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.
Robertson’s Golden Shred is the leading marmalade brand in Britain, with around a quarter of the market.
James Robertson establishes the business
James Robertson (1832 – 1914) was a grocer in Paisley, a town outside Glasgow, Scotland.
Robertson noted that preserves had a superior profit margin to fresh produce after his wife made a jelly from a surplus barrel of apples. Robertson introduced his marmalade from 1866, and the tangy preserve would quickly grow in popularity.
James Robertson (1832 – 1914) circa 1890
The grocery business was divested in order to concentrate on marmalade production. Rapid expansion of the business saw a freehold site acquired at Paisley in 1873 where a large factory was erected.
The Golden Shred brand name had been introduced by 1883.
Expanding sales in England saw a factory acquired at Droylsden, Manchester, from 1891.
A large factory was erected at Catford, Kent in 1900. Its location was convenient for both the fruit gardens of Kent and the large London market.
James Robertson appointed his numerous sons to manage his various factories. John Robertson (1859 – 1937) was in charge of the Paisley factory, William Robertson led the Droylsden site, and David Robertson (1870 – 1948) managed the operations in Catford.
James Robertson & Sons was incorporated as a limited company from 1902. Control of the business remained in family hands.
By 1909 Golden Shred had been joined by Silver Shred marmalade, which was flavoured with lemon, Wild Bramble Jelly, and mincemeat.
A factory had been established at Boston in the United States by 1910. It was in America that John Robertson encountered the golliwog character. The mascot was added to the label of Robertson’s products from 1910.
A view of the Bristol factory, c.1914
A new factory was established at Brislington, Bristol, from 1914. The site was chosen for its strong railway links. Output at the site was estimated at 150 tons a week.
The second and third generation take over the business
James Robertson died in 1914, and he was succeeded as chairman by his son, John Robertson.
James Robertson & Sons described themselves as the “largest manufacturers of marmalade” in 1919.
James Robertson & Sons introduced its own brand of thick-cut marmalade from 1929.
The Boston factory had closed by 1931. American consumers regarded the marmalade manufactured in the United States to be inferior to the imported Paisley product.
James Robertson & Sons employed 1,400 people by 1931. The Paisley site exported one third of production to markets such as North America, Australia, China, Africa and the West Indies.
John Robertson retired as chairman in 1937, and he was succeeded by his son, David Robertson (born 1893).
Company headquarters had been transferred to Bristol by 1939.
A shortage of oranges saw Robertson’s marmalade withdrawn from sale during the Second World War.
David Robertson retired in 1960, and he was succeeded as chairman by Charles James Robertson (1909 – 1983), a grandson of the founder.
James Robertson & Sons produced more jam and marmalade than any other business in Britain by 1964. However, success was largely confined to the home market, with just an estimated four percent of production destined for overseas. C J Robertson resolved to change this, and expanded export sales.
The Quantock Preserving Company of Bridgwater, Somerset, was acquired in 1965.
James Robertson & Sons acquired 45 percent of the annual crop of Seville oranges by 1965.
Unionisation was introduced to James Robertson & Sons from 1966, beginning with 320 workers, out of 600 employees, at the Catford factory.
James Robertson & Sons held 60 percent of the British jam and marmalade market by 1967.
James Robertson & Sons exported to over 70 different countries and territories by 1970.
C J Robertson retired as managing director of James Robertson & Sons in 1970, but remained as chairman. Neil Robertson (born 1937) and J Charles Robertson, great grandsons of the founder, were appointed as joint-managing directors.
James Robertson & Sons was to struggle throughout the 1970s with rising costs, a stagnant jam market and the growth of supermarket own-label products.
The Catford factory was closed in 1970 with the loss of 350 jobs. 207 employees were retained for distribution and administrative functions.
The Paisley factory was closed with the loss of around 250 jobs in 1974.
James Robertson & Sons announced that it would close the Bristol factory, with the loss of 500 jobs, in 1979. Production would be concentrated at Droylsden.
Loss of independence and subsequent ownership
James Robertson & Sons was acquired by Avana, an own-label supplier of foods to Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s, in 1981.
The Droylsden factory employed 764 workers, and produced 86 million jars of jam a year by 1986.
Avana was acquired by Rank Hovis McDougall in 1987.
The Golliwog mascot was retired in 2001.
Rank Hovis McDougall were acquired by Premier Foods in 2007.
