Frederick's Dairies History

Around 1870, Frederick Angelo, an Italian immigrant, came to England and launched his ice cream enterprise in the vicinity of Paradise Street and Meadow Lane in Sheffield during the late 1890s. This move followed his relocation from his hometown in Italy. The business initially started by selling ice cream from carts that were pulled by hand, but later shifted to carts drawn by horses. Frederick's son, John Russel, took the initiative to relocate the business to Chesterfield in 1925.

In 1988, the company took on the endeavor of creating Mars bar-flavored ice cream. By 1998, they successfully obtained the franchise rights for Cadbury Ice Cream. Subsequently, in 2003, they also secured the franchise for Del Monte Iced Refreshment.

Fast forward to 2013, R&R Ice Cream, headquartered in Yorkshire, made a significant move by acquiring Frederick Dairies in a transaction valued at £49 million. In line with this deal, Frank and Philip Frederick, the grandsons of the company's founder, will retain their involvement in the Freezeserve cold storage and distribution business located at Simonswood.
Frederick's Dairies History

History of chocolate business: Rowntree of York

In 1827 Joseph Rowntree’s father set up a grocer’s shop in Pavement (now a Pizza Hut restaurant), where Joseph learnt his trade. Joseph's younger brother Henry, knowing that he would never inherit the grocery business, went to work as an apprentice to his cousins the Tuke family, who were dealing in tea, coffee and cocoa. Their business had been founded in 1725 as a grocer's shop on Walmgate by Mary Tuke, a young Quaker woman.

Mary Tuke and her family were Quakers, a religious group who favored the cocoa industry because it offered workers an alternative to strong drink. She met resistance from the Merchant Adventurers’ Company, whose rules determined that a license was required by them in order to trade, and she was deemed ineligible being neither widow nor daughter of a member of the company.

In 1862, Henry Isaac Rowntree acquired the cocoa side of his cousin’s business. At first the business struggled, and near bankruptcy when, in 1869, his elder brother Joseph was sent to assess its finances and rescue his business. Joseph then joined his younger brother, in his newly founded cocoa and chocolate business. His great asset was his sons; John Wilhelm entered the factory in 1885 and Seebohm in 1888. Trade had improved, business had expanded.

Henry died in 1883 and the business passed to his brother who, in time, expanded the business to the chocolate factory on Haxby Road. Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa was announced in 1887. This and the gum pastilles were responsible for the growth, between 1883 and 1894, of the number of employees from 200 to 894. Joseph transformed his brother’s cocoa and chocolate business into a major confectionery manufacturer and a household name.

Rowntree’s owned York’s first motor car, which they used to promote the brand by creating a giant can of Elect Cocoa and putting it on the car. The public would come from miles around to see the spectacle.

Rowntree later merged with Mackintosh, and later was taken over by Nestlé in 1988, but continues to operate as a brand. Many sweets and chocolate bars that are a much-loved part of British life are manufactured in the York factory, like Kit Kat, Aero, Milkybar and Yorkie.
History of chocolate business: Rowntree of York

Bass Brewery

The Bass Brewery, founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-on-Trent, the historical home of pale ale. There the company brews its famous Draught Bass and Worthington White Shielded, a noted bottle conditioned ale.

The brewery saw remarkable growth in it early years with ale sent to Russian in1784 and to North American by 1799.

The company’s flagship Draught Bass is cask –conditioned, a practice followed by many of Britain’s ale brewers and the odd American microbrewery.

International fame came under William’s grandson Michael Thomas Bass II, who was senior partner in Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton for half a century.

In the mid 1870s, the c0mpany was briefly the largest brewer in the world, with an output close to 1.5 million hectoliters (39.6 million US gallons) from three breweries in Burton on Trent, backed by a network of agencies and stores.

By 1888, the Bass brewery complex covered 145 acres of land and employed more than 2500workers, with output approaching the million barrel mark. In the 1960s Bass continued to grow, emerging with the UK’s largest brewery following acquisition of Charrington United Breweries, brewers of Carling.
Bass Brewery

Durex

The most popular of all condoms sold in the UK are Durex brand condoms, produced by LRC Products. In 1915, a man named L.A. Jackson founded the London Rubber Company (LRC) in the U.K. to sell imported (mainly from Germany) condoms and other health care supplies.

In 1929 the company registered DUREX condom trademark, whose name was derived from Durability, Reliability and Excellence

In 1950, LRC was registered as a public company and began the first fully automatic production of condoms in 1951. In the 1957, Durex were the first to provide lubricated condoms and the first non-latex condoms.

