Frank Cooper’s is one of the best known marmalade brands in Britain.
Frank Cooper (1844 – 1927), operated a grocery business on 83-84 High Street, Oxford, formerly the premises of the Angel Hotel. His wife Sarah (1848 – 1932) filled the first jars of Frank Cooper marmalade in 1874, using a recipe from her mother.
William Frank Cooper (1874 – 1952), eldest son of Frank Cooper, was manager of the business by 1894.
Sarah Cooper continued to produce the marmalade in the kitchen of the Angel Hotel, Oxford, until she entered into retirement in 1899.
Production was relocated to a purpose-built factory on Park End Street, Oxford from 1901.
Frank Cooper held a Royal Warrant to supply the King by 1913.
The business was registered as Frank Cooper Ltd in 1914, with a capital of £40,000. William Frank Cooper was appointed managing director.
Frank Cooper died in 1927 and left a net personalty of £47,746.
Sarah Cooper died in 1932. In an obituary the Yorkshire Post described her as the founder of the company.
Frank Cooper Ltd employed about 100 people by 1938.
Production of the marmalade was relocated to Botley Road, Oxford, in the former premises of an ice rink, in 1947.
William Frank Cooper died in 1952 with a net estate valued at £39,345.
Secret agent James Bond consumed Frank Cooper’s marmalade in From Russia With Love (1957) by Ian Fleming.
One quarter of the company’s capital of £350,000 was offered to the public in 1961, it’s first public offering.
An eleven acre site was acquired at Wantage to provide additional production capacity in 1963. Around 15 percent of production was exported overseas by 1964.
Frank Cooper Ltd was acquired by Brown & Polson for £866,250 in cash in 1964. The company cited increasing costs and a lack of capital as its motivation for agreeing to the takeover.
Brown & Polson was able to afford Frank Cooper’s range of five marmalades and eleven jams and jellies wider distribution.
Frank Cooper production was relocated to the Brown & Polson factory in Paisley, Scotland from 1967.
The company continued to operate the original Oxford shop, which latterly also functioned as a museum, until its closure in 1992.
Production had been relocated to Redditch, Worcestershire, by 1992.
Frank Cooper’s was later acquired by Rank Hovis McDougall, a large British consumer foods group. RHM was acquired by Premier Foods in 2006. Premier sold its sweet spreads business to Hain Celestial in 2012.
This article continues from Part I. Part II chronicles the decline of Huntley & Palmers from its position as the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world.
Registered as a company
Huntley & Palmers was registered as a private limited company in 1898.
Huntley & Palmers was the 38th largest British industrial company in 1905, with a capital of £2.4 million (c. £255 million in 2014). Nearly 7,000 people were employed.
Iced gems were introduced in 1910.
As late as 1910, Huntley & Palmers largely eschewed advertising.
Huntley & Palmers employed 8,000 people by 1913.
George William Palmer died with an estate valued at £765,676 in 1913.
A 1923 advertisement
Huntley & Palmers was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world. Almost half of production was exported by 1914, with 50 percent destined for the Far East and Africa.
Between 1865 and 1914 over 900,000 tonnes of biscuits were sold.
Huntley & Palmers supplied the British army with hard tack biscuits during the First World War.
The export trade was slow to rebuild after the First World War: only 25 percent of output was exported in 1924. Meanwhile, domestic sales declined as Huntley & Palmers failed to introduce new products or update existing ones. Marketing was poor, with inadequate advertising, fewer salesman than other firms and no depots outside Reading.
It has been argued that Huntley & Palmers had too many product lines to produce efficiently, and that the Palmer family paid themselves overly generous dividends and salaries, funds which might otherwise have been reinvested into the business.
The Reading factory site covered 24 acres, and included 36 acres of floorspace by 1920. The Osborne (similar to a digestive) was the most popular biscuit, followed by the Marie (rich tea) and the Ginger Nut.
Associated Biscuit Manufacturers
High income tax and death duties persuaded Huntley & Palmers to merge with Peek Frean of Bermondsey, under a holding company called Associated Biscuit Manufacturers (ABM), in 1921. Individual production and marketing strategies were maintained by the two companies.