The Droylsden site was closed with the loss of 253 jobs in 2008. Production was relocated to the Chivers factory at Histon in Cambridgeshire.
Robertson’s jam for the general public was discontinued in 2009. Premier Foods would instead concentrate on its more successful Hartley’s brand.
Robertson’s jam continued to be produced for the catering trade until around 2014.
Premier Foods sold its sweet spreads division to Hain Celestial in 2012.
Robertson’s marmalade and mincemeat continue to be produced.
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.
Batchelor’s became the largest producer of canned peas in the world.
William Batchelor
William Batchelor (1861 – 1913) was a puritanical Primitive Methodist from a modest Lincolnshire background. He established himself as a tea dealer in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
Batchelor opened a factory in the basement of a Primitive Methodist chapel on Stanley Street, Sheffield, in 1899. He grew the business almost entirely from its profits. The sale of dried peas was the principal business by 1912.
Ella Hudson Gasking
The business had grown to employ 50 people when Batchelor died in 1913. With his sons at war, and an invalid wife, if was left to his 22 year old daughter, Ella Hudson Gasking (1891 – 1966), to run the business as managing director.
Ella Hudson Gasking (1891 – 1966), in the early 1930s
Gasking was a warm and friendly woman. Although a hard worker, she had no business training. She later commented, “I myself never even dreamed of being a business woman… I took over because I had to”.
Gasking was assisted in management by her two brothers, Maurice William and Frederick Lewis Batchelor, following the end of the First World War.
Batchelor’s introduces low-cost canned peas and enters into mass production
Dried peas in cartons proved popular with heavy industries workers in Sheffield. The peas had to be soaked overnight before use.
Canned fresh peas were expensive. However, Batchelor’s discovered that they could pre-soak the dried peas on site, and then can the produce, thus reducing costs.
Gasking travelled to the United States four times in order to study American canning methods.
A pea canning factory was established at Lady’s Bridge, Sheffield from 1930. The canned “processed peas” were to prove an immediate success.
“Bigga” marrowfat peas were introduced from 1932.
The family business was converted into a public company with an authorised capital of £720,000 in 1936. Batchelor’s had the highest sales of canned and dried peas in the world. Turnover was just under £1 million.
A new factory was opened at Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield at a cost of £100,000 in 1937. It was the largest canning plant in Britain, with a weekly output of 2.5 million tins and packets of peas. Situated on a twelve acre site, it was equipped with playing fields and speaker radios for the staff.
Shortly afterwards, a small factory was opened at Worksop, which concentrated on the dried peas trade.
Production was soon expanded to include canned soups, vegetables and fruits, although peas remained the principal product.
Ella Gasking became one of the most prominent businesswomen in Britain, and one of Sheffield’s best-known industrialists. She was noted for her charm and vitality; her humility and accessibility.
The company had 1,000 employees by 1939, with a further 1,000 indirectly employed.
Batchelor’s was one of the principal suppliers of canned goods to the British armed forces during the Second World War.
Ella Gasking was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to the war effort and the grocery industry in 1943.
Acquisition by Unilever
Batchelor’s was acquired by Unilever for £750,000 in 1943. Unilever would provide Batchelor’s with commercial and technical support.
Poulton & Noel, a large canning company with a factory in Southall, London, was acquired in 1945. Production was rapidly increased.
Ella Gasking retired as chairwoman in 1948. She was replaced by her brother, Maurice W Batchelor.
Unilever introduced Bird’s Eye frozen pea production at the Wadsley Bridge site.
Batchelor’s employed 3,500 full-time workers by 1950. Hundreds more were employed during the fresh fruit season.
In 1951 the company launched its first packet soup (chicken noodle).
A factory was opened in Ashford, Kent from 1958.
A factory was acquired in Portadown, Northern Ireland from 1960. A former Chivers factory in Huntingdon was leased from 1961.
The Sheffield cannery was modernised in 1967.
£750,000 was spent on extending the factory in Worksop in 1969.
Batchelor’s held around a third of the canned pea market in Britain by 1971-2.
Cup-A-Soup was launched from 1972. In other countries it is marketed under other brands from the Unilever stable, such as Lipton.
The Farrows tinned peas company was acquired in 1972.
Around 1,200 workers at the Batchelor’s factories in Sheffield and Worksop went on strike for nine weeks regarding pay in 1977. Food was wasted at a cost of over £5 million.
