Category Archives: Food

Spreads & sauces

The Salt King: John Corbett

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John Corbett was by far the largest producer of salt in Britain.

The early life of John Corbett
John Corbett (1817 – 1901) was the son of Joseph Corbett, a Shropshire farmer. Joseph Corbett relocated to Birmingham, where he established a successful canal freight business.

John Corbett (1817-1901) by Henry Tanworth Wells. Image used with the kind permission of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust

John Corbett left school at the age of ten, and assisted in driving one of his father’s canal boats. He was eventually promoted to canal boat captain. Corbett observed that salt was one of the major freight goods.

In his spare time, as well as on canal boats, Corbett would read mechanical books, with the aim of becoming an engineer. He served a five year apprenticeship at the Leys Ironworks in Stourbridge from 1840. This practical experience would later prove useful in his later career.

John Corbett was taken into partnership by his father in 1846. However the business was suffering with increased competition from the railways, and was sold to the Grand Junction Canal Company in 1849.

Corbett acquires the Stoke Prior Salt Works
John Corbett found employment at the Stoke Prior Salt Works near Droitwich. He began as an engine driver, before working as an outrider, and finally as a cashier. Corbett was learning the salt business at all levels.

The company that operated the Stoke Prior Salt Works failed, and Corbett acquired the lease to the site from the bank in 1852. The works were relatively small at this time, with an annual production of 26,000 tons of salt. Two successive companies had failed to make a success of the business. Corbett studied the previous failures and endeavoured to make a success of it.

The Stoke Prior Salt Works produced salt from springwater. Underground springs passed through a salt bed, which gave the water a salt content of 38.4 percent, a higher level than even the Dead Sea.

Corbett used his engineering ability to introduce improved salt refining techniques. Identifying distribution as the most profitable area of the salt industry, he acquired his own canal boats, and later trains, to transport his product. To increase export sales he established agents overseas.

Corbett employed at least 500 people at his salt works by 1871. He was probably the largest salt manufacturer in Britain by 1876, with an annual output of 200,000 tons of salt from a 30 acre site.

Corbett hired the best people he could afford, and was a paternalistic employer. He built a village for his workers including a school, church and social clubs. Corbett was also a dedicated philanthropist, establishing a 40 bed hospital in Stourbridge, as well as gifting Salters Hall to Droitwich.

Throughout his career, Corbett remained a hands-on proprietor, deeply engaged in the management of his business. He was an incredibly keen businessman, and a hard worker, beginning his working day at 6am, and often sleeping above his work offices.

By character Corbett was a quiet, likeable man. He was thoughtful, intelligent and interested in the arts and travel. Despite his immense wealth he lived a plain life, and drank in moderation.

Salt was the largest manufacture by tonnage in Britain after coal and iron in 1879. Between one and two million tons were produced each year, and thousands of people were employed in the industry.

Corbett produced up to 300,000 tons of salt per annum, by 1886. High quality table salt was the main product, sold under the “Black Horse” brand.

Men were limited to an eight hour day, and women to seven. Corbett paid his workers a premium of around 15 percent against the industry average. In his entire career, Corbett never suffered a strike that lasted 48 hours or more.

According to an industry estimate, John Corbett held nearly 50 percent of the British salt producing industry by 1888 and the Stoke Prior Salt Works was the most valuable enterprise of its kind in Britain.

The Salt Union
The Salt Union Ltd was formed in 1888 as a merger of various salt interests across the country, including the Stoke Prior Salt Works, which were acquired at the cost of £660,000. Salt Union had a capital of £3 million and produced two million tons of salt every year.

Corbett became deputy chairman, a managing director, and by far the largest shareholder in the concern.

The Salt Union was immediately accused of attempting to rig the market and raise prices. It was alleged in The Standard that salt prices to the strategically important alkali industry had increased by 80 percent.

As a consequence of the price increase, exports slumped by 20 percent, and many people were placed out of work. Corbett initially defended the company, arguing that producers had been operating at an unsustainable loss for a considerable period of time, and that the price adjustment merely reflected a correction of the market.

Corbett was to regret joining the Salt Union. The company had a lack of focus and direction, and his recommendations for the business were ignored. As a result, Corbett resigned his post as deputy chairman and managing director in 1890.

The Salt Union rapidly lost market share. Its attempt to exploit its monopoly position simply allowed its competitors to undercut it. Furthermore, an improved table salt was introduced by rival Cerebos in 1894.

Corbett died due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease in 1901. His net estate was valued at £412,972. An obituary in the Daily Telegraph heralded him as the “Salt King”. The bulk of his estate went to his only surviving brother, Dr Thomas Corbett (1836 – 1906). When Thomas Corbett died he left the bulk of his brother’s estate to various charitable institutions.

The Droitwich works had been practically shut down by 1912.

The Salt Union was acquired by ICI in 1937. The Droitwich works were closed due to the impact of lower-cost foreign imports in 1972.

Canned food

Preserving history: C & E Morton

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C & E Morton was a large packaged foods producer. Workers from C & E Morton established Millwall Football Club.