In 1960s the world's first anatomically shaped condom is released by Durex. By 1980s, it products became more widely available as the growing threat of AIDS led to more open public debate about sex.

In 2004 the Durex brand celebrated seventy-five years of history with the slogan '75 years of great sex'.
Durex

SSL International

SSL International was founded in two successive rounds in 1998 and 1999 by the mergers of respectively, Seton and Scholl and then Seton Scholl and the London International Group.

In the early years the company had approximately 1000 employees, three manufacturing sites, one distribution center and its operations were mainly based in the north west of the United Kingdom. 

The oldest of SSL’s founding entities was the Scholl Manufacturing Company (1904), founded by William Mathias Scholl, an apprentice for a shoemaker in Indiana at 16 who began selling specialty comfort shoes and inserts in 1899 in Chicago. He enrolled in medical school in order to study food problems and became a podiatrist in 1904.

The London International Group was born as the London Rubber Company in 1915. In 2010, SSL International was acquired by a £2.5 billion deal by Reckitt Benckiser.

The addition of SSL would increase the size of the health and personal care category of Reckitt Benckiser by 36% and add two new brands (Durex and Scholl) to the powerbrand list.
SSL International

Bush Boake Allen - the merger of three companies

In 1965 BBA was formed from WJ Bush & Co Limited, A. Boake Roberts & Co Limited and Stafford Allen & Sons Limited.

W. J Bush & Co., manufacturers of Fine Chemicals and Essential Oils, was founded in 1852 by William John Bush.

A. Boake Roberts & Co was established in 1865. The company discovered and pioneered spray-dried flavors which the aromatics are encapsulated in a protective casing of gum Arabic or one of the modified starch.

Stafford Allen founded the pharmaceutical company Stafford Allen & Sons in 1833. The business was involved in the production of flavors, fragrances, pure drugs and essential oils, and cloves.

The company grew throughout the nineteenth century; in the decades following Allen’s death in 1889, it became a multinational corporation.

Through the mergers and acquisitions, the company became known as Bush Boake Allen in 1966.

In 2001 Bush Boake Allen was acquired by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF).
Bush Boake Allen - the merger of three companies 

History of Lifebuoy soap

In 1894, Lifebuoy Royal Disinfectant Soap was launched in the United Kingdom. The name was later changed to Red Lifebuoy Deodorant Soap with the directions: ‘Add water to produce lather. Use as regular soap’. Lifebuoy is synonymous with health and remained low priced. It soon broadened to the United States.

The British parent of Lever Brothers had introduced Lifebuoy as laundry soap, but as its chief executive and founder, William H. Lever, would write in 1921, ‘The public in America have decided that Lifebuoy is toilet soap’.

Although some complained that lifebuoy has a medicinal smell, it appeal to health was effective. In fact, in some cases, the company even emphasized the odor as a sign that soap was actively combating infection and disease.

Lever Brothers also issued an advertisement in 1919 featuring Lifebuoy as a ‘health soap’ and the fact that army required soldiers to carry soap as part of their equipment with ‘every man in the United States Army … compelled to use it’.

In England, during the Second World War, Lifebuoy vans carrying free soap and showers were sent to help bombed communities.

Lifebuoy soap ads made during the 1940s informed consumers that people had more than 2 million sweat glands on their bodies and that tension or excitement could cause ‘nervous body odor’. A tangy ‘Lifebuoy daily bath’ would prevent this problem, the ad claimed.

During 2002 to 2004 Lifebuoy experimented with a number of new formulations and repositioning exercise to make it more relevant to be new generations of consumers.
History of Lifebuoy soap

Morris Motor Company

The two seater Morris Oxford was announced at the 1912 Motor Show and the car first appeared in March 1913.

William Morris starting with the repair of bicycles, he branched out into selling them. Then he progressed to motorcycles, before to the sale and hire of motorcars.

The Morris Motor Company was started in 1910 when he turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car.

A factory was opened in 1913 in a former military college at Crowley, Oxford, United Kingdom and the company’s first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford ‘Bullnose’ was introduced.

Morris bought almost all the parts from various producers, with only final assembly being undertaken in the Morris works.

The only part that was his design was the ‘face’ of the car, the so-called bull-nosed radiator. In a year, he sold more than 1000 cars. In 1921, Morris Company countered a serious slump in the motor trade by reducing the prices of the car, but always competitive, the company doubles the production each year.

Production boomed in the 1920s and Morris became a millionaire.