A steel strike saw Batchelor’s production reduced to one third of capacity due to a lack of supply of cans in 1980.
Batchelor’s closed its factory in Sheffield with the loss of 650 jobs in 1982. Production was concentrated at Worksop.
Sale to Campbell’s and Premier Foods
A condition of Unilever acquiring Best Foods (Hellmann’s, Knorr) in 2001 was that it divest some brands. Batchelor’s and Oxo were sold to Campbell’s Soup for £633 million in 2001. At this time the Batchelor’s site in Worksop employed 515 people.
The UK and Ireland business of Campbell’s was acquired by Premier Foods for £460 million in 2006. The Worksop factory employed around 410 people in 2007.
Chivers was the first large British firm to locate a jam factory within a fruit orchard. Chivers was one of the largest jam manufacturers in Britain by the early twentieth century.
Stephen Chivers establishes the business
Stephen Chivers acquired a small freehold farm in Histon, Cambridgeshire in 1806. His son, John Chivers, served an apprenticeship to a fruit grower and began to cultivate fruit on the estate. However the journey to market in London took fifty hours.
Fruit was also sold at a depot in Bradford, Yorkshire. There it was discovered that much of their crop was being purchased by jam-makers. The family decided to cut out the middleman, and manufacture jam for themselves.
John’s son Stephen Chivers (1824 – 1907) made jam in a small barn on the family estate from 1873. The recipe came from a relative who was a chef at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Two years later a factory was built on land adjoining the village railway station. The factory had doubled in size by 1889. The firm competed on quality rather than on price.
Marmalade, custard powder and table jellies were produced from the 1880s. Lemon curd and custard powder had been added to production by the end of the century, allowing for year round employment of staff.
Inspired by their strong Baptist faith, the Chivers family had a paternalistic attitude towards their staff, and employee-worker relations were good.
The firm began to can English fruits from 1894. By this year the company had over 400 regular employees, bolstered by seasonal workers during peak times.
Chivers was the largest jam manufacturer in the Midlands and the largest fruit grower in Britain by 1897.
Chivers enters into mass production
Chivers enjoyed nationwide distribution by 1900. The firm was incorporated in 1901.
1,200 tons of strawberry and raspberry jam were produced in 1906.
Olde English thick cut marmalade was introduced from 1907.
A new fruit canning factory was erected in 1907. Over 1,000 workers were regularly employed by the firm by 1907, with hundreds more hired during the fruit season. During peak times, 100 tons of jam were produced daily.
Chivers was converted into a public company in 1913.
The company had an output of up to 20,000 tons of jam per year by 1921. During the busy season between 2,000 and 3,000 workers were employed. Much of the machinery in the factory was built by Chivers engineers. One machine was able to fill 80,000 tins per day.
A raspberry canning factory was opened in Montrose, Scotland in 1925.
The Chivers farm extended to over 5,000 acres by 1925, of which 1,500 which given over to orchards.
A vegetable canning factory was established in Huntingdon in 1930.
The Chivers estate covered 6,000 acres by 1931. The company employed 3,000 people by 1935.
Chivers was the largest canner of fruits and vegetables in England by 1938. About 4,500 people were employed across four factories. The farms had been extended to 7,000 acres, with 3,000 given over to fruit. Between four and five tons of marmalade were produced each year.
Chivers lost its market leading position after 1945, due to a failure to install modern equipment.
A Chivers jam advertisement from 1952
All of the ordinary shares were held by descendants of the Chivers family until 1952. The company had an authorised share capital of £1.5 million in 1952. There was a large export trade, particularly to the United States and Canada.
Factories at Histon, Huntingdonshire and Montrose in Scotland covered a total of 2.5 million square feet. Freehold farms covered 8,000 acres, and leasehold covered 1,000 acres. There were also manufacturing facilities at York and Wisbech, and Newry in Northern Ireland. The management comprised of members of the Chivers family. There were around 4,000 employees.
Chivers is acquired by Schweppes
Chivers was acquired by Schweppes, the British soft drink manufacturer, for £1.6 million in 1959. It was a friendly takeover, approved by the Chivers board of directors, all of whom were family members, and owned the majority of the shares.
Schweppes merged the company with other large sweet spreads manufacturers: Hartley’s, Rose’s and Moorhouse, but concentrated production at Histon.
