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Overview
Many brands, including Boots, Hoover, and Kelloggs, were named after their founders whilst others have less obvious origins; for instance, did you know that Velcro comes from velours and crochet, the French words for “velvet” and “hook?”
This entertaining book by Kathy Martin explores the stories behind the brands, their names, and their founders. Bursting with fascinating facts and period advertising, this must-read book will appeal to everyone interested in advertising, social history, food, and famous names.
“A well-written, slightly idiosyncratic and thoroughly delightful book. That the author knows and loves her subject is very evident . . . It is likely to have wide appeal, and be of use to both Historians and Joe and Jane Public.” —NZ Crown Mines
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781526701855 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Pen & Sword Books Limited |
| Publication date: | 02/20/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 184 |
| File size: | 44 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Pantry
Prior to the invention of the refrigerator, perishable food items such as butter, cheese, milk, eggs and meat were stored inside small rooms or large cupboards known as pantries and larders. Located either inside the kitchen or adjacent to it, these rooms were usually north-facing to keep them out of the sun. Some had mesh-covered windows which allowed fresh air to circulate whilst keeping flies away. To help them stay cool, the perishable foodstuffs were placed on stone slabs although if space allowed joints of meat would be hung from ceiling hooks.
Originally, when most people still created their meals from scratch using a few basic ingredients, the walls of the pantry or larder would be lined with shelves containing longer-lasting foodstuffs such as flour, sugar, salt and spices. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the first convenience foods became available but thereafter the pantry shelves of a prosperous household groaned with a cornucopia of tempting products, all designed to make life easier for the busy cook.
Canned food had been available in Britain since 1813 but for much of the century it was mainly regarded as a useful tool for the armed forces and intrepid types such as polar explorers. It wasn't until the early years of the twentieth century that it really caught on with the public, perhaps because until then nobody had thought to invent a decent can opener. After that, however, canned food had arrived in a big way and its place on pantry shelves across the nation was assured.
Ambrosia – dairy delights since 1917
While there may be other brands of tinned rice pudding on our supermarket shelves, to most people the product is synonymous with Ambrosia. The company was founded in 1917 in Lifton, a village located just inside Devon's border with Cornwall, by a local man called Albert Morris. Initially the Ambrosia creamery turned fresh locally-sourced milk into dried milk suitable for infants and invalids. Dried milk was also supplied to the troops fighting at the Front during the First World War. The milk was delivered daily to the creamery in vast churns and then dried with roller dryers.
Sometime during the 1930s – accounts vary as to precisely when – the creamery started to produce its tinned rice pudding which became an instant hit with the public. Still based in Lifton today, where it provides employment for around 270 people, Ambrosia continues to use milk sourced only from the south-west. In 1990 the company was sold to Colman's who in turn were acquired by Unilever in 2001. Since 2004, however, Ambrosia has been part of the Premier Foods family.
Baxters – more than a soupçon of quality since 1929
From relatively modest beginnings, Baxters have gone on to win worldwide fame and royal recognition, thanks in no small part to the skill and entrepreneurial flair of successive generations of their womenfolk. The story began in 1868 when 25-year-old George Baxter left a gardening job on the Gordon Castle Estate to open his own grocery shop in the village of Fochabers, located on the east bank of the River Spey, funded by a loan from his family. As a sideline, Baxter's wife Margaret made jams and jellies which were sold in the shop and found favour with his former employer, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
In 1916 the couple's son, William, built a factory on some land bought from the Duke. Continuing in the tradition of her mother-in-law, William Baxter's wife, Ethel, created an exceptional range of jams which William marketed throughout Scotland. Then, in 1923, Ethel hired a canning machine and began canning locally-grown fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and plums, in syrup.
In 1929 Ethel took the pivotal step of introducing soups to the Baxters range, utilising the wide range of excellent produce virtually on their doorstep. Products like Baxters Royal Game Soup soon acquired a following with the clientele of leading shops including Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. More flavours were introduced in 1952 when Ena Baxter joined the company; together with her husband Gordon she created a range of traditional Scottish soups that included Scotch Broth and Cock-a-leekie.
