of 152-156 Old Street, London.
1870 In the war against the Prussians, Napoleon III found that his armies could not 'march on empty stomachs'. He therefore ordered one million cans of beef to feed his starving troops. The task of providing all this beef went to a Briton named John Lawson Johnston, living in Canada. Britain did not have a large enough quantity of beef to meet the French people's and Napoleon III's demands, so Johnston created a product known as 'Johnston's Fluid Beef' - later called Bovril.
1884 Johnston moved to London, and set up a factory to produce the drink.
1886 Bovril was launched on the UK market
By 1888, in excess of 3,000 British pubs, grocers and chemists were beginning to sell Bovril.
1889 The Bovril Company was formed, with a capital of £150,000. John Lawson Johnston was the first Chairman.
1896 The company was registered on 19 November as Bovril (British, Foreign and Colonial), to acquire the undertaking of Bovril Ltd at the instigation of E. T. Hooley. [1]
Experimented making Virol which soon joined the product range
1897 The company was sold on, at higher price than had been paid the previous year; the old name was assumed[2].
1900 Johnston died and his son George took over the running of the company. Lord Playfair became chairman.
1908 Half a million acres of land was purchased in Argentina so the company could rear its own cattle.
1930s Acquired Marmite Food Extract Co
1966 Saw the beginnings of Bovril's instant beef stock.
1971 The beef stock was followed by the King Beef range of instant flavours for stews, casseroles and gravy.
1971 Cavenham Foods acquired Bovril, including Virol, Marmite and Ambrosia[3]
1980 Generale Occidentale sold Bovril, with other consumer products, to Beecham Group[4]
1990 SmithKline Beecham sold Bovril, Marmite and Ambrosia[5] to CPC (United Kingdom) Limited, which changed its name to Best Foods Inc in 1998.
2000 Best Foods Inc merged with Unilever.
2004 Unilever decided to remove beef from the products and the word "beef" from the brand name.
2006 Reintroduced beef extract to the product, once the ban on exporting British beef ended[6]
See Also
- 1914 Whitakers Red Book: F
- 1914 Who's Who in Business: Company B
- 1971 Dictionary of Shipowners, Shipbuilders and Marine Engineers
- 1977 Health and Safety Exemptions
- Ambrosia
- Beecham Group
- Bospur
- CPC (United Kingdom)
- Cavenham Foods
- Ernest Terah Hooley
- Generale Occidentale
- George Harvey Burbush
- George Lawson Johnston
- John Lawson Johnston
- Lyon Playfair
- Marmite Food Extract Co
- SmithKline Beecham
- T. W. Beach and Sons
- Tavener, Rutledge and Co
- Virol
- Wallis Tin Stamping Co
Sources of Information
- [2] Wikipedia
- Trademarked. A History of Well-Known Brands - from Aertex to Wright's Coal Tar by David Newton. Pub: Sutton Publishing 2008 ISBN 978-0-7509-4590-5