The Histon, Cambridgeshire plant (2010)
Schweppes was able to provide much needed capital and introduced modern management techniques.
The Chivers family bought back the farming estates from Schweppes in 1962.
The Huntingdon factory closed was in 1966.
The Chivers brand was withdrawn in Britain from 2004, with all products rebranded under the Hartley’s name. Chivers Olde English is produced in the United States under licence, and Chivers products are still produced in Ireland by an independent company.
Pink’s was the largest producer of jam and marmalade in the world by the late nineteenth century.
Edward Pink era
Edward Pink (1827 – 1910) was born in Durley, Hampshire. He relocated to London where he served an apprenticeship to a grocer. He established a preserves business in Holborn from 1860.
Thomas Pink (1855 – 1926)
His son, Thomas Pink (1855 – 1926), entered the business from 1867, at which point there were twelve employees. Edward Pink Jr later entered the business, and the firm became known as Edward Pink & Sons.
A factory had been established on Staple Street, Bermondsey, South London, where there was ample room for expansion, by 1871. The operation utilised steam-powered machinery by 1874. Over 400 people were permanently employed, rising to 600 during the busy seasons.
Scrupulous cleanliness was adhered to. The influential Dr Arthur Hassall (1817 – 1894) of The Lancet toured the company’s factory in 1874 and following scientific analysis of Pink products was able to vouch for their purity. Food adulteration was rife at the time, so this recommendation was hugely valuable for the firm.
Edward Pink & Sons added a small amount of apple jelly to its marmalade from 1874, in order to mellow the bitterness of the Seville oranges.
Edward Pink & Sons claimed to be “the largest manufacturer of preserves” by 1879. The firm catered largely to a working class market.
Edward Pink & Sons employed 263 men and 366 women, a total of 629 people, by 1881. From this time the firm added glucose to their jam, with the claim that this greatly improved the product.
Over 3,000 tons of jam were produced every year by 1882.
Edward Pink & Sons claimed to have the largest jam factory in the world by 1883. The factory site covered 4.5 acres by 1887.
E & T Pink
Thomas Pink became managing director of the firm from 1890, which henceforth became known as E & T Pink. Pink was a bold man, strong-willed and forthright. He was also hard-working, and a hands-on employer. Immediately after taking control of the business, he completely reorganised it.
In response to alleged intimidation of union members in 1892, the activist Clement Edwards (1869 – 1938) urged the Co-operative societies to boycott Pink products.
60 female workers in the finishing department went on strike in 1892 after their wages were reduced. They were all promptly replaced by new workers.
E & T Pink did not allow its workers to leave the premises during their lunch break, and did not provide a separate room where staff could rest during their break. A juryman described the situation as “shameful” in 1893. Following an appeal by John Burns MP (1858 – 1943) to Thomas Pink, permission was granted for outside breaks, and Pink opened a four storey, 1,000 seat capacity “mess house” for employees in 1894. It was probably the best-equipped staff building in London, according to the St James’s Gazette. Thomas Pink denied that this was an act of philanthropy, and stated his belief that treating his employees well would increase profits at his business.
There were 500 regular workers at E & T Pink by 1893, around 400 of whom were women. That year, 8,000 tons of jam were produced.
Edward Pink Sr retired in 1894, and Thomas Pink became sole proprietor of E & T Pink.
Pink employed 56 salesmen, 130 clerks, and over 1,800 workers during the busy season in 1894. His steam engines had a total of over 1,000 horse power. The factory covered ground of 4.5 acres, and had a floor space of eight acres.
E & T Pink was the largest manufacturer of jam in the world in 1894, with an average production of 40 tons per day. Pink controlled a twelfth of the British tapioca market. E & T Pink also claimed to be by far the largest manufacturer of marmalade in the world by the late nineteenth century.
Advertisement from 1890
Thomas Pink was a highly-gifted engineer: he designed the machinery for his pepper mills himself; he ground sixteen tons of pepper a week by 1894, and controlled an eighth of the British pepper trade.
Pink was innovative; he was the first British businessman to dictate his correspondence by phonograph. He conducted the majority of his business through the newly-invented telephone by 1894. A keen Conservative, Pink received a knighthood in 1904.
By appointing skilled heads of department, Sir Thomas Pink was able to reduce his time spent at E & T Pink. Pink preferred to find and promote from within his own business, in preference to hiring managers externally.