In the 1950s Baxter's were riding high; their soups were exported all over the world and the firm was awarded Royal Warrants by the Queen, the Queen Mother and King Gustav of Sweden. In 1992 another Baxter woman, Gordon Baxter's daughter Audrey, made her mark on the family business when she took over as Managing Director. She now insists on tasting every new recipe before the product can be approved.
As of 2015 Baxters remains a family business and although soup is now the firm's flagship product, accounting for about 70 per cent of its sales, it still produces a range of jams and condiments.
Bird's Custard Powder – under-egging the pud since the 1840s
We Brits have been pouring a sweet sauce made from Bird's Custard Powder on our puddings for over 160 years. Yet to purists, this undeniably toothsome product isn't custard at all because it doesn't contain egg and as the food experts know, you can't have true custard without egg.
Actually, that's the whole raison d'être behind Bird's Custard Powder. It was invented sometime in the 1840s by Birmingham chemist Alfred Bird who wanted his egg-allergic wife to be able to enjoy eating custard. Mrs Bird was very partial to the stuff but her digestion suffered when she gave in to her cravings. Her dilemma inspired Alfred to tinker about in his lab until he had come up with an egg-free alternative to custard. Not only did his cornflour-based creation please Mrs Bird, it also found favour with the British public when it went into mass production.
When Alfred died in 1879 his son, another Alfred, took control of the company, introducing new ranges such as blancmange and jelly. In 1922 Bird's rebranded with the red, yellow and blue packaging that is still used today. The three-bird logo appeared at the same time. Today Bird's is part of the Premier Foods group.
Bisto – aboard the gravy train since 1908
'Ah! Bisto'. Roast dinner enthusiasts have been trotting out the famous gravy powder's catchphrase for more than ninety years while the product itself dates back to 1908. That was when Messrs Roberts and Patterson, employees of the Cerebos salt company, formulated a recipe for an easy-to-use gravy powder. According to legend, it was at their wives' request that they came up with the recipe; apparently the ladies were unable to make satisfactory gravy so they turned to their husbands for help.
Whether or not the story is apocryphal, an unfair slur on the culinary prowess of Mrs Roberts and Mrs Patterson, what is undeniable is that the resulting product made it much easier to create lump-free, flavoursome gravy. For that reason it rapidly found favour with the British public and in 1919 the brand's popularity received a further boost when the Bisto Kids first featured on Bisto's advertising and packaging.
Illustrator Will Owen created the pair of scruffy street urchins who sniffed the air appreciatively as they caught the appealing aroma of Bisto gravy, prompting them to utter the memorable 'Ah! Bisto' catchphrase. The hungry duo's rather wistful enthusiasm for Bisto resonated with the public to such an extent that they achieved cult-like status, especially during the Twenties and Thirties. The Bisto Kids remained a fixture on Bisto ads until 1996 when they were quietly dropped as part of the brand's efforts to appear more contemporary. However, the 'Ah! Bisto' slogan survives to this day.
The arrival of Bisto Granules in 1979 took gravy-making to a new level of simplicity; now, if you can boil a kettle you can make palatable gravy to accompany your sausage and mash. Today the brand is owned by Premier Foods.
Bovril – beefing up Britain since 1886
The meat extract known as Bovril was created by a teetotal butcher from Edinburgh called John Lawson Johnston; he was born John Johnston but added the Lawson on his marriage to Elizabeth Lawson in 1871. Having studied chemistry for a while at Edinburgh University, Johnston conducted experiments in food preservation in his spare time and this pastime ultimately led to the development of a product which he named Johnston's Fluid Beef.