J T Morton
John Thomas Morton (1830 – 1897) was born on Oxford Street, London. He established a small factory at Clayhills, Aberdeen from 1849 in order to supply sailing ships with preserved foods.

Morton had established a base in London by 1851.

Almost all production was destined for the export market. A major early product was tinned sardines.

Morton was a dedicated Puritan, and was a devout observer of the Sabbath. He was a reserved man, with very few close associates, and his only known sentiment was towards his mother. He was emotionally cool, but just and honest.

The head office and factory in London were based at Leadenhall Street by 1858. The site was located nearby to one of the largest meat markets in the world.

The London premises were relocated to a larger site on Leadenhall Street from 1866.

Expanding sales saw Clayhills production relocated to a new factory on Mount Street in the Rosemount area of Aberdeen from 1870.

A manufacturing facility was established at Millwall from around 1872, in a former oil factory belong to Price & Co.

Millwall Football Club was established by J T Morton tinsmiths in 1885.

The Aberdeen factory employed hundreds of workers by the 1880s. It was one of the largest and best-equipped canneries in Britain by 1892.

The success of J T Morton was based on a quality product, slim profit margins, and a firm focus on export markets.

An additional factory had been established at Falmouth, Cornwall by 1897.

John Thomas Morton died as a highly wealthy man in 1897. He left an estate valued at £714,186. He dedicated over half of his wealth to churches and charities. His manager, who had been with the company for nearly 40 years, and helped to build his fortune, received nothing.

C & E Morton
The business was inherited by his two sons, Charles Douglas Morton (1861 – 1944) and Edward Donald Morton (1866 – 1940). The two men had previously worked as underwriters for Lloyd’s, the insurance business. A curious codicil of their father’s will was that the two sons were not allowed to trade under the J T Morton name, so the firm became known as C & E Morton.

C D Morton was an energetic and generous man. The two brothers established agents in overseas markets, which increased sales. They travelled the world extensively to attend to their overseas trade.

C & E Morton was a substantial supplier of food to the military during the Boer War.

C & E Morton was one of the three largest producers of tinned fish in the world by 1909, alongside Maconochie Brothers and Crosse & Blackwell.

C & E Morton was registered as a public company with a capital of £650,000 in 1912. There were premises at Leadenhall Street, Millwall, Lowestoft, Aberdeen and Mevagissey, Polruan and West Looe in Cornwall.

1,600 workers at the Millwall factory went on strike in March 1914, in protest against girls under the age of 18 being hired, which they argued threatened to undercut their wages. The strike resulted in a victory for the workforce.

Morton was singular among preserved provisions manufacturers in normally refusing to hire under 18 year olds. They claimed that they had been driven to do so because of difficulties in sourcing sufficient labour. They also asserted that their factory workers were among the most highly-paid in London.

Rations were produced for the British military during the First World War. The company continued to pay half-wages to its staff who were serving in the armed forces.

C & E Morton entered the home market from 1923-4.

Crosse & Blackwell planned to acquire C & E Morton in 1926, but the proposed deal fell through due to an uncertain economic climate.

Increasing import tariffs overseas hurt the business during the 1930s. Factories were established in foreign markets in order to circumvent such charges.

R S Murray & Co, a confectionery manufacturer, was acquired in 1936.

There were three large factories at Millwall, Cubitt Town and Lowestoft in 1939. Thousands of people were employed. The Lowestoft site was the largest herring cannery in Britain.

E D Morton died in 1940 and left an estate valued at £213,295.

Declining exports of tinned herring to Scandinavia saw C & E Morton enter into the production of tinned peas at Lowestoft.

Sale to Beecham and Hillsdown Holdings
Beecham, a large consumer goods group, acquired the struggling C & E Morton for £180,000 in 1945. Beecham concentrated production at Lowestoft.

C & E Morton was absorbed into a new subsidiary, Beecham Foods, from 1955. Lowestoft began to produce other tinned vegetables as well as peas, such as runner beans, broad beans and carrots. Processed peas; dried peas that were reconstituted; began to be canned.

Beecham struggled to build scale in canned foods, and the location of the Lowestoft site rendered distribution costly. The factory was saved from closure due to a sense of social responsibility by Beecham management.

The tinned vegetables market had become stagnant by the early 1980s, as supermarket own-label offerings had taken significant market share. Morton Brands was sold to Hillsdown Holdings for £8.5 million in 1986.

The Lowestoft factory, which employed 160 people, was closed down in 1988. Morton branded products were available in Britain until at least the mid-1990s.

The Morton brand name is still used for tinned goods in India, although the former subsidiary has been independent since 1947.

Spreads & sauces

Curry favour: a history of J A Sharwood

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Sharwood’s is the leading Asian food brand in Britain.

James Allen Sharwood
James Allen Sharwood (1859 – 1941) was born in Islington, London. He was named for his grandfather, a prosperous Fenchurch Street wholesale druggist.

Source

Sharwood’s mother was a Scottish-born schoolmistress, who instilled in him the importance of paying attention to details.

Sharwood’s father was an excellent chemist, but a spoiled man. He spent extravagantly, and was declared bankrupt and sent to debtors’ prison in 1864. His marriage ended in divorce. J A Sharwood was to meet his father only once, in 1890, before he died in the workhouse in 1894.