By neglecting the commodity category of the biscuit market, ABM’s domestic market share had declined to 15 percent.
William Howard Palmer died in 1923 with an estate valued at £536,794.
A factory was opened near Paris in 1923. At the time it was decried in Britain as the transfer of jobs overseas.
80 percent of the 6,000 strong workforce at the Reading factory went on strike in 1924. The dispute, regarding worker efficiency, was settled within three days after Huntley & Palmers agreed to recognise the workers union.
Peek Frean turnover and profits had exceeded those of Huntley & Palmers by 1927. Peek Frean installed automated biscuit plants in the early 1930s, but Huntley & Palmers did not do so until 1938.
ABM employed 7,245 people in 1935.
Two large rivals emerged: the value biscuit manufacturer George Weston had established production volumes that equalled ABM by 1938. In 1948 the Scottish firms McVitie & Price and MacFarlane Lang merged to form United Biscuits, with 3,350 employees.
Huntley & Palmers in Reading (1945)
Factories were opened in Canada, the United States and Australia in 1949. The Reading factory employed 3,000 people in 1954.
A new factory was opened in Huyton, Liverpool in 1955.
The Cornish Wafer was the highest-selling biscuit by 1954. Associated Biscuits concentrated on cream, savoury and assorted biscuits. The Lemon Puff was introduced from 1958.
Around 15 to 20 percent of production was exported in 1959.
Jacob’s joins Associated Biscuit Manufacturers Jacob’s, the third largest biscuit manufacturer in Britain, was acquired by ABM in 1960. The purchase was motivated by a need to build scale in order to better compete with United Biscuits.
Huntley & Palmers employed 2,000 people across its two factories by 1968. The range of biscuits produced by Huntley & Palmers was streamlined in the mid to late 1960s in order to focus on the most profitable lines.
ABM was reorganised as Associated Biscuits in 1969.
Associated Biscuits employed 9,856 people in 1972. The company dedicated the vast majority of its advertising spend to the Jacob’s brand from 1972. One third of sales came from overseas, with factories in Australia, Canada and India.
Associated Biscuits had an 18 percent share of the British biscuit market in 1976. It was behind United Biscuits with 40 percent.
The Reading factory was closed in 1976. Associated Biscuits claimed that the 21-acre site was “surplus to requirements”, and production was relocated to Liverpool and Bermondsey. The valuable real estate was sold for £4 million in 1979.
Overseas production was dedicated to British-style biscuits. Digestives and shortcakes were popular in Canada, whilst the Indian market preferred cream crackers and Thin Arrowroot.
Associated Biscuits employed over 14,000 people in Britain by 1982, and a further 3,100 people overseas.
Acquisition by Nabisco
Nabisco, the American manufacturer of Shredded Wheat and Ritz crackers, acquired Associated Biscuits for £83.8 million in 1982. Nabisco was interested in the Huntley & Palmers brand, as well as its worldwide distribution network, particularly in Singapore, Canada, France and Germany.
The five Associated Biscuits factories in Britain were operating at half to two thirds capacity, and the business became loss-making. The Huyton factory was closed with the loss of 770 jobs in 1984, and production was relocated to Aintree, Liverpool.
The Aintree site was modernised at a cost of £25 million in 1986.
Huntley & Palmers was positioned as the Associated Biscuits premium sweet biscuit brand. However it accounted for just five percent of company production by weight by 1988.
Nabisco did not successfully manage their British biscuit operations. Their market share in biscuits had declined to 11.7 percent by 1988, and they were forced to reverse their decision to discontinue production of Bath Oliver biscuits following popular protest.
High overheads and traffic congestion saw the Peek Frean factory at Bermondsey closed with the loss of 1,022 jobs in 1989. Production was transferred to Aintree and Leicestershire.
Takeover by BSN
Associated Biscuits was acquired by BSN of France for $2.5 billion in 1989.
The Huntley & Palmers brand was phased out in favour of the Jacob’s name in 1990. It made sense to concentrate resources behind a single brand, and the Jacob’s name was better known, and believed to have a more contemporary image than the Huntley & Palmers brand. Huntley & Palmers products subjected to a re-branding included Romany, Crumbles, Lemon Puffs and Cornish Wafers.
