Brown & Polson introduced corn flour to Britain.

Brown & Polson introduce corn flour to Britain
Starch manufacturers John Polson (1800 – 1843), William Polson (1810 – 1893) and John Brown (1806 -1889) merged their interests to form Brown & Polson with a factory at Thrushcraig in Paisley, Scotland from 1842.

Brown & Polson had been appointed starch manufacturer to Queen Victoria by 1853.

John Polson Jr (1825 – 1900) discovered a method for manufacturing pure starch from maize, which he called corn flour. He patented the process in 1854. It was the first corn flour to be manufactured in Britain. Advertised as a substitute for arrowroot, corn flour was used as a thickening agent for foods, and used to make custard, blancmange, puddings and cakes.

Production was relocated to the Royal Starch Works at Carriagehill, Paisley from 1857. The Thurscraig works were divested.

William Polson left the partnership to enter into starch manufacture independently from 1857.

In a major promotional coup for the business, the influential Dr Hassall confirmed the purity of Brown & Polson corn flour in 1858.

Brown & Polson employed 32 men and 60 women in 1861.

Brown & Polson employed around 200 people by 1871. The business introduced a profit-sharing scheme for its workforce from 1873.

By 1879 the partners were John Polson Jr, John Brown and John Armour Brown (1839 – 1924).

John Polson Jr was a practical and thrifty man, as well as a generous benefactor.

John Armour Brown was head of the business by 1881. He was a strong, practical man, with a keen intellect.

Brown & Polson employed 277 people in 1881, including 89 men, 14 women, 86 boys and 88 girls.

Brown & Polson converted the by-product of corn flour manufacture into animal feed, which by 1884 had become a significant part of the business in its own right.

Brown & Polson was considered an enlightened employer. The firm was proud to announce in 1893 that a worker had never encountered the loss of a life or a limb in their factories, and the workforce had never gone on strike.

Currie & Co, starch and corn flour manufacturer of Murray Street, Paisley, was acquired from the executrix of James Currie Auchencloss in 1897.

John Polson Jr died with an estate valued at £349,059 in 1900.

Brown & Polson acquired William Polson & Co in 1904.

Brown & Polson is formed as a private company
Brown & Polson Limited was formed as a private company with a capital of £500,000 in 1920.

William Wotherspoon, a Paisley starch manufacturer, was acquired in 1923. William Mackean, another Paisley starch manufacturer, was also acquired.

John Armour Brown died with an estate valued at £231,654 in 1924.

Brown & Polson had branched out into blancmange powder by 1933.

Share capital was increased to £600,000 in 1935.

Brown & Polson is acquired by Corn Products Co
Corn Products Co of the United States, which had a factory at Trafford Park, Manchester, acquired Brown & Polson in 1935.

The head office was relocated to Wellington House, 125-130 the Strand, London, from 1946.

Brown & Polson sold 200,000 tons of starch a year by 1952.

The William Mackean factory in Paisley was closed in 1954.

The Wotherspoon factory at Maxwellton, Paisley was closed in 1957. 40 staff were relocated to the Brown & Polson factory, but 170 jobs were lost.

Corn Products Co merged with Bestfoods of America in 1959.

A massive explosion at the Paisley animal feeding-stuff drying plant killed five men in 1962. 900 workers were employed at the factory, and fatalities would have been much higher if the incident had occurred during the day shift.

Brown & Polson employed over 500 people in 1962. The head office was relocated to Claygate, Surrey from 1963.

A £750,000 extension of the Paisley site was completed in 1964.

Brown & Polson acquired Frank Cooper, an Oxford marmalade manufacturer for £866,250 in cash in 1964. Marmalade production was relocated to the Brown & Polson factory in Paisley from 1967.

Knorr stock cubes and soups were manufactured at Paisley from the mid-1960s.

Brown & Polson held the licence to manufacture Gerber baby food for the British market between 1965 and 1979. The company held 13 percent of the British baby food market in 1969.

A Brown & Polson instant custard powder was introduced from 1978.

Brown & Polson blancmange mix was discontinued in Britain in the 1990s.

The Paisley factory employed 450 people in 1992, mostly in the manufacture of Knorr stock cubes and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

Knorr production was relocated to more modern plants in France and Italy from 1993, with the loss of 345 jobs in Paisley.

Closure of the Paisley factory and sale to Premier Foods
Unilever acquired Corn Products Co (by now known as Bestfoods) in 2000.

The Paisley factory was closed in 2002. 66 jobs were lost as mayonnaise production was relocated to the Netherlands.

Unilever sold Brown & Polson to Premier Foods in 2003.

Brown & Polson corn flour is still available in Britain and India.