J A Sharwood attended the Heath Mount School in Hampstead, and then went on to work in the City of London. He initially worked in insurance, and was then employed as a manager for a wine and spirits distributor.

Sharwood establishes a grocery business
J A Sharwood established himself as a wholesale grocer on Carter Lane in the City of London from 1888. Green Label mango chutney was introduced a year later.

Sharwood was intelligent, hard-working, and innovative. He had a keen interest in overseas travel and was fluent in French and German.

A family friend introduced Sharwood to Lord Dufferin (1826 – 1902), the Viceroy of India. Dufferin asked Sharwood to bring supplies from Europe for his French chef.

Lord Dufferin (1826 – 1902) as Viceroy of India

Legend has it that the grateful chef recommended that Sharwood visit P Vencatachellum at No. 1 Popham’s Broadway in Madras. Vencatachellum made a famed curry powder, which blended turmeric from Chittagong, coriander from Kerala, chillis from Orissa, and four secret ingredients. The product impressed Sharwood, and he arranged to distribute “Vencat” curry powder in Britain from 1893.

J A Sharwood is incorporated as a limited company
J A Sharwood was incorporated as a limited company with capital of £50,000 in 1899.  A factory, the Offley Works, was established at Vauxhall.

White Label Worcestershire Sauce was the main product by 1900. It was aged for five years.

F A Bovill & Co of City Road, London, a preserve manufacturer, was acquired in 1900.

J A Sharwood supplied the prestigious Cunard ocean liners with foodstuffs from 1902.

Sharwood had entered into retirement by 1927, and he settled in Cape Town, South Africa.

J A Sharwood advertised itself as “the largest dealers in Indian condiments in the world” by 1933.

Sharwood died in 1941 and his effects in England were valued at £7,296.

Sale of J A Sharwood and subsequent growth
Cerebos, a British foods company, acquired J A Sharwood for £982,047 in 1962. The Offley Works were divested and production was relocated to the Cerebos factory in Greatham, Hartlepool.

Cerebos was acquired by Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) in 1968.

Sharwood’s was heavily marketed and the brand dominated the British chutney market by the 1970s. Sharwood’s held a Royal Warrant to supply chutney and curry powder to Queen Elizabeth II by 1975.

The British market for Indian groceries grew, and Sharwood’s sales doubled between 1989 and 1994. Sharwood’s held 74 percent of the mango chutney market by 1991.

Company headquarters were relocated from London to Egham in Surrey from 1991.

Sharwood’s held one third of the Oriental foods market by 1998.

The Greatham factory was closed in 2001, and Sharwood’s production was relocated to Wythenshawe, Manchester.

RHM was acquired by Premier Foods for £1.2 billion in 2007. The Wythenshawe factory was closed in 2009, and Sharwood’s production was relocated to Worksop, Nottinghamshire.

Note
According to information from Premier Foods, the Sharwood company archive was accidentally disposed of by a novice marketer, and no longer exists.

Food

A history of KP Snacks

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KP is the second largest snack foods manufacturer in Britain.

Charles Kenyon establishes the business
Charles Kenyon (1832 – 1893) was born at Brierley in South Yorkshire. He served an apprenticeship to a confectioner in Barnsley.

Kenyon established a confectionery business on College Street, Rotherham, from 1853. His main manufacture was jam.

Kenyon relocated production to a larger site at Morpeth Street in Rotherham in order to meet increasing demand for his products. He was joined by his only son, Harry Kenyon (1862 – 1932), a warm and jovial man.

Harry Kenyon (1862 – 1932), date unknown

Charles Kenyon employed 27 people (five men, five boys, eight women and nine girls) by 1881.

Charles Kenyon was a conscientious, kind and generous man. He became an alderman in 1889, representing the Liberal party.

Kenyon, Son & Craven
Charles Kenyon was a keen Wesleyan Methodist, and it was through the church that he met Matthew Smith Craven (1845 – 1923), who produced jam at a large factory on Scarborough Street, Hull.

Kenyon and Craven merged their interests in 1891, and the business was incorporated as Kenyon, Son & Craven. Pickles, sauces and confectionery were produced, as well as jam.

All production was centralised at Rotherham from 1930, and the Hull factory was divested. The reduced overheads allowed the company to reduce its capital from £50,000 to £25,000.

Harry Kenyon died in 1932, and left a net personalty of £829.

Simon Heller acquires the business
Simon Heller (1906 – 1989) was born in Lithuania, and emigrated to Britain with his family as a child. He was proprietor of the Leeds-based Hercules Nut Company. Heller was appointed chairman of Kenyon, Son & Craven from 1943.

A new 40,000 sq ft factory was established at Eastwood in Rotherham from 1947.

Heller acquired Kenyon, Son & Craven in 1948, after his own factory in Leeds burned down. He began to produce roasted and salted hazelnuts.

KP salted peanuts were introduced from 1953, and soon achieved nationwide distribution.

Heller possessed a keen mathematical mind. He became a leading authority on nuts.