The head office was relocated from Reading to Liverpool in 1996.
Sale to United Biscuits
BSN (now called Danone) sold its UK and Irish biscuit operations to United Biscuits for £200 million in 2004.
Huntley & Palmers Cornish Wafers are still sold under the Jacob’s brand, and McVitie’s continue to manufacture Thin Arrowroots. Huntley & Palmers biscuits are still produced in New Zealand.
In around 2018 the Huntley & Palmers brand was acquired by Freemans Confectionery, a Walsall-based confectionery wholesaler, who use the brand to market own-label products such as cakes.
The Belfast Ropework Co was the largest ropemaker in the world.
W H Smiles establishes the largest ropemaker in the world
William Holmes Smiles (1846 – 1904), the son of Self Help author Samuel Smiles (1812 – 1904), acquired a half share in a small Belfast ropewalk (a place where rope is made) in 1871.
Smiles established the Belfast Ropework Co as a limited company in 1876. He had three partners, including G W Wolff (1834 – 1913), of the Belfast shipbuilding firm Harland & Wolff.
G W Wolff was the chairman, and William Holmes Smiles was managing director. It was the organisational ability and energy of Smiles that would enable the venture to prosper.
50 people were initially employed on a four acre site at Connswater, Belfast.
Edward Harland (1831 – 1895), of Harland & Wolff, soon became a large shareholder.
The business grew in tandem with the growth of the Belfast shipbuilding industry. 300 people were employed at the works by 1880.
Progress was being made in export markets by 1880.
It was the largest rope works in the world by 1892, and the company employed a capital of £250,000.
W H Smiles would see his health broken due to overwork, and he died in 1904 with a relatively modest estate valued at £6,303. By this time the ropeworks spanned over 40 acres and employed 3,000 people.
Smiles was succeeded as managing director of the Belfast Ropework Co by his son, John Holmes Smiles (1875 – 1955). Between 1904 and 1910, Smiles managed to treble company profits.
In one year during the First World War the business produced 20,000 tons of twine, cord and rope.
Over 3,500 workers were employed by 1919, as well as a staff of over 150 clerks. The company served over 100,000 customers.
The Belfast Ropework Company was registered in London in 1930 with a nominal capital of £1 million. The works had a productive capacity of 350 tons of rope a week.
The Belfast Ropeworks site suffered heavy damage due to air raids during the Second World War, but continued to produce goods for the war effort, including camouflage nets.
Post-war decline and closure
The Belfast Ropeworks entered into decline following the end of the Second World War.
The company still operated the largest single rope factory in the world in 1957.
Belfast Ropeworks employed 1,000 people in 1968. However the business was loss-making, and it was sold to McCleery L’Amie in 1970.
McCleery L’Amie ended hemp rope production in favour of synthetic fibres from 1973.
A slump in demand for ropes and twines, as well as the growth of low-cost imports from overseas, particularly Portugal, saw the Belfast Ropeworks become loss-making, and the site was closed in 1978.
McCleery L’Amie was acquired by Lamont Holdings for £2.5 million in 1980.
The Connswater Shopping Centre was opened on the site of the Belfast Ropeworks in 1983.
R S Murray & Co introduced American-style caramels to Britain, but remains best-known for Murray Mints.
R S Murray introduces caramels to Britain
Robert Stuart Murray (1854 – 1912) was a confectionery salesman from Chicago, Illinois. He relocated to London where he introduced imported American-style caramels, made from milk or cream and sugar, to the British market.
Encouraged by strong demand, Murray formed a partnership with Charles Hubbard (died 1911) and Walter Michael Price (1826 – 1919), and established a confectionery factory at 67 Turnmill Street in Clerkenwell from 1882. Caramel producing machinery to the value of £8,000 was imported from America.
The factory employed 300 workers, and had a daily production output of five to six tons of confectionery.
R S Murray & Co was registered as a limited company with a capital of £50,000 in 1900. R S Murray & Co was probably the third largest sugar confectionery manufacturer in London by this time, behind Clarnico and Barratt.
