Probus Club Coleshill - another fantastic report by Jerry Dutton

JUST THREE FROM A THOUSAND:
Sauce, Tea and Custard – Comestibles of Birmingham Origin

Members of the Probus club of Coleshill gathered together for the first of their May meetings on Tuesday 6th May where we learned of three of Birmingham’s one thousand trades. The speaker was Mr Ken Hughes, an accredited ‘Blue Badge Guide’ who has made extensive studies into Birmingham’s past and its wide variety of trades. The three chosen for the his talk were all household names and began as family concerns although that is no longer the situation with modern business!

SAUCE:
There is only one sauce truly associated with Birmingham and Aston Cross in particular – HP (best of the Brown Sauces?). The beginnings of the Sauce/Relish manufacture originated back in 1835 when Lord Sandys (pronounced Sands – a silent ‘y’!) a retired Governor of Bengal whose family home was, and sill is, at Ombersley, near Droitwich went to his local chemists in Worcester and asked them to make up his favourite sauce from a recipe he had brought back from India. This they did and kept back a sample for reference, to them it tasted horrible and the sample was put on one side. Several months later Lord Sandys asked for a repeat order, they did this and also tasted the original sample which after several months’ storage had matured and developed its well-known flavour and became marketed as Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce! – Round Bottles (still to this day) because as chemists and makers of medicines L & P only ever bough round bottles!

After a short diversion into the origins of Aston Villa Football Club in the 1880’s Mr Hughes told us about Edwin Sampson Moore who set himself up as a vinegar manufacturer after working as purchaser for another company – Fish and Chips was then becoming a very popular meal. He also had aspirations of producing a sauce for the working classes. Whilst he was touring the Midlands collecting money owed him for Vinegar sales he had to call on a Mr Garton in Nottingham, and as the shop was busy with customers he asked to speak privately with the owner who took him into the back yard. Here was a large pot/cauldron bubbling away over a fire that gave off an appetising aroma and a glass jar labelled Mr Garton’s HP Sauce! The answer to his prayers; eventually he wrote off the debt for the Vinegar in exchange for the recipe for the sauce and the rest as they say is history! Although it has to be said, a descendant of Mr Moore claimed this story was an invention – although this version was used in small book on the origins of the Sauce Company. Mr Moore claimed that the deal was only for the use of the name and the recipe was one of Mr Moore senior own invention. HP is generally accepted as the ‘Houses of Parliament’ because the caterers here were one of the biggest customers; although the Wikipedia web site claims it was taken from Harry Palmer’s Sauce from whom Mr Garton bought the recipe in the 19th Century.

Most regrettably the HP Sauce factory in Aston is no more! Most regrettably it was closed down by Heinz who had bought the site and the business off the previous owners the French firm Danone, the workers made redundant and the buildings demolished. (Isn’t it time a British Government did something to stop foreign firms buying up and asset stripping old established British businesses?) Fortunately – if that is the right word, the large well known ‘H.P.’ sign that was a land mark for decades was saved and is now stored in the Museum and Art Gallery’s Stores in Nechells until such time as they decide where to put it on permanent display. “Daddy’s Sauce” was also an invention by Mr Moore and was less expensive to make than HP and targeted at the less well off population.
TEA:
Tea Drinking became popular in the UK mainly in the 18th Century and was sold in the Coffee Shops as an alternative when there was a shortage of coffee due to problems at the plantations. It was a popular drink with the gentry including Dr Johnson (from Lichfield – of the renowned Dictionary) and the preacher John Wesley. It was not unknown before this date but was taxed very heavily until the Twinning’s family lobbied the Government to reduce this tax. The opening of Canals and the spread on Methodism through John Wesley may have contributed to its popularity throughout the country in the Industrial Revolution! Initially it was only bought by publicans who opened ‘Tea Gardens’ and when it was more readily available for the public to purchase it was usually sold through the local Chemists, one of whom was John Sumner of Coleshill who now has Alms Houses and a Road named after him in the town. The business developed into two distinct branches, one dealing with chemist’s side and another that had a shop in High Street Birmingham that handled all the groceries on High Street that later became the Times Furnishing Stores and is currently occupied by Waterstone’s, the book dealers. Tea was introduced to John Sumner as a cure for his daughter’s indigestion problems. John Sumner’s shop in Coleshill is still a Chemist’s Shop.