Kenyon, Son & Craven virtually created the salted peanut category in Britain, and achieved national dominance of KP Nuts with very little advertising. Production of jams and pickles were discontinued in order to focus on nut processing.

Kenyon, Son & Craven employed over 1,500 people by 1965.

Acquisition by United Biscuits
Kenyon, Son & Craven was acquired by United Biscuits for £3.5 million in 1968. Kenyon, Son & Craven was merged into Meredith & Drew, a United Biscuits subsidiary that it already supplied. Meredith & Drew crisps were rebranded with the KP name.

Kenyon Son & Craven was the largest nut processor in Europe by 1970. The peanuts were generally sourced from Malawi in Southeast Africa.

The following decades saw a number of important crisp launches, including Hula Hoops (1973), Skips (1974), Discos (1979), McCoy’s thick-ridged crisps (1985), budget-brand Space Raiders (1987), Frisps (1989) and Roysters bubble crisps (1992). Additionally, the Choc Dip product was introduced from 1982.

Simon Heller died in 1989 and left an estate valued at £3.8 million.

KP Foods acquired the Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies brands in 2006.

KP Snacks was sold to Intersnack of Germany for around £500 million in 2012. The business employed around 1,500 people across factories in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Rotherham, and Billingham and Consett in County Durham.

Confectionery

H J Packer of Bristol

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H J Packer was the largest low-cost chocolate manufacturer in the world.

Packer and Burrows
Edward Packer (1848 – 1887) was a Quaker who worked for J S Fry & Sons of Bristol, a chocolate manufacturer, in the 1870s.

Edward Packer left Fry & Sons to commence chocolate manufacture for himself from 1881. He worked from his house at 11 Armory Square, and was assisted by his wife. Soon he employed eight people.

Packer entered into partnership with Henry John Burrows (born 1853). Unfortunately, trade immediately declined, and all employees other than members of the Packer family had to be dismissed.

Burrows acquired full control of the business from 1884. Burrows added his own initials to the company name, and began trading as H J Packer & Co.

Caleb Bruce Cole
Caleb Bruce Cole (1862 -1912) was a confectionery salesman in Bristol. He was impressed with his contact with H J Packer & Co, and borrowed £1,000 from his father to acquire the business in 1886. Around nine people were employed.

The business began to grow from around 1889. Cole identified a gap in the market, and began to manufacture high quality chocolate at an affordable price. The chocolates found a keen market among children.

Cole subverted the notion that low-cost food production need sacrifice standards of cleanliness or provision for the workforce.

In 1896 Cole was joined by his brother Horace, and William John Mansfield (1846 -1912) was employed as general manager.

A new factory was opened at Greenbank, Bristol in 1903. It covered four acres and was the largest low-cost chocolate factory in the world. 450 people were employed. Greenbank was situated on a major railway line, which allowed for convenient distribution.

H J Packer & Co became a limited company from 1908.

Carsons of Glasgow, with a share capital of £50,000, was acquired in January 1912. Carsons had been the first business to introduce chocolate assortment trays, and traded at the premium end of the market.

Caleb Bruce Cole died in June 1912. A progressive man, he was described as quiet and likeable. He died a wealthy man, with an estate valued at £259,937.

H J Packer & Co had a capital of £750,000 and employed 1,000 people by 1912.

A dedicated Carsons chocolate factory was established at Shortwood, Bristol, in order to supply the South and West of England markets, from 1914.

Packers was the fourth largest chocolate manufacturer in Britain by 1922, and the largest manufacturer of low-cost chocolate in the world.

The company struggled during the Great Depression.

The Carsons factory was divested in 1960 due to overcapacity.

The company name was changed to Carsons Ltd from 1962. The Carsons brand had become well-known as Britain’s largest producer of chocolate liqueurs, filled with some of the leading spirits, liqueur and fortified wine brands in the world.

Until 1961 liqueur chocolates could only be sold from licensed premises. This opening up of the market provided an opportunity.

Acquisition by Cavenham
Cavenham Foods, managed by James Goldsmith (1933 – 1997), gained control of Carsons in 1964.

Embed from Getty Images

Goldsmith rebuilt and modernised the Carsons plant. He then retired all of the Carsons chocolate lines except for liqueurs, the only sector of the market which was experiencing a growth in sales. The liqueur chocolate market was largely dominated by imported brands such as Lindt, Ringer, Rademaker and Trumpf.

Carsons held over 29 percent of the liqueur chocolate market by 1966. This was achieved with minimal advertising. Instead Carson’s benefited from the advertising campaigns of spirits brands that were inside their chocolates; names such as Harvey’s Bristol Cream and Hennessy cognac.

Carsons liqueurs were being marketed under the Famous Names brand by 1966.

Elizabeth Shaw, an upmarket chocolate manufacturer, was acquired in 1968.

Carsons held over 40 percent of the British chocolate liqueur market by the late 1970s.

Recent history
Cavenham Confectionery was subject to a management buyout in 1981, and the company was renamed Famous Names Ltd. It was acquired by Imperial Tobacco in 1985.

