Aspro Limited

The outbreak of the First World War caused the supply of aspirin from Germany to Australia to be cut off. In 1915 the Australian government announced an initiative to develop an alternative to aspirin, stating that German patents and trademarks would be suspended and then granted to any home-based manufacturer who would meet the required standards of purity.

response to the government scheme, a Melbourne pharmacist called George Nicholas, and an industrialist called Henry Woolf, developed a new product which was initially branded as Nicholas-Aspirin. George soon realised that the name Aspirin could be reclaimed by German company Bayer after the war. In 1917 he adopted and registered the name Aspro for his product. Production of Aspro tablets began in Australia in 1917 and in 1923 manufacturing was also commenced in New Zealand.

In 1927, Aspro Limited was established in the UK to produce and market Aspro tablets in the UK and around Europe. A factory was set up in Slough, Berkshire and the first UK Aspro tablets came off the production line in August 1927. By November UK sales were ahead of Australia. The 1927 winter flu epidemic in the UK increased demand by an extra 12 million tablets a week.

A new factory was built in Slough in 1958 and Aspro Ltd. diversified into the production of vitamin supplements, veterinary products and pharmaceuticals. In 1969 the company was acquired by Nicholas Australia Ltd which became Nicholas International in 1970. In 1981 the business was merged with Kiwi International Ltd.

by Mark Matlach

Robert Varvill

The Varvill family were a major player in the plane and tool making industry of 19th century England. The company was established in 1793 in York by Michael Varvill as a woodworking tools business. By 1829 the firm was known as M. Varvill & Sons. In 1840 Michael's son, Summers Varvill, took control of the family business and moved it to the Ebor Works, North Street, York. Summers died in 1862 and his brother Robert Varvill took over the running of the firm. At this time the company was described as a manufacturer of planes, files, joiner's tools, gimblets and a wholesale dealer in ironmongery. The tools made by the Varvills are still for sale today, albeit in antique rather than joinery shops.

Varvill 1/4" grooving moulding plane

by Mark Matlach

R. E. Davies Landport Drapery Bazaar

Robert Edmund Davies was a well-known and distinguished businessman in Portsmouth who was three times mayor of the city in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1870 Davies established a department store at Commercial Road, Portsmouth which he named the Landport Drapery Bazaar. The business grew to become one of the largest department stores in the city.

In 1908 the Landport Drapery Bazaar was destroyed by fire and subsequently rebuilt. In 1941 the department store took a direct hit from a German bomb leaving a gigantic crater on the site of the store. The Landport Drapery Bazaar was back in business in the 1950s as part of a newly built shopping centre. In 1965 the store was acquired by the United Drapery Group. In 1982 the company name was changed to Allders, and in 2005 the store was taken over by Debenhams.

Landport Drapery Bazaar

by Mark Matlach

Rose Kia-Ora

In 1867 a Scotsman by the name of Lauchlan Rose patented the method used to preserve citrus juice without alcohol. A year later he established L. Rose & Co. with a factory in Leith to produce lime juice. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1867 required all ships of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy to provide a daily lime ration to sailors to prevent scurvy. Rose's lime juice became almost ubiquitous, hence the term limey for British sailors. Rose established a presence on the Caribbean island of Dominica and became the main buyer of limes and lime products from across the island. The company contributed to the most prosperous period that the island experienced at the height of the green lime trade from 1903 to the mid-1920s and was one of the most successful agricultural companies ever to be based in Dominica.

In 1917 Rose launched a concentrated fruit soft drink called Kia-Ora. The name was taken from Kia ora a Maori language greeting which means literally “be well/healthy” and was first used for a lemon squash by Arthur Gasquoine in Australia. L. Rose & Co. began the production of  marmalade in the 1930s. The company continued to grow until it was taken over by Schweppes in 1957. The Kia-Ora brand became popular in the 1970s and 80s in the UK. It was widely available in cinemas where it was sold in rectangular plastic cartons that were supplied with a drinking straw.

Today, Rose's lime juice cordial and Kia-Ora are manufactured and distributed by Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd.

by Mark Matlach

W. & G. Brown

W. & G. Brown was a flour miller and manufacturer and supplier of cereals, established in 1812 in Derby where the company had a flour mill by the River Trent. The company advertised Brown's barley kernels which were used to make porridge or puddings for babies.

Brown's advertising from the 1920s and 30s claimed that their barley kernels were "invaluable for combating fever and kidney trouble", and "promoted health and natural beauty". Brown's flour mill was still operating in 1935, but little is known of the company after this date.

Advertisement

by Mark Matlach

Pellatt & Co.

Pellatt & Co. was a glass manufacturing company established in London in 1802 by Apsley Pellatt and James Green under the name Pellatt & Green. The company had a glassworks known as the Falcon Glass House in Blackfriars, and a large showroom at St. Paul's Churchyard which became the principal glass shop in London during the Regency period. Pellatt & Green gained recognition for their glass illuminators (“deck lights”) for admitting daylight into internal parts of ships and buildings. Pellatt & Green was also the first in England to manufacture glass paperweights.

Apsley Pellatt died in 1826 and his son Apsley Junior took control of the company which he renamed Apsley Pellatt & Co. in 1831. The firm patented the process for encasing a medallion in glass, later called cameo incrustation or sulphides, however the company's main production was high quality cut crystal glass.

When Apsley Junior retired in 1855, his younger brother Frederick took over the business which was subsequently renamed Pellatt & Co.

In 1890 the firm returned to its former name of  Apsley Pellatt & Co. and in 1921 it was incorporated as a limited liability company which continued to trade into the 1930s.

Cut glass and sulphides had gone out of fashion in the 1850s and Pellatt & Co. turned to the production of engraved glass. The company began exporting glass products to wealthy Maharajas in India and this became a crucial part of its business.

The Pellatt & Co. showroom at St. Paul's Churchyard. For sale were chandeliers, decanters, paperweights, scent bottles and other glass products.

by Mark Matlach

J. W. & Co. and J W E R

J. W. & Co. Ltd. (John Wright & Co. Ltd.) and J W E R (John Wright & Eagle Range Ltd.)

John Wright & Co. was a manufacturer of gas appliances. The company was established in 1862 at the Essex Works in Aston, Birmingham and made gas stoves, cookers, gas fires and radiators. 

In 1900 John Wright absorbed the Eagle Range & Gas Stove Co. and the company became John Wright & Eagle Range Ltd. 

In 1937 the company exhibited at the British Industries Fair where the the firm displayed "Regulo" gas cookers, gas-operated hot water apparatus and large cooking apparatus for hotels and boarding houses. 

In 1961 the company was described as a manufacturer of kitchen ranges, gas fires, cookers and space heaters and had 1,200 employees.

Advertisement, 1903
 

by Mark Matlach