Irish foods company. Burgess pickles and sauces continued to be sold as late as 2016. Burgess Gravy Browning is still produced for the catering trade and Asian export markets.
Champion & Co became the fourth largest vinegar brewer in Britain and Ireland.
The Champion family establish and grow the business
Champion & Co, vinegar brewers, traced its establishment to 1705.
In an age before refrigeration, vinegar was a much more important commodity than it is today, due to its preservative effect on foodstuffs.
William Champion (died 1799) had acquired a London vinegar brewery by 1794. The premises were situated in Shoreditch, on the corner where City Road meets Old Street, next to where the Old Street tube station is today.
Thomas Champion and Guy Champion
William Champion died suddenly whilst serving as Sheriff of London in 1799, and the business was passed to his son, Thomas Champion (1774 – 1846). The venture was to owe its subsequent growth, both at home and overseas, to the business acumen of Thomas Champion.
A bottle of Champion’s Celebrated Pure Malt Vinegar, likely dating from the 1920s
Thomas Champion was joined in partnership by a Francis Moore between 1813 and 1818, and the firm trade as Champion & Moore.
The firm traded as Champion & Green from 1821, after a Thomas Green entered the business. The firm had expanded into mustard production by 1830.
Guy Champion (1786 – 1846), brother to Thomas Champion, who had previously worked as a merchant in Spain, entered the business from 1830.
Guy Champion chanced upon a slave auction whilst abroad in Albania, and acquired a girl. He brought her back to England and married her.*
Champion & Green was the fourth largest vinegar brewer in Britain and Ireland by 1832, with a market share of 13 percent.
Thomas Green had left the business by 1839.
In 1840 the partnership between Guy and Percival Champion, Arthur Mann and William Henry Wright was dissolved. They had been trading under the name Champions, Mann & Wright. The business was transferred to Thomas Champion.
Guy Champion died in 1846. Thomas Champion died suddenly whilst organising the funeral arrangements for his brother.
George Willis and William Henry Wright took over Champion & Co, although the Champion family continued to hold a stake in the business.
James Bigwood takes control of Champion & Co
James Bigwood (1839 – 1919) was the son of a successful fish merchant. He acquired control of Champion & Co in 1868 and became managing director. Bigwood was an enthusiastic advocate of product purity, and was vehemently opposed to food adulteration.
James Bigwood (1839 – 1919) in 1898. Image used with the kind permission of the National Portrait Gallery.
Champion & Co produced well over 1.5 million gallons of vinegar every year by 1872. Two tons of mustard were produced every day. 170 people, mostly skilled workers, were employed.
The vinegar brewery was extended in 1873.
A large export market was developed in Australia and New Zealand.
A new 53,000 gallon vinegar vat was installed in 1883. It was constructed over three months from Kentish oak. It joined 46 other similarly-sized vats at the brewery.
The five and six-storied premises covered 4.5 acres of land by 1885.
Champion & Co was one of the largest mustard manufacturers in the world. Three million tins of mustard were produced per annum by the mid-1880s.
James Bigwood was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1885. Bigwood measured 6 ft 4 inches, and held the distinction of being the tallest MP. The Daily Mirror described his appearance as that of a “prosperous doctor”.
Champion & Co could produce up to 10,000 bottles of vinegar a day by 1894.
A Champion & Co bottle, believed to date from the 1890s. Image courtesy of Tim Gunnink
James Bigwood had been joined in business by his son, James Edward Cecil Bigwood (1863 – 1947) by 1901.
Champion & Co was the longest-established vinegar brewery in London by 1907.
The Bigwood family sell Champion & Co to Slee, Slee & Co
James Bigwood and J E C Bigwood sold Champion & Co to Slee, Slee & Co, a rival London vinegar brewer, in 1907. The merged business was registered as Champion & Slee, with a share capital of £140,000.