R S Murray & Co had diversified into chocolate manufacturing by 1906.
The workers at R S Murray & Co went out on strike, demanding higher pay, in 1911. The largely female workforce were supported by Mary Macarthur (1880 – 1921), the prominent women’s rights campaigner. The campaign ended with a largely positive result for the workforce.
Robert Stuart Murray died in 1912 with a net personalty valued at £20,169 (around £19.3 million in 2020 prices).
H J Norton establishes overseas subsidiaries
Herbert John Norton (1874 – 1958) was nominated managing director in 1912, following the death of Robert Stuart Murray.
The factory site covered over three acres by 1914, and employed 1,500 to 2,000 people.
H J Norton was nominated chairman after the First World War.
A chocolate manufacturing subsidiary in Australia was established at De Carle Street, East Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne, from 1920.
R S Murray formed a joint venture with Clarnico to establish an Irish manufacturing presence, Clarnico Murray, from 1927.
The Australian factory employed over 300 people by 1931. Rowntree of York and R S Murray merged their Australian interests into a joint venture from 1934.
R S Murray & Co is acquired by C & E Morton
R S Murray & Co was acquired by C & E Morton, a tinned food manufacturer, in 1936.
The Turnmill Street factory was closed in the late 1930s, and R S Murray production was transferred to the C & E Morton site at Lowestoft, Suffolk.
R S Murray sold its stake in the Australian subsidiary to Rowntree in 1942.
Murray Mints, caramels flavoured with molasses and peppermint, were introduced from 1944. They soon became the best known R S Murray product.
C & E Morton was acquired by Beecham, a consumer goods manufacturer, for £180,000 in 1945.
Murray Mints were advertised on British television from 1955. They were promoted as, “the too good to hurry mint”. Murray Mints became one of the most extensively advertised sugar confectionery lines, and sales soared.
Other Murray products sold throughout the 1950s included Murray Fruits, the Regent assortment, and Murray Caramels.
Beecham acquired James Pascall, in an attempt to build scale in confectionery, in 1959. Following the takeover, Beecham focused its marketing efforts on Pascall products, rather than the Murray range.
Pascal Murray is acquired by Cadbury Fry
Beecham were successful marketers, but they struggled with the highly competitive confectionery industry, and Pascall Murray was sold to Cadbury, a large chocolate manufacturer, in 1964.
Clarnico Murray had around ten percent of the Irish confectionery market by 1969. The Irish factory was closed in 1974, and the market was thereafter served by imports from Britain.
Cadbury was acquired by Kraft of Chicago in 2010. Kraft spun-off its global snacks business, including Cadbury, as Mondelez in 2012.
Murray Mints are still sold in Britain by Mondelez under the Maynard Bassett brand. Murray Butter Mints are also available as part of a mint assortment.
Haywards is the leading pickled vegetable brand in Britain.
Establishment
Robert Hayward (born 1847) was born at Newington in Southwark, London, the son of a corn merchant. He was a dedicated Baptist.
Hayward established a pickle manufacturing business at Montford Place, Kennington, from 1869. He initially distributed his wares from a horse and cart.
Hayward Brothers was established when Robert was joined by his brother Henry Hayward (1852 – 1925) from 1880. Three men and five boys were employed at the business by 1881.
Two nephews of Robert Hayward; George Charles Hayward (died 1931) and Joseph Robert Hayward (1870 – 1933), established a subsidiary at Christchurch, New Zealand from 1890. They sold pickles and sauces under the Flag Brand name. It was the largest pickle business in New Zealand by 1896 with over 50 employees. Hayward Brothers operated the largest malt vinegar brewery in New Zealand by 1908.
Hayward Brothers is incorporated as a private limited company
Hayward Brothers was incorporated as a private limited company in 1898. Robert Hayward was chairman and two of his sons, George Joy Hayward (1873 – 1953) and Frank Tresidder Hayward (1876 – 1960), joined as directors alongside his brother Henry.