Management bought control of Famous Names Ltd in 1988, and the company was renamed Elizabeth Shaw Ltd. Elizabeth Shaw Ltd was acquired by Leaf of Finland in 1990.

Elizabeth Shaw closed its outdated Greenbank factory in 2006. Production was relocated to factories across Britain and Europe.

Confectionery, Drink

Comfort for the table: Epps Cocoa

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Epps was the leading brand of cocoa in Victorian Britain.

Dr John Epps invents an instant cocoa
Dr John Epps (1805 – 1869) was the son of a wealthy Calvinist provision merchant in London.

Dr Epps became one of the pioneers of homeopathy in Britain. He established premises at Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. He was joined by his brother, James Epps (1821 – 1907), from 1837.

Dr John Epps (1805 – 1869) inventor of Epps’ Cocoa Powder

The almost prohibitive duty on cocoa was greatly reduced in 1832, allowing the market to grow exponentially. Easily prepared cocoa had been difficult to procure, and the fat in the raw material was unpalatable for many. Dr John Epps discovered a way to make it more appetising, mixing the cocoa with 20 percent West Indies arrowroot and 13 percent sugar.

Epps’ cocoa was first sold in 1839 for the use of patients for whom tea and coffee were restricted. It was an instant cocoa powder, made by mixing with hot water or milk.

Dr John Epps was not the first person to invent soluble cocoa powder, but James Epps was largely responsible for introducing the product to the mass market. He heavily advertised Epps’ Cocoa, and had introduced a distinctive slogan, “grateful and comforting” by 1855.

Epps’ Cocoa was initially produced under contract by Daniel Dunn of Pentonville Road, who had invented instant cocoa powder in 1819.

James Epps begins to manufacture cocoa independently
James Epps had established his own factory at 398 Euston Road, London by 1863. He installed his nephew, Hahnemann Epps (1843 – 1916), as manager.

Epps & Co had grown to become the largest cocoa powder producer in Britain by 1878, with an output of nearly five million pounds (2.3 million kg) a year. To accommodate increasing production, a new steam-powered works was established at Holland Street, Blackfriars from 1878. At its peak Epps & Co processed half of all cocoa imports into Britain.

Steam Cocoa Mills, Holland Street, London
Steam Cocoa Mills, Holland Street, London

A short and slight man, James Epps kept a low public profile, unlike his gregarious brother John. He was known only for his work in business, and had few outside interests. He allowed his portrait to be taken only once, and he never granted an interview or issued a public statement. He was a hard worker, keen on a bargain, and somewhat controlling. Despite his massive wealth he lived in an unfashionable area of London.

Epps & Co sales peaked in the early 1880s. Nearly 15 million packets were sold in 1882. Sales began to decline as rivals introduced superior products. Cadbury and Rowntree invested in Van Houten presses, which allowed the manufacturer to remove the unpalatable cocoa butter from the product. Epps neglected to respond to this change.

Epps & Co is converted into a private company; sale to Rowntree
The business was converted into a private joint stock limited company known as James Epps & Co in 1893. The directors were James Epps, Hahnemann Epps and James Epps Jr (1856 – 1905), and the company had a capital of £200,000. No shares were offered to the public, and the company remained under family control.

Epps’ Cocoa had been overtaken in sales by Dr Tibbles’ Vi-Cocoa and Rowntree by 1898.

James Epps Jr (also known as Willie James Epps), the only son of James Epps, died of a heart attack in Jamaica in 1905. His gross estate was valued at £162,422.

James Epps (1821 – 1907), date unknown

James Epps died in 1907 and his gross estate was valued at £735,387. This was a larger estate than contemporaries in the food industry such as the mustard magnate Jeremiah James Colman (1830 – 1898), instant custard producer Alfred Bird (1849 – 1922) or James Horlick (1844 – 1921).

The estate was inherited by his nieces and nephews, principally James Washington Epps (1874 -1955), who became managing director of James Epps & Co. Hahnemann Epps became chairman.

Taylor Brothers Ltd, a London cocoa manufacturer, was acquired in 1907. Taylor’s cocoa was an economy offering, made with up to 20 percent cocoa shell, whereas Epps was a premium product, and contained no shell.

Epps’ Cocoa powder had been reformulated to include 44 percent sugar, 40 percent cocoa and 16 percent West Indies arrowroot by 1924.

Rowntree of York acquired James Epps & Co for £70,000 in 1926.

The Epps factory was closed in 1930, and the manufacture of Epps products was transferred to Whitefields Ltd of Plaistow.

Spreads & sauces

Appeeling: Frank Cooper’s marmalade

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Frank Cooper’s is one of the best known marmalade brands in Britain.

Frank Cooper (1844 – 1927), operated a grocery business on 83-84 High Street, Oxford, formerly the premises of the Angel Hotel. His wife Sarah (1848 – 1932) filled the first jars of Frank Cooper marmalade in 1874, using a recipe from her mother.

William Frank Cooper (1874 – 1952), eldest son of Frank Cooper, was manager of the business by 1894.

Sarah Cooper continued to produce the marmalade in the kitchen of the Angel Hotel, Oxford, until she entered into retirement in 1899.