The City Road brewery, with its proximity to the City of London, had become highly valuable, and the Bigwoods were keen to realise its value. The Champion brewery site was demolished, and the land was used to build affordable housing. Champion & Co production was relocated to the Slee premises at Tower Bridge Road, where there was ample space for expansion.
Champion & Slee received a Royal Warrant to supply King George V in 1913.
The British vinegar industry suffered from overcapacity after the First World War. Champion & Slee was acquired by Crosse & Blackwell in 1929. Crosse & Blackwell closed down its own vinegar brewery and concentrated production at the Champion & Slee site.
Champion & Slee established a factory in Sydney from 1930. It produced 1.8 million bottles annually.
Champion’s vinegar continued to be advertised in Britain until the mid-1950s, after which it was phased out in favour of the Sarson’s brand, which was also owned by Crosse & Blackwell.
Champion’s vinegar continued to be sold in the Australian market until at least the late 1970s.
Notes
* According to to an account by Charles James Feret (1854 – 1921) in 1900.
How did Holbrook’s become the highest selling Worcestershire sauce in the world?
A vinegar brewery is established
John Leslie Tompson (1841 – 1901) established a malt vinegar brewery at Ashted Row, Birmingham in 1868. Financial capital was provided by his father, a wealthy maltster. The English Midlands were rapidly displacing London as the centre of the British malting and brewing industry by the 1860s.
Tompson & Co began to manufacture pickles and sauces from 1875.
Frederic Carne Rasch (1847 – 1914) injected £10,000 into the Tompson & Co in 1875 and was appointed chairman.
Sir Frederic Carne Rasch (1847 – 1914) in 1896
Tompson & Co acquired a vinegar brewery at Cheapside, Stourport in Worcestershire from Swann & Co in 1876. Established in 1798, it was one of the largest vinegar breweries in England.
John Tompson retired in 1878, and left the business in the control of John Leslie Tompson and Carne Rasch.
Birmingham Vinegar Brewery
The business was converted into a limited liability company, the Birmingham Vinegar Brewery in 1879. It had a nominal capital of £100,000. John Leslie Tompson was appointed as managing director. Nearly two million bottles and jars of pickles and sauces were sold every year.
A Worcestershire sauce was introduced, from an old Indian recipe, in 1880. It was cold-brewed, a method that allegedly resulted in a smoother and fruitier sauce. It took between two to five years to produce, and used 27 different ingredients, including brandy, sherry, vinegar, molasses, shallots, salt, tamarind, walnuts, garlic, chillies, cloves and lemon.
William Daniel Holbrook (1842 – 1913) was appointed manager of the North of England office. He began to take large orders, particularly for the Worcestershire sauce. John Tompson decided to name the line of sauces and pickles after his leading salesman.
A considerable export trade had been developed in Australasia by the 1880s. The South African market had been entered by 1883.
Private correspondence reveals that Carne Rasch came to regard J L Tompson as a swindler who he suspected of falsifying expenses charges. Tompson was declared bankrupt following a series of unfortunate personal investments in 1884.
W D Holbrook was accused, but ultimately acquitted, of stealing over £900 from the company in 1887. He subsequently worked as a journalist in Manchester before emigrating to New Zealand in 1893, where he apparently married a wealthy woman.
Ten million bottles of Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce were sold in 1888. Advertising claimed that sales were high because, “it is the best and cheapest”. It sold for around half the price of the rival Lea & Perrins product.
Three large wooden vats, each capable of holding 140,000 gallons of vinegar, were installed at Stourport in around 1891. It is believed that they were the largest vats in the world.
The Ashted Row factory in Birmingham, c.1910
The Birmingham Vinegar Brewery had a capital of £150,000 by 1897. It was the second largest vinegar manufacturer in the world.
Holbrook’s was the highest-selling Worcestershire sauce in the world by 1898, due to its strong export market and low price. Nearly ten million bottles were sold every year. It was the leading brand of Worcestershire sauce in South Africa and Australasia.