After 1923 and until 1950s, Morris started purchasing the suppliers, the Birmingham engineering work of Wrigley, one of his main competitors, the Wolseley Motor, the S.U Carburetter Co and the Coventry firm.

By 1925, Morris produced 67,000 cars, more than one-third of the country’s car output.

Morris named ceased to appear on motorcars after 1983 when Morris Motors was part of British Leyland, but the MG (Morris Garages) badge has survived under British Leyland’s successor , Rover Cars.
Morris Motor Company

Marmite Food Extract Company

The pioneering German agricultural chemist Justus von Liebig started a company in 1865 to sell the beef extract he had perfected as an inexpensive replacement for meat. He later discovered that brewer’s yeast could be concentrated as a food product.

Some thirty years later, a British firm name the Marmite Food Extract Company ran with Liebig’s yeast extract research had foisted the black spread upon an unsuspecting nation in 1902.

On 15 November 1902, the company applied to register its first trademark for ‘a concentrated preparation, being an article of food’.

The company set-up it’s the first factory in Burton upon Trent, one of the major centers of brewing in Britain.  The yeast need for the paste came from the local Bass Brewery in the town, the largest in the country, and the spread became so successful that the company constructed a second factory in London.

Though the extract recipe is a trade secret, it is still primarily yeast extract with a little added vegetable extract and spice.  When vitamins were discovered just before the First World War, Marmite became what be called today a ’superfood’ and sales soared.

In 1930s, the Marmite Food Extract Company was acquired by Bovril, which was bought in 1971 by Cavenham. The brand eventually ended up with Unilever, which now holds many Marmite trademarks.
Marmite Food Extract Company

History of Selfridges department store London

In 1906 a man called Harry Gordon Selfridge came to London from the United States with an idea for an exciting new department store.

The store opened on 15th March 1909 and the West End had never seen anything like it.  Selfridges was opened using capital from another London store owner, Sam Waring of Waring and Gillow located further east in Oxford Street, on condition that Selfridges did not sell furniture.’

When opening the department store, his vision was to showcase things whose novelty and uniqueness could delight and excite his customers.

Three years after opening, a roof garden was added, followed in 1913 by a ‘seaside’ children’s play area. After a slow start, the store proved highly successful, generating in 1914 profits of £131,546.

The first public demonstration of television was made here by John Logie Baird in 1925.
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Selfridges was acquired by the Sears Group in 1965 and in 1998, it de-merged and listed itself on the London Stock Exchange.

In 2004, it was reregistered as a private company known as Selfridges & Co.
History of Selfridges department store London

History of J. S. Fry & Sons

The forerunner of Fry’s business was started by Walter Churchman, an apothecary from Bristol, who was granted a patent in 1730 for an ‘Engine for making chocolate’ by George II. It is a steam engine to grind the cocoa beans.

The business passed to Walter’ son Charles and after his death in 1761, it was taken over by Dr Joseph Fry, an apothecary, a Quaker who purchased patent for steam grinder along with the  recipes. He also involved in making soap and candles.

On his death in 1787, the chocolate business passed to his wife, Anna and son Joseph Storrs Fry. The company was then named Anna Fry and Son.

In 1790 the company was selling ‘Churchman’s Patent Chocolate’ and patented cocoa in Bristol. Other items included cocoa nuts and shell, ground cocoa-sago, China cinnamon sticks and refined liquorices.

After Anna’s death in 1803, her son went into partnership with Dr Hunt and the business became Fry & Hunt, but after Hunt’s retirement Joseph Storrs’ three sons Joseph, Francis and Richard became partners and it became J.S Fry & Sons, a business that would become the largest commercial chocolate manufacturer in Britain.

The company experimented with the ‘Dutched’ chocolate adding sugar and some of the cocoa butter and molding the mixture.

In 1847 the firm discovered a way to mix cocoa butter back into pressed cocoa creating a paste could be molded into a chocolate bar. The ‘first chocolate’ bar was born.

In 1919, J. S. Fry & Sons merged with Cadbury Brothers and the joint company named British Cocoa and Chocolate Company was registered on May 19, 1919.

Together with Cadbury, J.S Fry & Sons built plants in Australia in1920, New Zealand in 1930, Ireland in 1933, and South Africa in 1937.
History of J. S. Fry & Sons

Borwick’s Baking Powder

George Borwick was Lancashire schoolmaster who married Jane Hudson in 1831. It was said that George’s father-in-law offered them a formula for baking powder. The couple experimented with in an attic for eleven years before selling the product as a penny an ounce.