The Staple Street factory covered 7.5 acres of ground, with 15 acres of floor space, by 1899. There was a pepper mill at Hatcham, and two wharves at Horsleydown. A total of 2,000 people were employed. 10,000 tons of jam and marmalade were produced every year.
In 1901 Sir Thomas Pink estimated that he lost £1,000 to £1,500 a year due to petty thefts by his 2,500 employees.
Edward Pink died with an estate valued at £261,677 in 1910.
Profitability trouble and labour issues
E & T Pink was registered as a company in 1912.
Between 1910 and 1914 the business suffered heavy losses.
The factory was affected by a woman’s strike in 1911. The female workers managed to secure a wage increase of two shillings per week.
Pink’s women strikers in 1911
The Pink factory suffered a serious strike of around 1,000 people in 1914, involving most of the workforce except the clerical staff. The employees demanded an increase in their wages. Pink’s response was to close the entire factory, citing safety concerns for those among his workforce who remained loyal. This left a total of 1,200 to 1,500 people idle. Work resumed after Pink agreed to grant the minimum wage recommended by the Trade Board.
During the First World War, wartime contracts allowed E & T Pink to re-enter profitability, but following the end of the war, the losses returned.
A cooperage fire at Pink’s factory caused £20,000 worth of damage in 1918.
Sir Thomas Pink retired in 1919, and sold E & T Pink to the Van Den Bergh family.
Plaistowe merger and demise
E & T Pink was merged with Plaistowe, a fellow jam, marmalade and confectionery manufacturer, in 1920. The merger was motivated by anticipated economies of scale.
The merged company had an annual production of 24,000 tons of jam and marmalade, 7,500 tons of confectionery and 2,500 tons of Fulcreem food products. Total sales were over £2.75 million.
The company directors agreed that the Pink’s name had become noxious by 1921, and that a rebranding was necessary to increase sales.
After sustaining losses of £200,000 between 1920 and 1923, the E & T Pink subsidiary was liquidated, and the assets acquired by Plaistowe.
Following the merger, Sir Thomas Pink was retained in an advisory capacity, but had no directorial control. A keen smoker, drinker and meat eater, he died from heart failure at his London home following surgery in 1926. He left an estate valued at just over £275,000.
In his will Sir Thomas awarded a £750 annuity to his son, Thomas Bernard Pink (born 1882), who had emigrated to Canada in 1913, and after establishing himself in the Toronto real estate business, had not been heard from since 1914. It was believed that he enlisted in the Canadian army under an alias, served in France and became a casualty of war.
Plaistowe entered into receivership in 1926. This was blamed on losses made by the Pink side of the business, as well as the mismanagement of the merger of the production of the two firms. Plaistowe was acquired by Crosse & Blackwell in 1930, who merged operations with their Keiller jam and confectionery subsidiary.
The Bermondsey factory was demolished in 1935, and replaced by a housing estate.
This is Part II of my history of Crosse & Blackwell. (Links:Part IandPart III).
Crosse & Blackwell grew to become one of the largest food manufacturers in the world. It remains best known for tinned soup in Britain, English-style condiments in America and mayonnaise in South Africa.
This post tells the story of a large merger and subsequent disaster.
Crosse & Blackwell was one of the three largest fish canners in the world by 1909, alongside Maconochie Brothers and C & E Morton.
Despite suffering from heavy import duties, Crosse & Blackwell had developed a leading reputation and taken a significant share of the United States jam market by 1913.
Crosse & Blackwell employed 2,171 people by 1914. The London vinegar brewery held 91 vats, one of which was capable of holding 115,000 gallons. The company boasted an annual production of one million gallons of pure malt vinegar.
Edmund Meredith Crosse died in 1918 with a net estate valued at £310,633.
A small fish canning factory in Peterhead, Aberdeen, was acquired in 1919.
Crosse & Blackwell acquired James Keiller of Dundee, manufacturer of jam and marmalade, and E Lazenby of London, sauce and pickle manufacturers, in 1920. The combine had a capital of £10 million (£390 million in 2013) and fixed assets of £1.6 million. The takeover likely made Crosse & Blackwell the largest packaged food producer in the world, with over 7,000 employees and twelve factories.