Production was relocated to a purpose-built factory on Park End Street, Oxford from 1901.

Frank Cooper held a Royal Warrant to supply the King by 1913.

The business was registered as Frank Cooper Ltd in 1914, with a capital of £40,000. William Frank Cooper was appointed managing director.

Frank Cooper died in 1927 and left a net personalty of £47,746.

Sarah Cooper died in 1932. In an obituary the Yorkshire Post described her as the founder of the company.

Frank Cooper Ltd employed about 100 people by 1938.

Production of the marmalade was relocated to Botley Road, Oxford, in the former premises of an ice rink, in 1947.

William Frank Cooper died in 1952 with a net estate valued at £39,345.

Secret agent James Bond consumed Frank Cooper’s marmalade in From Russia With Love (1957) by Ian Fleming.

One quarter of the company’s capital of £350,000 was offered to the public in 1961, it’s first public offering.

An eleven acre site was acquired at Wantage to provide additional production capacity in 1963. Around 15 percent of production was exported overseas by 1964.

Frank Cooper Ltd was acquired by Brown & Polson for £866,250 in cash in 1964. The company cited increasing costs and a lack of capital as its motivation for agreeing to the takeover.

Brown & Polson was able to afford Frank Cooper’s range of five marmalades and eleven jams and jellies wider distribution.

Frank Cooper production was relocated to the Brown & Polson factory in Paisley, Scotland from 1967.

The company continued to operate the original Oxford shop, which latterly also functioned as a museum, until its closure in 1992.

Production had been relocated to Redditch, Worcestershire, by 1992.

Heinz acquired the Frank Cooper’s brand in 1997.

Frank Cooper’s was later acquired by Rank Hovis McDougall, a large British consumer foods group. RHM was acquired by Premier Foods in 2006. Premier sold its sweet spreads business to Hain Celestial in 2012.

Biscuits & cakes

Biscuit empire: Huntley & Palmers (Part II)

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This article continues from Part I. Part II chronicles the decline of Huntley & Palmers from its position as the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world.

Registered as a company
Huntley & Palmers was registered as a private limited company in 1898.

Huntley & Palmers was the 38th largest British industrial company in 1905, with a capital of £2.4 million (c. £255 million in 2014). Nearly 7,000 people were employed.

Iced gems were introduced in 1910.

As late as 1910, Huntley & Palmers largely eschewed advertising.

Huntley & Palmers employed 8,000 people by 1913.

George William Palmer died with an estate valued at £765,676 in 1913.

A 1923 advertisement

Huntley & Palmers was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world. Almost half of production was exported by 1914, with 50 percent destined for the Far East and Africa.

Between 1865 and 1914 over 900,000 tonnes of biscuits were sold.

Huntley & Palmers supplied the British army with hard tack biscuits during the First World War.

The export trade was slow to rebuild after the First World War: only 25 percent of output was exported in 1924. Meanwhile, domestic sales declined as Huntley & Palmers failed to introduce new products or update existing ones. Marketing was poor, with inadequate advertising, fewer salesman than other firms and no depots outside Reading.

It has been argued that Huntley & Palmers had too many product lines to produce efficiently, and that the Palmer family paid themselves overly generous dividends and salaries, funds which might otherwise have been reinvested into the business.

The Reading factory site covered 24 acres, and included 36 acres of floorspace by 1920. The Osborne (similar to a digestive) was the most popular biscuit, followed by the Marie (rich tea) and the Ginger Nut.

Associated Biscuit Manufacturers
High income tax and death duties persuaded Huntley & Palmers to merge with Peek Frean of Bermondsey, under a holding company called Associated Biscuit Manufacturers (ABM), in 1921. Individual production and marketing strategies were maintained by the two companies.

By neglecting the commodity category of the biscuit market, ABM’s domestic market share had declined to 15 percent.

William Howard Palmer died in 1923 with an estate valued at £536,794.

A factory was opened near Paris in 1923. At the time it was decried in Britain as the transfer of jobs overseas.

80 percent of the 6,000 strong workforce at the Reading factory went on strike in 1924. The dispute, regarding worker efficiency, was settled within three days after Huntley & Palmers agreed to recognise the workers union.

Peek Frean turnover and profits had exceeded those of Huntley & Palmers by 1927. Peek Frean installed automated biscuit plants in the early 1930s, but Huntley & Palmers did not do so until 1938.

ABM employed 7,245 people in 1935.

Two large rivals emerged: the value biscuit manufacturer George Weston had established production volumes that equalled ABM by 1938. In 1948 the Scottish firms McVitie & Price and MacFarlane Lang merged to form United Biscuits, with 3,350 employees.

Huntley & Palmers in Reading (1945)

Factories were opened in Canada, the United States and Australia in 1949. The Reading factory employed 3,000 people in 1954.

A new factory was opened in Huyton, Liverpool in 1955.

The Cornish Wafer was the highest-selling biscuit by 1954. Associated Biscuits concentrated on cream, savoury and assorted biscuits. The Lemon Puff was introduced from 1958.

Around 15 to 20 percent of production was exported in 1959.