Making chemically leavened doubts became even easier when commercial Borwick’s Baking Powder was introduced in 1842.

George Borwick was in habit of selling certain powders, some called Borwick’s Baking Powders and other Borwick’s Egg Powders.

These powders were invariably sold in packets and were wrapped up in printed paper.

In about 1853 George was joined in the business by his son and in 1864 the firm had set up a factory in London to meet the increasing demand.

George Borwick & Son applied for trademarks for baking powder in July 1878. By 2008 Borwick’s Baking powder is sold by Irish food company, Kerry Group.
Borwick’s Baking Powder

Van Houten chocolate

In 1815, Coenraad Johannes van Houten (1801-1887), a Dutch chemist, began work on his Amsterdam factory on a process that would revolutionize the manufacture of drinking chocolate while paving for eating chocolate.

In 1828 he patented a press that removed most of the bitter fat, which accounts for more than half the weight, from the ground, roasted beans. He pioneered a pressing process for milling cocoa he removed the center of the bean –called nib – in order to make the resulting paste more digestible.

Van Houten also went on to treat the coca with alkaline salts to improve it blending with hot water. This process is known as ‘Dutching’. The process made its cocoa essence more soluble and more ‘chocolatey’ in taste.

For the first time, cheap chocolate powder could be produces for the masses. Ten years after he had patented the process van Houten sold the rights to his cocoa press. One of his first customers was J.S Fry & Sons of Bristol, England.

Van Houten established a new steam-powered factory in 1850, close to Amsterdam.

Van Houten sold his cocoa to candy makers, housewife and bakers. In 1877, C.J van Houten and Zoon, of Weesp, Holland applied for a British trademark, which was registered for Van Houten’s Pure Soluble Cocoa until 1989.

The English firm of Cadbury reproduced the technology of van Houten and quickly became the leading British confectioner, due to its marketing strategy of connecting boxes of chocolate candies to romance: boxes of chocolates were demanded by men to be given to their special lady friends.
Van Houten chocolate

History of Aston Martin

In 1912, when Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford set up their modest mechanical business Bamford and Martin Ltd in Henniker place, Chelsea, it was possible for tiny concerns such as theirs to operate burgeoning motor car manufacturing business. Martin and Bamford met each other while selling cars.

They decided that they wanted to quit selling cars and started making their own.  They added ‘Aston’ to the name for a hill where Lionel Martin raced car.

In 1922, Aston Martin built two cars to compete in the French Grand Prix. The Aston Martin racing team also broke ten world records in 1922. In 1932 an Aston Martin International racing model own the Biennal Cup at Le Mans.

In 1925, Aston Martin displayed its wares at the Olympia Motor Show for the first time. Bamford left soon after war’s end. Martin left in 1925, after production had begun in 1923 and around 50 road cars had been produced, along with some competition specials.

Between 1925 and the outbreak of World War II Aston Martin was kept alive by a string of individuals. Due to financial problems, in 1932, Sutherland bought the company. In 1947, David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin.

It was under David Brown Limited’s leadership that Aston Martin created the world-famous DB series.
History of Aston Martin

Morgan Motor Company

By focusing on the values of traditional British, top down, sports car motoring, the Morgan Motor Company has successfully found a way to differentiate itself from all competitors.

At the age of twenty-eight, Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan designed and built his first single-seater three-wheeled experimental car.

By November 1910 the Morgan Motor Company had been formed and the partners made a their first public appearance by exhibiting two different models, both single seaters at the Motor Cycle Show at Olympia, attracting much attention but few orders.

Both men were disappointed and Morgan’s partner decided that was too risky and withdrew. Morgan continued alone, building a few cars to fulfill orders that were received.

After changing to the manufacture of two seat cars with three wheels, sales took off a bit. It quickly became known for its speed, road holding and performance.

With a low retail price of 85 guineas and 69.4 mpg fuel economy, Morgan were well-suited for low-cost transportation and sold fairly well.

The name ‘Morgan’ first became known in racing circles in 1913 when Henry Martin won an International Cyclecar Race.

Later he continues to use the same factory in England’s West Midlands to produce automobiles seemingly unchanged from those produce before World War II.

From the start it was very much a family business, with Morgan’s sister Dorothy a regular entrant in reliability trials and gaining many first class awards in a Morgan three-wheeler.

In 1912, the company became the Morgan Motor Company Ltd and made a small but significant profit of £1314.
Morgan Motor Company