Canned food

Can-do spirit: a history of Farrow’s peas

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Farrow & Co ranked as one of the largest industrial concerns in Peterborough. Farrow’s marrowfat peas are still sold in Britain.

Farrow & Co is established
Joseph Farrow Sr (1815 – 1898), was from Dowsdale in Lincolnshire. He established himself as a manufacturer of mushroom ketchup at Parson Drove near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, from 1840. Mushroom ketchup was a popular condiment of the period.

Joseph Farrow Jr (1850 – 1939) had entered his father’s business by 1876. He was a dedicated Baptist, a lifelong non-smoker, a Liberal and a temperance advocate.

Joseph Farrow Sr retired as a gentleman around 1883. Joseph Farrow Jr and his wife Mary Farrow (1844 – 1926) continued the business.

Joseph Farrow Jr established a new mushroom ketchup factory at a former brewery in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, from 1883.

Mustard production was commenced from 1888. Farrow was keen to break the duopoly on the mustard trade, which was controlled by J & J Colman of Norwich and Keen of London.

A house and former granary at South Square, Boston were acquired in 1889. The premises were converted into a factory in order to accommodate increasing demand for Farrow’s mustard. The site was chosen as it had space for expansion and offered good railway links. There was an initial staff of 60 people.

Joseph Algernon “Algy” Farrow (1874 – 1949) joined his father in business. He was a warm-hearted, egalitarian man.

Farrow & Co claimed to have been the first business in England to sell dried peas in packets.

Farrow & Co enters into mass production
Expanding sales saw production relocated to a large five-storey model factory on Fletton Avenue, Peterborough, from 1902. The site was located close to the Great Northern Railway. The factory employed up to 300 people.

Farrow peas and mustard were the leading product lines, and were branded under the A1 trademark, (no relation to Brand’s A1 sauce). Much of the company’s mustard seed was grown on its own farms. A large export market for dried peas was developed in South Africa.

Farrow & Co claimed to be the largest manufacturer of mushroom ketchup in the world in 1904.

The Boston and Holbeach factories were closed in order to centralise all production at Peterborough.

Joseph Farrow & Co is acquired by Colman’s
J & J Colman, mustard manufacturers of Norwich, acquired Joseph Farrow & Co in 1912. The business was registered as a limited company. Farrow & Co was one of the largest mustard manufacturers in Britain, and Colman was probably motivated by a desire to increase its control of the market.

Farrow & Co acquired its leading competitors in mustard production later that year. Barringer & Co, Moss Rimmington & Co and Sadler’s Mustard were all acquired. To absorb this new production, Farrow reopened its Holbeach factory, and reopened the Boston site as a warehouse. The Peterborough site was also expanded.

Farrow & Co introduced a 48-hour working week for men, and a 44-hour week for women.

Farrow & Co entered into pea canning from 1930. Mass canning was enabled by the development of pea harvesting machinery.

Production of Farrow’s mustard was relocated to Norwich from 1931. Marketing of the mustard was ended, and the product was discontinued.

The Peterborough factory was greatly extended in order to can fruit, as well as increase the pea canning operation, in 1932. The factory was one of the foremost canneries in Britain. Fruit canning focused on English soft fruits such as gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries and plums. At the height of the fruit-picking season up to 250 women were employed in the canning process.

Pea canning was the main business by the mid-1930s.

Joseph Farrow Jr died in 1939. The role of company chairman was assumed by Joseph Algernon Farrow.

The vegetable canning operation was enlarged in 1940, and the peak staffing levels were doubled.

Much of production was dedicated to the armed forces during the Second World War.

By the end of the Second World War, Farrow & Co was one of the principal industrial concerns in Peterborough, behind brickmaking and ranked alongside sugar beet processing.

R W Gale & Co Ltd of London, a processor of honey, was acquired in 1948.

Joseph Algernon Farrow was chairman of Farrow & Co until his death in 1949. He left an estate valued at £58,000.

The growth period for canned foods had largely ended by the early 1950s. R W Gale & Co production was relocated to Peterborough from 1951.

Aided by the popularity of Gale’s honey, Farrow & Co was the largest subsidiary of J & J Colman by 1961. Gale’s honey was the market leader in Britain.