His big break came in 1874 when he was commissioned by the French government to look into the potential benefits of concentrated beef products. At the time the French were still smarting from the catastrophic pummelling their troops had taken in the Franco-Prussian War and they thought that improved nutrition might lead to a stronger army. Taking his family to Canada, Johnston opened a factory and began producing his Fluid Beef. The timing was serendipitous because a new Canadian law restricting the sale of alcohol had left the populace searching for a hearty, non-alcoholic substitute. Johnston returned to Britain in 1884, opening a factory in London for the manufacture of his unique product which was renamed Bovril in 1886. The name came from 'Bos', the Latin word for ox, and 'Vril', a word meaning energy force which was taken from The Coming Race, an 1870 novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
In 1893 Bovril began a sustained advertising campaign aimed at promoting the product's health benefits (Will Owen, the illustrator who created the Bisto Kids, produced many ads for the Bovril campaign). Its beneficial effect on Britain's armed forces was emphasised in advertising slogans used during both the Boer War and First World War, and it received glowing testimonials from such patriotic luminaries as Robert Baden-Powell and Rudyard Kipling.
Johnston sold Bovril to Ernest Hooley in 1896 for £2 million. The company was sold again in 1971, this time to Cavenham Foods, and it is now owned by Unilever. In 2004, in a bid to make it suitable for vegetarians, Bovril's beef content was dropped and replaced with savoury yeast. However, the change was shortlived and Bovril is beefy once more.
Branston Pickle – bringing it out since 1922
Something of a British institution, Branston Pickle has been enlivening our cold cuts and sandwiches since 1922. Produced by Crosse and Blackwell, a food company established in the early nineteenth century, the pickle is made to a recipe said to have been developed by a Mrs Graham and her daughters, Evelyn and Ermentrude. Their combination of diced vegetables including cauliflower, carrot, swede, onion and gherkin mixed with a sweet vinegary sauce enhanced with spices excited British palates accustomed to blander fare. The original recipe remains unchanged today and is still a winner, with more than 17 million jars purchased every year. High-profile fans include Rolling Stone Keith Richards who allegedly takes it on tour with him, and fictional singleton Bridget Jones who eats hers straight from the jar.
Branston Pickle first went into production at Crosse and Blackwell's Branston factory – hence its name – near Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. The site had been built during the First World War as a Government armaments factory but it was not completed until after hostilities had ceased. In 1921 Crosse and Blackwell purchased the site and relocated their pickle and preserves operation from London, employing 600 people, approximately two-thirds of whom were women. However, the move proved too costly for Crosse and Blackwell and by 1925 Branston Pickle was being produced in London's Bermondsey area. Thus the famous pickle's association with the village for which it was named proved somewhat short-lived. After Bermondsey, Branston Pickle moved to a number of different locations including Tay Wharf in London, Peterhead near Aberdeen and Glossop in Derbyshire before arriving at its present location, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
The slogan 'Bring out the Branston' was launched as part of a nationwide advertising campaign in 1972. Intended to encourage consumers to use the jars of pickle lurking in their food cupboards, the catchy phrase caught the public imagination to such an extent that it is still closely associated with the product today even though it has not been used since 1985. In 1960 Crosse and Blackwell was bought by Nestlé who in turn sold the Crosse and Blackwell brands to Premier Foods in 2002. In October 2012 Premier Foods sold Branston Pickle to Japanese food empire Mizkan but production continues at Bury St Edmunds.
Carnation Milk – milk to pour over since 1899
Many of us grew up pouring Carnation Evaporated Milk over our tinned fruit and today plenty of budding confectioners find Carnation Condensed Milk an indispensable aid to fudge-making. What few of Carnation's enthusiastic consumers know, however, is that the brand owes much of its long-lasting success to the innovations of a Swiss dairyman affectionately known as Cheese John.