Haywards Military Pickle had become the leading product line by 1905. 200,000 bottles were sold in London that year. The pickle was made with whole baby onions, gherkins, sultanas, dates, cauliflower, mangoes, plums and apricots.
The business grew quickly, and the Kennington factory was extended in 1907. Military Pickle was the highest-selling pickle in Britain by 1911.
Henry Hayward died in 1925 and left an estate valued at £28,719.
A V-1 flying bomb caused significant damage to the factory in 1944.
George J Hayward died in 1953 with an estate valued at £16,384.
Subsequent ownership Edward Manwaring Ltd acquired the Haywards pickles trademark in 1956. Production was relocated to their factory on the Bird in Bush Road, London. The Montford Place factory was sold to James Burrough Ltd and became the production centre for Beefeater London Dry Gin from 1958.
Hayward’s Food Products was acquired by the Melbray Group for £473,000 in 1963. The Manwaring family remained the largest shareholders.
Melbray Group acquired Harry Peck & Co, a canned meat concern, in 1964 and merged it with Haywards to form Hayward-Peck. Peck’s products were canned tongue, and meat and fish pastes, including own-label produce for Harrod’s.
Hayward-Peck had been mainly based in the South East of England, but a national distribution network was established from 1964.
Hayward-Peck was acquired by Brooke Bond-Oxo for £1.5 million in 1970.
A new pickle factory was opened at Bury St Edmunds from 1978.
Haywards held 21 percent of the sour pickle market by 1987.
Haywards Pickles was sold to Hillsdown Holdings (later Premier Foods) for an undisclosed price in 1989. The company employed 150 people.
Haywards Military Pickle was discontinued sometime after 1996.
Premier Foods sold its vinegar and sour pickles business, including Haywards, to Mizkan of Japan for £41 million in 2012.
As of 2016, Haywards vegetables in vinegar are produced at Middleton, Manchester, and Hayward’s pickles are manufactured at Bury St Edmunds.
The John Hodge Tobacco Company was the largest exporter of dark leaf tobacco from the United States.
John Henderson Hodge (1852 – 1935) was born in Glasgow in 1852 to James Hodge and Catherine (nee Henderson). His father was a partner in J&T Hodge, which operated a tobacco factory employing four men and 18 boys in 1861.
John H Hodge emigrated to the United States in 1876 and established the John Hodge Tobacco Company at Madisonville, Kentucky. He was joined by his brother, Thomas Hodge (born 1859) in 1880.
Hodge married a Kentuckian, Kitty G Hodge (born 1856). His sons included James (born 1881), William R (born 1886) and John H (born 1889).
The Hodge tobacco factory at Henderson, Kentucky was struck by fire in 1895.
James Hodge retired from J & T Hodge, tobacco and cigarette manufacturers of St Ninian Street, Glasgow, in 1902, leaving William Hodge as the sole partner. James R Hodge was a witness to the transaction.
The John Hodge Tobacco Co acquired three million pounds of tobacco for about $175,000 in a single transaction in 1913.
The Hodge Tobacco Co, wholesaler and exporter of Henderson and Hopkins counties, Kentucky, employed 554 people in 1926.
John Henderson Hodge died in 1935.
James Hodge died in 1944.
Hodge Tobacco Co employed 200 workers during peak season in 1965, and had annual sales of over $1.5 million.
The business was operated by Thomas Hodge (1925 – 2011), the son of William Hodge, until its dissolution in 1972.
Edward Manwaring (1842 – 1884) was born in Burwash, Sussex, the son of an innkeeper. He served an apprenticeship with a grocer who dealt in imported foodstuffs.
Manwaring established his own pickles business on Old Kent Road, London in May 1863. He was aided by a £100 loan from the Samuel Wilson Trust. By 1871 he employed eight men and five boys in Camberwell.
Edward Manwaring (1866 – 1931) was born in Camberwell, London. Following the death of his father in 1884 he took over the business.
Edward Manwaring was chairman and managing director of the company until his death in 1931. His estate was valued at £51,431.
Edward Manwaring Limited acquired the Haywards pickles brand in 1956. The company renamed itself Haywards Food Products.
The business was managed by great grandsons of the founder, Edward and Stuart Wade, by the 1960s.