Exports were growing and additional capacity was needed. A factory was acquired at Branston, Staffordshire, at a cost of £1 million (£39 million in 2013) in 1920. Situated on a 150 acre site, it was the largest and best equipped packaged food factory in the British Empire. The factory employed about 1,500 workers, mostly women and girls, although this was expected to expand to a staff of 5,000. Branston Pickle was first produced there in 1922.
As a result of the Branston purchase, the one acre Charing Cross Road factory, which lacked space for expansion, was sold off in 1921.
Unfortunately production costs at Branston proved higher than in London, as the capital was home to the bulk of British customers, and provided good access to export markets, which constituted the majority of sales. The Branston factory was shuttered in 1925 and lay unused until it was sold in 1927 at a large loss.
The debacle saw 5,500 tons of machinery, furniture and stock transferred back to London. Production at Branston was relocated to the Lazenby factory on Crimscott Street, Bermondsey (which was expanded), and Keiller’s Silvertown factory.
Meanwhile, the merger proved disastrous and the company began to lose money (over £1 million in 1922). An independent review commissioned by the company cited “serious duplication and overlapping in management” and “an embarrassing surplus of expensively equipped factory accommodation”. Furthermore, the company had presumed that the post-war boom would last forever, and had overpaid for raw materials.
This colossal failure left Crosse & Blackwell unable to pay its shareholders a dividend between 1921 and 1927.
Meanwhile, a small marmalade and jam factory was established outside Paris in 1925. Small factories were also established in Belgium and Altona, Germany.
Tate & Lyle is the largest sugar business in Europe. Henry Tate built his fortune by popularising the sugar cube In Britain, and later established the Tate Gallery in London.
Henry Tate establishes the business
Henry Tate (1819 – 1899) was born in Chorley, Lancashire to a Unitarian minister from Newcastle upon Tyne. He was apprenticed to an elder brother at a grocery shop in Liverpool from 1832.
Tate acquired his own grocery shop at Old Haymarket, Liverpool, from Aaron Wedgwood (1789 – 1840) in 1839. He began to focus on the sale of tea.
Tate had six shops by 1855; four in Liverpool, one in Birkenhead and one in Ormskirk. He expanded into the wholesale trade from 1857.
Tate entered into partnership with John Wright, a sugar refiner of Manesty Lane in Liverpool, from 1859. In order to concentrate on the sugar business, he sold his grocery interests to a brother-in-law in 1861.
Tate built a sugar refinery of his own at Earle Street in 1862. Little is known of Tate’s refineries at this time, but they probably produced low quality sugar and treacle.
Tate bought out Wright’s stake in 1869, and his sons Alfred Tate (born 1846) and Edwin Tate (1847 – 1928) were brought into the business, which was renamed Henry Tate & Sons.
Tate acquires new patent rights
Henry Tate acquired the rights to the new Boivin-Loiseau sugar purification process in 1872. Despite having been first offered to every other sugar refiner of scale, none but Tate had recognised its potential. It was this patent that really offered Tate a serious advantage over his rivals, as it was more efficient than the then-predominant Greenock process.
Tate established a new refinery on Love Lane, Liverpool in 1872. The factory produced 1,000 tons of sugar every week. The business employed 400 people by this time.
Tate partnered with David Martineau, a London sugar refiner, to acquire the British rights to Eugen Langen’s sugar cube manufacturing process in 1875. Sugar had previously been sold to grocers in large cones, with servings to customers then broken off with a hammer. The old method was inefficient, and the pre-packaged “Tate’s Cube Sugar” was to prove a great success.
Early packaging for Tate’s Cube Sugar
Tate acquired a derelict shipyard at Silvertown on the Thames in London in 1874-5. He established his largest sugar refinery there in 1878, and appointed Edwin Tate as manager. The new refinery focused solely on sugar cube production.
By 1883 Tate had the largest sugar producing capacity in Liverpool, and the third largest capacity in London. The Liverpool plant produced hard sugar and the London plant produced soft sugar.
Henry Tate & Sons employed 538 people by 1889.
At the age of 76, Tate was asked why he did not retire. He replied, “when you pull on a string and gold sovereigns come tumbling down, it’s very difficult to stop pulling that string”. However he finally did retire the following year.
Henry Tate & Sons was registered as a private limited company in 1896. William Henry Tate (1842 – 1922), became the first chairman, and his brothers served as directors.