The canning business is sold and the Peterborough factory is closed
The Farrow & Co canned vegetables business was sold to Batchelors of Sheffield, a Unilever subsidiary, in 1971.

J & J Colman continued to manufacture Gale’s honey and preserves at Peterborough, until the factory was closed with the loss of 250 jobs in 1973. Production was relocated to Norwich.

Unilever sold Batchelors to the Campbell Soup Company in 2001. Batchelors was sold to Premier Foods in 2006. Premier Foods sold the Farrow’s brand to Princes Foods of Liverpool in 2011.

Farrow’s Marrowfat peas are still sold.

Vinegar

The acid test: Slee & Co

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The Slee & Co vinegar works were operated on the same site in London from 1812 until 1992.

Slee & Co was founded by Noah Slee at Church Street, Horsleydown, London in 1812. He was soon joined by Josias Slee (1773 – 1829), who emigrated to London from Honiton, Devon.

John Vickers joined in partnership from 1823, and the business traded as Vickers & Slee.

Josias Slee left the business in 1826.

Vickers & Slee was the fifth largest vinegar brewer in Britain and Ireland by 1832. The firm held about seven percent of the market.

In an age before refrigeration, vinegar was a much more important commodity than it is today, due to its preservative effect on foodstuffs.

John Vickers left the partnership in 1838.

The business was owned by Noah Slee, William Payne and Edward Richardson Slee (1815 – 1878), the son of Josias Slee, in the 1840s. Payne was a brother-in-law.

Noah Slee was declared bankrupt in 1842, and the business continued as Payne & Slee.

Payne & Slee was the fifth largest vinegar brewer in Britain by 1844.

An analysis conducted for The Lancet in 1852 found that Payne & Slee vinegar contained the highest amount of sulphuric acid of any of the major vinegar producers in Britain. The addition of sulphuric acid was a low-cost method of speeding up the acidification process of the vinegar, but it was considered hazardous for health.

Payne left the business in 1860.

The business employed 36 people in 1861.

The business traded as Slee & Slee by 1868.

49 people were employed in 1871.

The Horsleydown site sourced water using an artesian well, sunk to a depth of 303 feet. The water source was of a high quality for brewing vinegar, and had a high content of calcium sulphate and sodium chloride.

Slee, Slee & Co held a stock of nearly half a million gallons (c.2.3 million litres) of vinegar in 1874.

Batty & Co, sauce and pickle manufacturer of Finsbury Pavement, was acquired in 1874.

Edward Richardson Slee died with a personal estate valued at under £60,000 in 1878. His stake in the business was inherited by his son, Herbert Hutton Slee (1853 – 1933).

The business was run by Cuthbert Britton Slee (1818 – 1900) and Herbert Hutton Slee from 1878.

Slee, Slee & Co was one of the longest-established vinegar brewers in Britain by 1887. One of their vats had been in use since the reign of George III (1739 – 1820).

Export sales began in earnest, principally to New Zealand, from 1889.

The business became a limited company from 1895.

Batty & Co was sold to Heinz, who desired a British manufacturing facility, in 1905.

Champion & Co, vinegar brewers of City Road, London was acquired to form Champion & Slee Ltd in 1907. The company had a share capital of £140,000. The takeover was motivated by the scope for economies of scale. The Slee brand was phased out, but all production was relocated to the Slee premises, where there was ample room for expansion.

A large proportion of production was exported to foreign and colonial markets.

Champion & Slee was acquired by Crosse & Blackwell, who merged operations with Sarson’s, in 1929 The Champion brand was phased out in favour of Sarson’s.

The Slee vinegar works were closed in 1992.

Spreads & sauces

Where there’s muck there’s brass: Hammonds Sauce

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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.

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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.

Spreads & sauces

Original sauce: John Burgess & Son of the Strand

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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.

A bottle of Essence of Anchovies from 1911. Image used with kind permission from the Museum of Transport and Technology.

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.

Vinegar

Champion & Co: leading vinegar brewers

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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.

Spreads & sauces, Vinegar

Rasch actions: Holbrook’s Sauce

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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.

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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.

Spreads & sauces

Olde English: Chivers & Sons

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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
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.

Spreads & sauces

The fruit of enterprise: Pink’s jam

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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.

Edward Pink
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
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 strikers in 1914
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.