Haywards Food Products was acquired by Melbray Food Group in 1963 for £450,000.
How did Hiram Walker become the second largest producer of Scotch whisky in the world?
Harry Hatch builds a whisky business
Harry Clifford Hatch (1884 – 1946) sold whisky by mail-order in Montreal, Canada. He made a small fortune before the business was ruled illegal in 1921.
Hatch acquired Gooderham & Worts of Toronto for $1.5 million in 1923. It was the oldest distillery in Canada but had lain inactive for eight years.
Hatch purchased Hiram Walker & Sons of Ontario, the largest whisky distillery in Canada, and best known for the Canadian Club brand, for $14 million in 1926.
Harry Clifford Hatch (1884 – 1946) in 1934
Hatch merged Hiram Walker & Sons with Gooderham & Worts of Toronto to form Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts, one of the largest whisky distillers in the world, in 1927. For biographer Claude William Hunt, Hatch’s progress was “an astonishing vault into the corporate elite”.
Harry Hatch enters the Scotch whisky market
At the time Distillers Co controlled around 70 percent of the Scotch whisky industry. After a failed attempt at a merger with Distillers, Hatch decided to enter into the Scotch whisky industry for himself.
Hiram Walker acquired a 60 percent stake in James & George Stodart of Glasgow for “a few hundred thousand dollars” in 1930. The purchase included the Stirling Bonding Company (with the Old Smuggler brand) and George Ballantine & Son. Full control of the business was acquired in 1936.
Hiram Walker acquired the Glenburgie and Miltonduff-Glenlivet malt whisky distilleries in Morayshire in 1936. Both distilleries were modernised.
Hiram Walker & Sons (Scotland) was registered with a capital of £1 million in 1937. It was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts. Capital was increased to £1.5 million the following year.
Due to a growing export trade, particularly to the United States, Hiram Walker struggled to procure sufficient grain whisky for blending purposes. As a result, the company opened the largest distillery in Europe at Dumbarton in 1938. The £450,000 investment produced three million imperial gallons of whisky each year, mostly grain whisky, from a nine-acre site.
90 percent of Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts production was exported to the United States by 1939. Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts was the fourth largest distiller in the world by 1946.
Thomas Scott expands the business
Thomas Scott was general manager and a director of Hiram Walker & Sons (Scotland) by 1949. He introduced a resident flock of Chinese geese to act as security guards at the Dumbarton distillery from 1950.
Bloch Brothers of Glasgow was acquired in 1954. The acquisition included two distilleries (Scapa, Orkney and Glen Scotia, Campbeltown) and large reserves of whisky, including some of the oldest in Britain. Bloch sales were strongest in North and South America. It was the second largest post-war acquisition in the Scotch whisky industry to date.
Hiram Walker & Sons was the second largest producer of Scotch whisky by 1961, with ten percent of the global market. Ballantine’s was the highest-selling Scotch whisky in the United States, and was a favourite of President John F Kennedy.
1,100 people were employed at the Dumbarton plant in 1969.
Continued growth
The Balblair distillery of Ross-shire was acquired in 1970.
Ballantine’s was the fifth highest-selling Scotch whisky in the United States in 1971.
A new complex for Scotch whisky production was opened at Kilmalid, outside Dumbarton, in 1977. It was the most advanced whisky blending plant in Europe.
A new bottling plant was opened at Kilmalid in 1982. It processed more than 100 million bottles a year.
Hiram Walker was the third largest Scotch whisky producer in the world by 1984, with nine malt distilleries and one large grain distillery.
Allied Lyons and Pernod Ricard
Hiram Walker was acquired by Allied Lyons, a British food and beverages company, for £1.27 billion in 1986. Ballantine’s was the fourth highest-selling Scotch whisky in the world, with market leadership in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Switzerland. Allied Lyons controlled 17 percent of the global whisky market.
Allied Lyons produced twelve million bottles of Ballantine’s a year from its Kilmalid and Dumbarton plants by 1992. 70 percent of production was destined for mainland Europe.