Jacob’s joins Associated Biscuit Manufacturers
Jacob’s, the third largest biscuit manufacturer in Britain, was acquired by ABM in 1960. The purchase was motivated by a need to build scale in order to better compete with United Biscuits.

Huntley & Palmers employed 2,000 people across its two factories by 1968. The range of biscuits produced by Huntley & Palmers was streamlined in the mid to late 1960s in order to focus on the most profitable lines.

ABM was reorganised as Associated Biscuits in 1969.

Associated Biscuits employed 9,856 people in 1972. The company dedicated the vast majority of its advertising spend to the Jacob’s brand from 1972. One third of sales came from overseas, with factories in Australia, Canada and India.

Associated Biscuits had an 18 percent share of the British biscuit market in 1976. It was behind United Biscuits with 40 percent.

The Reading factory was closed in 1976. Associated Biscuits claimed that the 21-acre site was “surplus to requirements”, and production was relocated to Liverpool and Bermondsey. The valuable real estate was sold for £4 million in 1979.

Overseas production was dedicated to British-style biscuits. Digestives and shortcakes were popular in Canada, whilst the Indian market preferred cream crackers and Thin Arrowroot.

Associated Biscuits employed over 14,000 people in Britain by 1982, and a further 3,100 people overseas.

Acquisition by Nabisco
Nabisco, the American manufacturer of Shredded Wheat and Ritz crackers, acquired Associated Biscuits for £83.8 million in 1982. Nabisco was interested in the Huntley & Palmers brand, as well as its worldwide distribution network, particularly in Singapore, Canada, France and Germany.

The five Associated Biscuits factories in Britain were operating at half to two thirds capacity, and the business became loss-making. The Huyton factory was closed with the loss of 770 jobs in 1984, and production was relocated to Aintree, Liverpool.

The Aintree site was modernised at a cost of £25 million in 1986.

Huntley & Palmers was positioned as the Associated Biscuits premium sweet biscuit brand. However it accounted for just five percent of company production by weight by 1988.

Nabisco did not successfully manage their British biscuit operations. Their market share in biscuits had declined to 11.7 percent by 1988, and they were forced to reverse their decision to discontinue production of Bath Oliver biscuits following popular protest.

High overheads and traffic congestion saw the Peek Frean factory at Bermondsey closed with the loss of 1,022 jobs in 1989. Production was transferred to Aintree and Leicestershire.

Takeover by BSN
Associated Biscuits was acquired by BSN of France for $2.5 billion in 1989.

The Huntley & Palmers brand was phased out in favour of the Jacob’s name in 1990. It made sense to concentrate resources behind a single brand, and the Jacob’s name was better known, and believed to have a more contemporary image than the Huntley & Palmers brand. Huntley & Palmers products subjected to a re-branding included Romany, Crumbles, Lemon Puffs and Cornish Wafers.

The head office was relocated from Reading to Liverpool in 1996.

Sale to United Biscuits
BSN (now called Danone) sold its UK and Irish biscuit operations to United Biscuits for £200 million in 2004.

Huntley & Palmers Cornish Wafers are still sold under the Jacob’s brand, and McVitie’s continue to manufacture Thin Arrowroots. Huntley & Palmers biscuits are still produced in New Zealand.

In around 2018 the Huntley & Palmers brand was acquired by Freemans Confectionery, a Walsall-based confectionery wholesaler, who use the brand to market own-label products such as cakes.

Confectionery

Minted: R S Murray & Co

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R S Murray & Co introduced American-style caramels to Britain, but remains best-known for Murray Mints.

R S Murray introduces caramels to Britain
Robert Stuart Murray (1854 – 1912) was a confectionery salesman from Chicago, Illinois. He relocated to London where he introduced imported American-style caramels, made from milk or cream and sugar, to the British market.

Encouraged by strong demand, Murray formed a partnership with Charles Hubbard (died 1911) and Walter Michael Price (1826 – 1919), and established a confectionery factory at 67 Turnmill Street in Clerkenwell from 1882. Caramel producing machinery to the value of £8,000 was imported from America.

The factory employed 300 workers, and had a daily production output of five to six tons of confectionery.

R S Murray & Co was registered as a limited company with a capital of £50,000 in 1900. R S Murray & Co was probably the third largest sugar confectionery manufacturer in London by this time, behind Clarnico and Barratt.

R S Murray & Co had diversified into chocolate manufacturing by 1906.

The workers at R S Murray & Co went out on strike, demanding higher pay, in 1911. The largely female workforce were supported by Mary Macarthur (1880 – 1921), the prominent women’s rights campaigner. The campaign ended with a largely positive result for the workforce.

Robert Stuart Murray died in 1912 with a net personalty valued at £20,169 (around £19.3 million in 2020 prices).

H J Norton establishes overseas subsidiaries
Herbert John Norton (1874 – 1958) was nominated managing director in 1912, following the death of Robert Stuart Murray.

The factory site covered over three acres by 1914, and employed 1,500 to 2,000 people.

H J Norton was nominated chairman after the First World War.

A chocolate manufacturing subsidiary in Australia was established at De Carle Street, East Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne, from 1920.