The Sumner’s realised the potential for Tea and shortly thought up Typhoo Tips Tea – ‘Typhoo’ because it sounded oriental, ‘Tips’ as it derived from the ends of the tea leaves and was unlike other contemporary teas which were ‘broadleaf’ using the whole leaf. They also wanted to claim it cured indigestion but could not in the lack of medical evidence. Brook-Bond PG Tips originated in the same period and were competitors. Sumner’s lease on the original shop terminated in 1906 and they moved a few yards into Castle Street (between Marks and Spencer’s and the ‘Pavillions’). This only lasted a short time and they then moved down to new premises in Digbeth, where they could take advantage of the canal network. Eventually the Sumner’s sold the business although the Typhoo Factory in Bordesley Street is still present and has a original Typhoo Trade Mark incorporated in the fabric over the main door, during the 1960’s the company itself moved to Cheshire when Government grants were assisting firms to take work to depressed areas. This suited the owners who were beset with Industrial Relations problems when trying to revise shift patterns to allow changes to introduce mechanisation to meet the introduction of Tea Bags, then the new challenge to time honoured packets of loose tea.

CUSTARD:
Now well known as the ‘Custard Factory’ a major ‘Arts’ Centre this building was the Head Quarters of Bird’s Custard until the early 1960’s when they moved to Banbury as a part of the General Foods Company. Mr Hughes has been assisting a member of the Bird’s family in Family History research, one of the earliest members being a Doctor John Bird who made astronomical and surveying instruments, naturally science was to play a large part in the family. In 1835 Alfred Bird qualified, as an analytical chemist. When he married his wife was also prone to indigestion because she had an allergy to yeast and eggs that were used extensively in baking and other recipes. He set to work in his laboratory and created an artificial custard powder that avoided the use of eggs this was very successful and he was able to market the product. At the same time he began to research a baking powder that gave a similar effect to yeast but avoided the natural product. This took him twelve years to perfect by which time the Crimean War was taking place and he persuaded the army to try the Baking Powder in ‘the field’, after a demonstration to the Mayor of Birmingham and the Earl of Dartmouth the army adopted the Baking Powder and it was used as it could be supplied in bulk and was more convenient than yeast. After the War his slogan was ‘Used by Florence Nightingale to bake cakes for the troops’!

His son, another Alfred joined him in the business and was very keen on Art and assisted in the publicity side of the products and after cooperation with the Illustrated London News they developed a method for economically reproducing illustrations in newspapers. An advert from 1884 showed the original trademark of Birds Custard – a ship on the globe. The well-known mark of a hen with two or three chicks was not allowed until 1928 because it implied there were eggs in the custard – which of course there were not!

Alfred, the son, was given a tricycle for his 21st birthday it was the first cycle to be fitted with John Dunlop’s recently invented pneumatic tyres, and on it he set a record for a cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats that went into the Guinness Book of Records and stayed there until very recently! He also became one of the first motorists. When he retired from the business he was knighted and became the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton but lived at Tudor Grange in Solihull. Following his death from a road traffic accident in 1922 his son Robert succeeded him until the outbreak of the Second World War.

The inventor of the Custard Powder (Alfred senior) also has several other products to his credit and includes an Egg Powder, Jelly and Blancmange Powders, Lemonade Powder, and Violet Powder (a dusting powder for Victorian ladies). Food was not his main interest; these were in the science of ‘Sound’ and Weather Forecasting. The family were great benefactors to the Solihull area including St Alphege’s Church and their name appears on many foundation stones of community halls in the area. Similar to Typhoo Tea Birds Custard moved out of Birmingham in the early 1960’s to Banbury in North Oxford taking with them some of their staff and workers, after they had been taken over by General Foods and the latest news Mr Hughes had was that the Banbury Operation has been closed and transferred to the USA! To Local Historians Birds, Typhoo and HP Sauce will always be a part of Birmingham’s Heritage!

It was a very informative and well-structured talk with far more detail than can possibly be included in this report. Thank you Mr Hughes.