Tobacco

A brief history of Imperial Tobacco

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Imperial Tobacco dominated the British tobacco trade throughout much of the twentieth century.

Background and formation
Wills of Bristol employed about 1,000 workers by 1889. The business was best known for the Woodbine brand. Informed by their Congregationalist principles, the Wills family had, by 1895, introduced financing for a staff canteen, a convalescent home, a sanatorium, a resident nurse and doctor, paid holidays and a number of recreational clubs.

Imperial Tobacco was formed in 1901 by the merger of thirteen leading British tobacco companies. Wills controlled the combine with just over half of the equity, followed by Lambert & Butler of London, Mitchell of Glasgow and John Player of Nottingham.

It was a defensive merger following the acquisition of Ogden of Liverpool, one of Britain’s leading cigarette manufacturers, by the highly capitalised American Tobacco Company.

The businesses in the combine retained their own brands and salesmen, but pricing and accounting were organised centrally.

Salmon & Gluckstein, a retail tobacconist with 184 branches, was acquired for over £1.25 million in 1902, largely to prevent its acquisition by American Tobacco.

American Tobacco sold Ogden to Imperial in 1902, and both companies agreed to avoid its rivals’ domestic market. The global market was to be catered for by a new company called British American Tobacco, with a two third stake held by American Tobacco and one third held by Imperial.

Domination of the British tobacco market
Imperial Tobacco estimated it had “rather over 50 percent” of the British tobacco market by 1904. Woodbine was the highest-selling cigarette brand in the world.

Imperial Tobacco employed over 10,000 people by 1909, and three quarters of the workforce were female.

Imperial Tobacco held 87.5 percent of the British tobacco market in 1913. This share had declined to 72.5 percent by 1920, but included 91 percent of all cigarette sales.

Imperial Tobacco was the largest British public company by 1926.

Imperial Tobacco had seen its virtual monopoly on cigarettes corroded by the re-emergence of competitors such as Carreras, Gallaher and Godfrey Phillips by the late 1920s.

Imperial Tobacco employed 40,000 people across 27 factories by 1933.

Imperial Tobacco was the second largest industrial company in the world by 1937, outranked in market capitalisation by only General Motors.

John Player overtook Wills to become the largest single Imperial Tobacco subsidiary in the 1940s.

Imperial Tobacco held 78.8 percent of the British tobacco market in 1955.

Imperial Tobacco was the third largest company in the world outside the United States as measured by sales in 1957.

Wills Embassy was introduced as a filter cigarette from 1962. It was an overnight sensation, and was the highest-selling filtered cigarette in Britain by 1963. Embassy was the overall leading cigarette in Britain by 1965.

Imperial held 66 percent of the British tobacco market in 1968, followed by Gallaher (Benson & Hedges) with 29 percent. Carreras (Rothmans, Dunhill) was third in the market with a seven percent share.

Relative decline of the business
Imperial Tobacco diversified away from tobacco from the 1960s and changed its name to Imperial Group in 1973.

Imperial Group’s share of the British cigarette market had declined to just 37 percent by 1986.

Hanson Trust acquired Imperial Group for £2.7 billion in 1986.

Hanson Trust sold off non-core assets, such as the Courage brewing business to Elders for £1.4 billion, the hotel and restaurant business to Trusthouse Forte for £190 million, and the Golden Wonder crisps business to Dalgety for £87 million. The Ross Youngs frozen seafood business was sold to United Biscuits for £335 million. The sauces business, including Lea & Perrins and HP, was sold to BSN for £199 million.

The core tobacco business was reorganised. The range of products was reduced from 44 to 11, with a focus on five core brands. Five factories were reduced to three, with 1,000 redundancies.

Imperial Tobacco was demerged from Hanson Trust in 1996.

 

Hospitality

Winning dinners: John Pearce restaurants

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John Pearce pioneered low-cost restaurants in Victorian London.

John Pearce enters into the catering trade
John Pearce (1847 – 1930) was born into humble circumstances in Hoxton, London. His Welsh mother’s strict Baptist faith was to have a lasting influence upon him. His father, a hatter, died when he was young, so from the age of nine he had to earn a living.