R S Murray formed a joint venture with Clarnico to establish an Irish manufacturing presence, Clarnico Murray, from 1927.

The Australian factory employed over 300 people by 1931. Rowntree of York and R S Murray merged their Australian interests into a joint venture from 1934.

R S Murray & Co is acquired by C & E Morton
R S Murray & Co was acquired by C & E Morton, a tinned food manufacturer, in 1936.

The Turnmill Street factory was closed in the late 1930s, and R S Murray production was transferred to the C & E Morton site at Lowestoft, Suffolk.

R S Murray sold its stake in the Australian subsidiary to Rowntree in 1942.

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Murray Mints, caramels flavoured with molasses and peppermint, were introduced from 1944. They soon became the best known R S Murray product.

C & E Morton was acquired by Beecham, a consumer goods manufacturer, for £180,000 in 1945.

Murray Mints were advertised on British television from 1955. They were promoted as, “the too good to hurry mint”. Murray Mints became one of the most extensively advertised sugar confectionery lines, and sales soared.

Other Murray products sold throughout the 1950s included Murray Fruits, the Regent assortment, and Murray Caramels.

Beecham acquired James Pascall, in an attempt to build scale in confectionery, in 1959. Following the takeover, Beecham focused its marketing efforts on Pascall products, rather than the Murray range.

Pascal Murray is acquired by Cadbury Fry
Beecham were successful marketers, but they struggled with the highly competitive confectionery industry, and Pascall Murray was sold to Cadbury, a large chocolate manufacturer, in 1964.

Clarnico Murray had around ten percent of the Irish confectionery market by 1969. The Irish factory was closed in 1974, and the market was thereafter served by imports from Britain.

Cadbury was acquired by Kraft of Chicago in 2010. Kraft spun-off its global snacks business, including Cadbury, as Mondelez in 2012.

Murray Mints are still sold in Britain by Mondelez under the Maynard Bassett brand. Murray Butter Mints are also available as part of a mint assortment.

Spreads & sauces

The sweet and sour history of Haywards pickles

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Haywards is the leading pickled vegetable brand in Britain.

Establishment
Robert Hayward (born 1847) was born at Newington in Southwark, London, the son of a corn merchant. He was a dedicated Baptist.

Hayward established a pickle manufacturing business at Montford Place, Kennington, from 1869. He initially distributed his wares from a horse and cart.

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Hayward Brothers was established when Robert was joined by his brother Henry Hayward (1852 – 1925) from 1880. Three men and five boys were employed at the business by 1881.

Two nephews of Robert Hayward; George Charles Hayward (died 1931) and Joseph Robert Hayward (1870 – 1933), established a subsidiary at Christchurch, New Zealand from 1890. They sold pickles and sauces under the Flag Brand name. It was the largest pickle business in New Zealand by 1896 with over 50 employees. Hayward Brothers operated the largest malt vinegar brewery in New Zealand by 1908.

Hayward Brothers is incorporated as a private limited company
Hayward Brothers was incorporated as a private limited company in 1898. Robert Hayward was chairman and two of his sons, George Joy Hayward (1873 – 1953) and Frank Tresidder Hayward (1876 – 1960), joined as directors alongside his brother Henry.

Haywards Military Pickle had become the leading product line by 1905. 200,000 bottles were sold in London that year. The pickle was made with whole baby onions, gherkins, sultanas, dates, cauliflower, mangoes, plums and apricots.

The business grew quickly, and the Kennington factory was extended in 1907. Military Pickle was the highest-selling pickle in Britain by 1911.

Henry Hayward died in 1925 and left an estate valued at £28,719.

A V-1 flying bomb caused significant damage to the factory in 1944.

George J Hayward died in 1953 with an estate valued at £16,384.

Subsequent ownership
Edward Manwaring Ltd acquired the Haywards pickles trademark in 1956. Production was relocated to their factory on the Bird in Bush Road, London. The Montford Place factory was sold to James Burrough Ltd and became the production centre for Beefeater London Dry Gin from 1958.

Hayward’s Food Products was acquired by the Melbray Group for £473,000 in 1963. The Manwaring family remained the largest shareholders.

Melbray Group acquired Harry Peck & Co, a canned meat concern, in 1964 and merged it with Haywards to form Hayward-Peck. Peck’s products were canned tongue, and meat and fish pastes, including own-label produce for Harrod’s.

Hayward-Peck had been mainly based in the South East of England, but a national distribution network was established from 1964.

Hayward-Peck was acquired by Brooke Bond-Oxo for £1.5 million in 1970.

A new pickle factory was opened at Bury St Edmunds from 1978.

Haywards held 21 percent of the sour pickle market by 1987.

Haywards Pickles was sold to Hillsdown Holdings (later Premier Foods) for an undisclosed price in 1989. The company employed 150 people.

Haywards Military Pickle was discontinued sometime after 1996.

Premier Foods sold its vinegar and sour pickles business, including Haywards, to Mizkan of Japan for £41 million in 2012.

As of 2016, Haywards vegetables in vinegar are produced at Middleton, Manchester, and Hayward’s pickles are manufactured at Bury St Edmunds.