Henry Tate in 1897 by Hubert Von Herkomer
Henry Tate was a private man, a good employer and a generous benefactor. He built the Tate Gallery for the people of Britain at a cost of £500,000, and donated his collection of art including Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott. Other benefactions, sometimes anonymous, but always discreet, amounted to almost £1 million. Despite his great wealth he lived a modest life, and refused a baronetcy twice before finally accepting in 1898, having been told by the Prime Minister that a third refusal would offend the Royal family. He died the following year.
At the turn of the century the factories in Silvertown and Liverpool employed between 2,000 and 3,000 people. The London buildings occupied 36,000 square metres, and the Liverpool buildings occupied 19,400 square metres.
Public offering and acquisitions
Henry Tate & Sons was registered as a public company in 1903. The assets of the business were valued at nearly £1.4 million in 1910. Henry Tate & Sons was the largest sugar refiner in Europe by 1914.
The anticipation of greater European competition in the post-war period, as well as a lack of suitable managerial talent in the Tate family convinced Henry Tate & Sons to merge with Abram Lyle & Sons, another large British refiner best known for its golden syrup, in 1921. The new company, Tate & Lyle, had a capital of £4.5 million and employed over 5,000 people. The business controlled around 50 percent of Britain’s sugar refining capacity.
Edwin Tate died in 1928 with a net personalty valued at £813,575.
Fairrie & Co of Liverpool was acquired in 1929. The business employed around 900 people. The Fairrie sugar refinery was immediately closed down.
Tate & Lyle was the 32nd most valuable company in Britain by market value in 1930.
A view of the Silvertown refinery in London in 2018. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Tate & Lyle employed 7,000 people, and was among the 100 largest employers in Britain by 1935.
A major rival emerged after the British government nationalised fifteen sugar beet refiners under the British Sugar name in 1936.
Tate & Lyle acquired Macfie & Sons of Liverpool in 1938. The ageing Macfie refinery was immediately closed down, and production was relocated to Love Lane. Following the acquisition, Tate & Lyle controlled 57 percent of the British sugar market.
The Silvertown site became the largest sugar refinery in the world, with an output of 14,000 tons a week by 1939.
Tate & Lyle employed 10,000 people in Britain by 1958.
Tate & Lyle acquired control of the Canada and Dominion Sugar Company in 1960.
United Molasses, the largest producer of molasses in Britain, was acquired for around £30 million in 1965.
Britain entered the Common Market from 1972, which saw quotas imposed on imported raw sugar cane by the Common Agricultural Policy. As a result, Tate & Lyle was forced to diversify.
Manbre & Garton, a Fulham-based sugar and starch producer, was acquired in 1976. The acquisition gave Tate & Lyle a monopoly on cane sugar production in Britain.
Unfortunately Manbre & Garton was to prove a major drain of financial resources. Combined with other ill-fated diversification attempts, Tate & Lyle profits were declining by the late 1970s. The first dividend cut in three decades was announced in 1979, and 4,000 jobs were lost.
Tate & Lyle grows internationally
Canadian-born Neil McGowan Shaw (born 1929) was appointed managing director of Tate & Lyle in 1980. He would transform the business into a professionally-managed company.
Shaw shut down the Garton starch factories, sold six of Tate’s ships, closed its glucose operations, reduced head office staffing levels and cut out excessive levels of management.
The Love Lane refinery was closed with the loss of 1,750 jobs in 1981. The site had become loss-making due to a sugar glut caused by the EU Common Agricultural Policy.
Worldwide staffing levels had been reduced from 16,400 to 11,400 by 1984.
Tate & Lyle acquired two American manufacturers; A E Staley, best known for corn syrup, and Amstar Sugar, the largest cane sugar refiner in the US, at a total cost of $1.8 billion in 1988.
Shaw was described as a quiet man, “seemingly embarrassed by his own power and success”, according to the Toronto National Post.
Bundaberg Sugar of Australia was acquired in 1991.
Tate & Lyle employed 16,000 people by 1993. It was the largest manufacturer of artificial sweeteners in the world.
Shaw stepped down as managing director of Tate & Lyle in 1995.
Tate & Lyle sold its sugar business to American Sugar of Yonkers, New York, in 2010. This allowed the company to concentrate on its industrial food products division.
The Silvertown refinery supplied 40 percent of Europe’s cane sugar in 2013.
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