Pearce became an apprentice porter in Covent Garden. He would portray this period of his life as a miserable one, a Dickensian tale of “child slavery” where he was “the absolute property of his master”. He determined to establish his independence at the first possible opportunity.

Pearce recognised the difficulty that labourers had in procuring good food early in the morning. In 1866 he hired a costermonger’s barrow from which he sold coffee, bread and cakes. He would set up his stand from four o’clock in the morning on City Road.

After six months Pearce had saved enough money to build himself a stall, which he named the Gutter Hotel. Within a few years he was serving 2,000 customers every day. Pearce sold the Gutter Hotel for £200 in 1879.

Pearce enters into the restaurant trade
Pearce used the proceeds from his sale of the Gutter Hotel to buy the lease of 68 Aldersgate Street, London. He turned the premises into a working-class restaurant. The restaurant was self-service and offered a limited menu of steak puddings and jacket potatoes, which helped to keep costs low.

The restaurant trade increased, and soon sold as many as 600 steak puddings every day. An impoverished Ramsay MacDonald (1866 – 1937), later to become Prime Minister, was numbered among the customers at the restaurant.

Pearce leased two adjacent properties on Farringdon Road in 1882, where he sold as many as 1,200 steak puddings a day. Soon, 6,000 people were being served on a daily basis.

Shortly afterwards, Pearce partnered with Sir Edward Sullivan, Baronet (1822 – 1885), who provided the business with the capital to expand.

Pearce opened restaurants across London, and began to brand his outlets under the Pearce & Plenty name from 1883.

Pearce was a teetotaller, and offered his restaurants as alternatives to public houses and taverns. Pearce restaurants were one of the few places outside of public houses and hotels where women could get a meal. Despite this, he was never an idealist, but a hard-headed businessman.

John Pearce
John Pearce (1847 – 1930)

Pearce opened two British Tea Table outlets in the City of London, aimed at the lower middle class market, in 1892. Popular meals included eggs on toast and ham salad in summer, and soup, chops and steaks in the winter.

There were 22 Pearce & Plenty outlets and 24 British Tea Table outlets by 1896. Much of the food was prepared centrally at Farringdon Road, where 40 bakers were employed. Over 800 people were employed across the business, of whom almost half were women.

The business was incorporated under the name British Tea Table in 1897, with a nominal capital of £300,000. Assets of the business were valued at just over £225,000. Independent directors were nominated to the board.

Between 60,000 and 70,000 people were served every day by 1897. There were 64 shops and over 1,000 employees by 1898. Upwards of 100,000 meals were served every day by 1901.

Business declines, and Pearce forms J.P. Restaurants
The business peaked in 1903, after which profits began to decline. The board of directors investigated the decline in profitability in 1904, and concluded that a failure to update and modernise outlets was to blame. The competition had increased, and rivals such as J Lyons had made a greater effort in the décor of their tea shops. Also, food quality failed to match that of its rivals. Some outlets were rebranded as British Restaurants.

John Pearce resigned as a director in 1904, furious at the direction the company was taking. He founded a new company, J.P. Restaurants, in 1905.

33 out of a total of 70 outlets were loss-making by 1905. This number had risen to 48 by 1907.

It was alleged in John Bull magazine that the company resold leftover food from customer’s plates.

A committee of shareholders was appointed to investigate the affairs of the company in 1907. The board of directors all promptly resigned following the nomination of John Pearce to the committee.

The company was loss-making by 1908. That year the shareholders committee reported that many outlets were trading at a loss due to inefficient management and mistakes in policy.

The 32 outlets that remained profitable were sold to J.P. Restaurants for £28,000 in 1909. Five other outlets were divested separately. British Tea Table was liquidated in 1910.

J.P. Restaurants had 51 outlets around London by 1923.

johnpearcedining

Pearce established Associated Hotels, a low-cost hotels company, in London in 1925.

Sale of J.P. Restaurants and death of the founder
J.P. Restaurants was sold to the Aerated Bread Company, a large catering concern, in 1927. John Pearce was retained in a consultative capacity. The freehold production facilities on Farringdon Road were immediately closed down, with production transferred to the central ABC facility in Camden Town.

Following a stormy meeting, Pearce and his sons were forced to resign from the board of directors in 1930. Shortly afterwards John Pearce had a heart attack and died. He left an net personalty valued at £30,862.

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