The Dumbarton distillery was closed in 2002. Allied had an oversupply of grain whisky, and the labour costs at its Strathclyde distillery were lower. The Dumbarton distillery was demolished in 2008.
Pernod Ricard, a French distiller, acquired Allied Lyons, now known as Allied Domecq, in 2005. Some brands were divested to Fortune Brands and Diageo.
The geese were removed from Dumbarton in 2012.
Ballantine’s was the second highest-selling Scotch whisky in the world after Johnnie Walker in 2021.
Notes
The British records of Hiram Walker up to 1940 are believed to have been destroyed during the London Blitz.
Daniel Dunn invented instant cocoa powder, and his products were widely imitated. Dunn & Hewett became one of the largest cocoa manufacturers in Britain.
Daniel Dunn
Daniel Dunn (1773 – 1862) was born at Netherton, Dudley, Worcestershire, to modest circumstances. His blacksmith father taught him the value of honesty, and his mother instilled in him a keen work ethic.
Dunn had to earn a living from the age of ten. He joined the Swedenborgian Church in 1796, and remained a keen member throughout his life.
Dunn demonstrated a propensity for invention from early in life. He would eventually be granted eleven patents. One of his early discoveries was a method to improve the manufacture of horse nails. He established a horse nail factory in London, however the business failed following a recession in America.
Dunn counted among his London associates one John Isaac Hawkins (1772 – 1855), the inventor of the upright piano.
Dunn was to instead find success manufacturing instant coffee and instant tea from a factory at Bartlett’s Buildings, Holborn from around 1800. Expanding trade saw him relocate to a larger factory at Pentonville from around 1810.
Dunn invented instant cocoa powder in 1820. His method was to add sugar and arrowroot to cocoa to create a soluble powder. Hot cocoa could be made in one minute by adding boiling water, whereas previously chocolate had needed to be boiled for an hour or more.
Dunn & Hewett
Charles Hewett (1819 – 1869), also from Dudley, had been apprenticed to Dunn by 1841. Hewett had joined Dunn in partnership by 1857, and the business henceforth traded as Dunn & Hewett.
Iceland Moss Cocoa had been introduced by 1859. It was made from cocoa, moss, farina and sugar. The moss was believed to hold highly nutritious qualities. Competitors such as Rowntree and Fry would later introduce their own competing Iceland Moss Cocoa products.
Dunn employed 47 people in 1861, including 23 men, 14 girls and ten boys.
Dunn was a generous philanthropist throughout his life. He died in 1862, and his estate was valued at under £3,000 (equivalent to at least £260,000 today). His entire estate was inherited by his third wife, Mary Dunn (1810 – 1885).
Management of Dunn & Hewett after the death of the founder
Charles Hewett took over as senior partner of Dunn & Hewett following the death of Daniel Dunn.
Dunn & Hewett employed 60 to 70 workers by 1864. Hewett would continue the tradition of respect and equality with his workforce that Dunn had established. A workman would be presented with a sovereign coin upon the birth of a child. The firm organised an annual excursion or dinner for their workers. A company funded brass band was established from 1864.
Charles Hewett died in 1869, and management of the firm passed to Mary Dunn and two of Daniel’s adopted sons, Arthur Day (1843 – 1918) and John Holm (1840 – 1897), the latter a trained chemist.
Dunn & Hewett employed 65 people in 1871, including 36 men, four boys, 22 women and three girls.
Dunn & Hewett ranked among the largest cocoa manufacturers in Britain by 1876. The firm employed 70 workers in 1881.
Mary Dunn died in 1885.
Sale of Dunn & Hewett to the Nunn family
It appears that Arthur Day and John Holm sold Dunn & Hewett to Henry Saunders Nunn (1848 – 1925), a manager at a rubber manufacturer, following the death of Mary Dunn.
Arthur Day continued to work in a marketing role for Dunn & Hewett, appearing as a representative at International Exhibitions.
Dunn & Hewett continued to be one of the leading cocoa manufacturers in Britain as late as 1911.
A fire at the extensive factory caused an estimated £14,000 worth of damage in 1916, equivalent to at least £800,000 in 2016.