Cheese John, real name John Meyenberg, worked for the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company (later renamed the Carnation Milk Company) which was established by Elbridge Amos Stuart at an existing factory located in King County, Washington, USA in 1899. The previous owners had been producing condensed milk – that is, milk which has been preserved by the addition of sugar – but when they went out of business Stuart took over the site. That was when Cheese John came up with the idea of sterilising the milk by subjecting it to high temperatures, thereby creating the first commercially-produced evaporated milk. Evaporated milk proved a real boon to householders at a time when fresh milk wasn't always available or was unfit for human consumption.
Cheese John's usefulness didn't end there, as he also advised local dairymen about the best ways to produce the high yields of top-quality fresh milk that would be treated and turned into the evaporated product. Then, in 1910, the company established a farm which it stocked with prize Holsteins which went on to feature in Carnation's famous advertisements as 'contented cows'. In 1985 the Carnation brand was purchased by Nestlé.
Colman's Mustard – hot stuff since 1814
Mustard has been appreciated in Britain since Roman times. By the seventeenth century the condiment's punchy, powerful nature had led to the expression 'as keen as mustard' being used to describe characters who exhibited similar tendencies. History doesn't record if condiment king Jeremiah Colman was himself hot stuff but he certainly had a sound business brain, as evidenced by the fact that the mustard manufacturing enterprise he established in 1814 is still going strong 200 years later.
Colman was actually a flour miller when he acquired the existing mustard manufactory at Stoke Holy Cross, four miles south of Norwich. The business flourished and in 1823 Jeremiah took his oldest son, James, into partnership with him, forming the company J & J Colman. By 1851, the year Jeremiah died, Colman's had a workforce of around 200 people. In 1856 the business began relocating to its present site at Carrow Works in Norwich. The lengthy process was completed in 1862 and in 1866 the cheery yellow and red livery of Colman's Mustard first appeared on the product's label. That same year the company was awarded a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria who clearly believed the condiment more than cut the mustard. Colman's retain the coveted Royal Warrant to this day.
In 1903 Colman's acquired a competitor, Keen & Sons of London, but contrary to popular belief this is not how the saying 'keen as mustard' originated; Keen's Mustard did not appear on the market until 1742 whereas the first recorded use of the saying was in 1672.
Another landmark in the company's history came in 1938 when Colman's merged with Reckitts of Hull, makers of many well-known household and pharmaceutical products. The new company was called Reckitts and Colman. In 1995, however, the Colman's part of the business was bought by food leviathan Unilever which continues to own it today.
Del Monte Canned Fruit – saying yes since the 1890s
The man from Del Monte says yes. That was the strapline for a long-running (and much-parodied) series of television ads revolving around an elegant man wearing a tropical suit and panama hat. The man from Del Monte was shown arriving at a fruit plantation where he would closely examine the crop while the workforce looked on apprehensively. When he signified his approval by saying 'yes' all would break into delighted smiles because it meant their fruit had been found good enough to satisfy Del Monte's stringent quality requirements.
Funnily enough, although the name Del Monte has long been synonymous with canned fruit and vegetables, the brand actually owes its origins to a coffee blend. Back in 1886 the Oakland Preserving Company in California developed a high-quality coffee blend for the Hotel Del Monte on the Monterey peninsula. A few years later when the California Fruit Canners Association (CFCA) was formed with the Oakland Preserving Company as one of the founding members, the Del Monte name was adopted as a label for the CFCA's premium products.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Famous Brand Names and Their Origins"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Kathy Martin.
Excerpted by permission of Pen and Sword Books Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
Part I: Food & Drink,
Chapter 1 The Pantry,
Chapter 2 Thirst Quenchers: Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic,
Chapter 3 The Tuck Box,
Chapter 4 The Fridge and Freezer,
Chapter 5 Unbranded Generics,
Part II: House & Home,
Chapter 6 Appliances, Gadgets and Everyday Consumables,
Chapter 7 Health, Hygiene and Household Cleaning,
Chapter 8 The High Street and Beyond,
Chapter 9 The Toy Cupboard,
Chapter 10 Travel and Recreation,
Sources,
Acknowledgements,