Holbrooks
The name of the company was changed to Holbrooks Ltd from 1900. Worcestershire sauce was by far their most important product, followed by vinegar and pickles.
Vinegar production was centralised at Stourport in the early 1900s, and the Birmingham site concentrated on sauce and pickle manufacturing.
John Leslie Tompson died due to an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in 1901. Arthur Henry Tompson (1852 – 1927), brother of John Leslie Tompson, was appointed managing director of Holbrooks.
Holbrooks operated the largest Worcestershire sauce factory in the world by 1911. One of the vessels had a capacity of 100,000 gallons, and it was claimed to be the largest vat in the world. Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce was supplied to the dining rooms of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Carne Rasch died in 1914.
A view of the Birmingham factory on Ashted Row
Holbrooks employed 600 people by 1914.
The First World War resulted in difficulties regarding procuring sufficient raw materials, labour and shipping. Much of the largely female workforce found employment producing munitions for the war effort, and much of the male staff enlisted in the armed forces.
Holbrooks established a factory in Sydney, Australia from 1920. Sited on three acres, it was the largest Worcestershire sauce factory in the British Empire. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of Worcestershire sauce were stored for maturation at any one time. Several hundred workers were permanently employed. The site included its own vinegar brewery and glass bottle factory.
The managing director in Australia was Captain Gilbert Nobbs (1880 – 1970), previously the export director. He had permanently lost his sight after he was shot through the head during the Battle of the Somme. Nobbs was a remarkable man who, despite being blind, taught himself to play golf and travelled around the world unassisted.
Arthur Henry Tompson died from nephritis in 1927.
War and post-war struggles
Domestic operations had become loss-making by 1939, due to what the chairman termed “insane competition” in the vinegar trade. However the profitability of the overseas businesses enabled Holbrooks to survive.
The condiments factory in Birmingham was entirely destroyed by German bombing during the Second World War. However the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce factories remained unharmed, and record sales were made in 1941-2.
Much of the export trade was lost during the Second World War due to a shortage of raw materials, bottles and labour.
British sales grew in the post-war period. The Stourport brewery produced over three million gallons of vinegar a year by 1949.
Four million bottles of Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce were sold in Australia in 1950. Captain Nobbs received an OBE in 1950, and retired as managing director of the Australian subsidiary the following year.
Two million bottles of Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce were sold every year in South Africa by this period.
A total of over 300 million bottles of Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce had been sold over the years by 1951.
Sale of the business
The Birmingham factory was subject to compulsory purchase by the Birmingham Corporation in 1954, and the site was redeveloped. Holbrooks consequently suffered from a cash-flow shortage, and was forced to sell its loss-making British business to British Vinegars, a joint venture between Crosse & Blackwell and Distillers, for £171,000 in 1954. Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce continued to be produced at Stourport.
Holbrooks sold its profitable Australian and South African subsidiaries to Reckitt & Colman for £422,000 in 1955. The deal also included the rights to the brand outside of the UK and Europe.
Reckitt & Colman extended and improved the Australian factory in 1957.
Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce continued to be sold in Britain until at least the mid-1970s. Its ingredients were listed as vinegar, molasses, shallots, salt, tamarind, walnuts, garlic, chillies, cloves and lemon.
Reckitt & Colman sold the Holbrooks business to Goodman Fielder for £5.5 million in 1997.
The Stourport brewery was closed with the loss of 22 jobs in 1999. The site had latterly produced Sarson’s vinegar.
Holbrook’s in the present day
Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce continues as a leading brand in Australia, and is produced in South Africa by Tiger Brands.
Australian Holbrook’s Worcestershire sauce contains water, vinegar, brown sugar, golden syrup, anchovies, salt, tamarind, spices, caramel for colour, onion powder, garlic powder and flavourings.
South African Holbrook’s lists its ingredients as: water, vinegar, molasses, salt, MSG, cane sugar, spices, caramel for colour, flavourings and tamarind extract.