Henry Saunders Nunn died in 1925 and left an estate valued at £125,000. Control of Dunn & Hewett was passed to his son, Henry Thomas Nunn (1878 – 1927), who died two years later with a net personalty valued at just £17,880.
Control of Dunn & Hewett passed to Oliver Cromwell Nunn (1879 – 1971), who retired around 1930, upon which the Pentonville factory was closed down.
Pearce Duff is the leading powdered blancmange brand in Britain.
Origins
Pearce Duff was established by William Pearce and William Henry Duff (1793 – 1874), a Hampshire-born cook, in 1847. Baking powder and egg substitute powder were produced from a private home.
Growing sales saw the business relocate to a factory at Long Lane, Borough, London by the mid-1860s. Newspaper advertising had commenced by 1866.
Control of the business had passed to George Pearce and Daniel Duff (1837 – 1917) by 1884.
Relocation to Rouel Road
Pearce Duff relocated to the former premises of Young & Co, a glue manufacturer of Rouel Road in Bermondsey, from 1890.
The factory was briefly closed in August 1911 due to worker intimidation by striking employees.
The Pearce Duff factory on Rouel Road/Spa Road, Bermondsey
In 1914 the partners were Daniel Duff, Mrs Elizabeth Jane Duff (born 1870), Daniel Duff Jr (1879 – 1953), James Thomas Hosking (1856 – 1922) and Leslie George Cockhead (1861 – 1947). Nearly 500 people were employed at the five-storey Rouel Road factory.
J T Hosking retired from the partnership in 1916.
Daniel Duff died with an estate valued at £65,091 in 1917.
Pearce Duff had been registered as a private limited company by 1937. Daniel Duff Jr was appointed managing director.
L G Cockhead died with an estate valued at £90,327 in 1947. His nurse, with whom he was romantically involved, was granted an inheritance of £20,000.
Daniel Duff Jr died with an estate valued at £165,026 in 1953.
Introduction of automation; acquisitions
Mechanisation and automation of the factory was completed in the mid-1950s. A fully-automated plant for manufacturing custard powder was installed in 1957. Products were exported to 77 countries.
The business remained family-owned, and four members of the Duff family sat on the board of directors. Nearly 30 percent of production was exported in 1962.
A factory was acquired at Annan, Dumfriesshire to manufacture jellies in 1965.
Hugh Bidwell (1934 -2013) was appointed managing director of Pearce & Duff in 1970, and became chairman from 1971.
Pearce Duff acquired Marela from W R Grace of New York in 1973. Marela manufactured pickles and Fardon’s sauces and vinegar. In return, W R Grace and Barings Bank took a 40 percent stake in Pearce Duff. The acquisition gave Pearce Duff an annual turnover of around £4.5 million.
The Bermondsey and Annan factories were closed with the loss of 300 jobs in 1974. Production was relocated to a new factory at Dunstable, near Luton, where 250 people were employed.
Sales worth over £3 million in the Middle East and West Africa led Pearce Duff to win a prestigious Queen’s Award for Export Achievement in 1979.
Pearce Duff sorbet mix, probably from the 1980s
James Ashby & Sons, tea and coffee importers of London, was acquired in 1983. The purchase took Pearce Duff annual turnover to over £16 million.
Pearce Duff loses its independence
Hugh Bidwell and Sir Kenneth Cork (1913 – 1991) held a majority stake in Pearce Duff by 1984. That year they sold the business to Gill & Duffus, the largest cocoa trader in the world, for £4 million.
Dalgety acquired Gill & Duffus the following year. Dalgety merged Pearce Duff with its own Spillers Homepride division.
Pearce Duff products such as custard powder and baking powder were eventually discontinued in Britain, leaving only the blancmange powder to remain in production.
Dalgety sold its food ingredients business, including Pearce Duff, to Kerry Group of Ireland in 1998.
Pearce Duff blancmange powder is manufactured in Rotherham, Yorkshire. 700,000 units, to the retail value of £500,000, were sold in 2006.
Pearce Duff custard powder is sold in Pakistan and Spain, and Pearce Duff remains the leading brand of baking powder in West Africa and the Middle East.
