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Miles Druce & Co.

February 24, 2016, 7:25 am
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Miles Druce & Co. was a steel stockholding company established in London in 1789. The business grew extensively in the 19thcentury, absorbing a number of other metal merchants in the process.



By the 1960s the company was engaged in steel fabrication, structural engineering and the manufacturing of steel containers. At this time the firm had a total of 600 employees. Miles Druce suffered financially in the early 1970s due to a slump in the demand for steel. In 1974 the company was taken over by Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds (GKN).

Miles Druce used at least 3 different overprints in the Victorian period.
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Wandsworth & District Gas Co.

February 24, 2016, 7:25 am
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The Wandsworth gasworks were established in 1834 on the south bank of the Thames close to Wandsworth Bridge. The early company supplied Wandsworth, Putney and part of Battersea. The undertaking became the Wandsworth & Putney Gaslight and Coke Company and was incorporated in 1856. In 1912 the company amalgamated with the Mitcham & Wimbledon District Gaslight Company and the Epsom & Ewell Gas Company to form the Wandsworth, Wimbledon & Epsom District Gas Company. In 1931 the Kingston upon Thames Gas Company and the Sutton Gas Company were acquired and the title changed to the Wandsworth & District Gas Company.



The headquarters of the company was at Fairfield Road, Wandsworth. The company owned a fleet of colliers to supply coal from the north-east of England. The ships had brown upper works above hull level. The funnel was black with a broad white band edged with a narrow red band above and below, and the broad white band was emblazoned with the initials W & D GAS Co. The house flag was red with the initials W. G. C. in white capitals. In 1909 a flatiron collier was built for the company and became the flagship of the fleet. She was named Wandle, the first of three colliers in the company's service to carry that name.



Following the nationalisation of the gas industry in 1949, the Wandsworth & District Gas Company became part of the West Surrey Division of the South Eastern Gas Board.
The third Wandle on her maiden voyage up the Thames in 1932.


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Strong & Co., of Romsey, Limited

February 24, 2016, 7:25 am
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In 1858 Thomas Strong leased the Horsefair Brewery in the Hampshire market town of Romsey, along with 22 tied public houses. In 1883 Thomas purchased the brewery outright and renamed it Strong & Co. The company pursued a policy of acquiring breweries and licensed and tied pubs in Hampshire and the surrounding counties, creating the self-proclaimed “Strong Country”, an empire of ale making that dominated the Hampshire brewing industry for nearly 100 years. Strong & Co. became incorporated as a limited company in 1894. Strong's beers became so popular that in 1944 tanks of it were strapped beneath the wings of Spitfire planes and flown to British troops in Normandy. To placate the administrative clerks in war-room offices, these shipments were listed as “xxx depth charge fitment.”

In 1969 Strong & Co. Ltd. was purchased by Whitbread together with 940 pubs. The brewery in Romsey ceased production in 1981. In the late 1980s a large part of the Romsey site was demolished and the buildings which remained were redeveloped for offices.

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Cramer & Co. Limited

February 24, 2016, 7:25 am
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Cramer & Co. Ltd. was founded in London in 1824 by Johann Baptist Cramer, a pianist and composer originally from Mannheim in Germany, and his partners Robert Addison and Thomas Frederick Beale. The company had three fields of business : musical instrument manufacturing, music publishing and retail music selling.

J. B. Cramer left the business as early as 1838, but his name had attained such brand value by this time, that it was retained for over a hundred years. The company had many changes of ownership in the 19thcentury, but the firm became more stable in the next century, being known as J. B. Cramer & Co., New Bond Street. The company's main factory was at Lyme Street, Camden Town, where harmoniums were manufactured. In 1868 Cramers claimed to be the only manufacturers in England of the American organ. In 1931 the firm acquired the piano maker and publisher Metzler & Co. of London.

In 1964 Cramer & Co. Ltd. was taken over by Kemble & Co., piano manufacturers, who, for a limited period of time continued to use the Cramer name. Today, Cramer pianos are made for delivery to the Far East, where the Cramer name continues to have a good reputation.
 
                  J. B. Cramer & Co., Patent Portable Piano, 1897.
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The Bank of Montreal

March 3, 2016, 2:57 am
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On June 23rd1817 a group of merchants established the Bank of Montreal in a rented house in Montral, Quebec. The Bank officially opened its doors for business on November 3rd1817 making it the first bank in Canada. The Bank participated in many of the developments spurring the growth of Canada such as the first canals, the Canadian Pacific Railway, major hydroelectric projects and the development of Canada's energy and mining industries. It was the banker in Canada for the Canadian Government from 1863 until the founding of the Bank of Canada in 1935. It was also the first Canadian bank to establish a presence outside the country, with branches established in London and New York in 1818. In 1893 it was named the Canadian Government fiscal agent in Britain, a function it still performs.

Today, the Bank of Montreal is commonly known as BMO and has over 1,300 branches in Canada and overseas. It offers corporate, government, merchant and personal banking services with a variety of commercial and international services.
 
Bank of Montreal's main Montreal branch at Place d'Armes in Montreal.
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F. Warren & Co.

March 3, 2016, 2:58 am
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F. Warren & Co. was a coal merchant from the 1850s. The company merged with Thomas Coote & Co. in 1908 to form Coote & Warren Ltd. The new company had offices in St. Ives in Cornwall and London. The firm was a major player in the bulk transportation of coal by rail and in later years by road. Up till nationalisation, Coote & Warren's own branded coal wagons were a common sight on British railway lines serving the regions from North London to East Anglia. The company even had its own wagon building and repair works in Peterborough. Coote & Warren Ltd. ceased trading in c.1960.


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Pfeil, Stedall & Son / Stedall & Co.

March 3, 2016, 2:58 am
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Pfeil, Stedal & Son was established in St. Johns Gate, London in 1756 as a wholesaler of horse-drawn carriage fittings and later fittings for motor cars. The company was originally Parkes & Co. until 1806, but one of the Parkes family was hanged for forgery and the business was acquired by the Pfeil family, who changed the name to Pfeil & Co. In c1851 Robert Stedall joined the firm as a partner with Frederick Pfeil and the company became Pfeil & Stedall. The firm prospered and in 1867 Robert Stedall's son Henry joined the business which took the name Pfeil, Stedall & Son.

In 1914 anti-German feelings were running high in Britain. Pfeil was a German sounding name and it caused bricks to be thrown through the windows of the company offices in Clerkenwell, London. The Pfeils and the Stedalls quarrelled. The result was that the Stedalls bought out the Pfeills holding in the company, which now became Stedall & Co.

Stedall & Co. was acquired by Pillar Holdings Ltd. in 1961. Pillar was acquired by RTZ in 1970. The company is now part of of the Dutch Hagemeyer Group and is called Stedall Vehicle Fittings Ltd., based in Bristol. 

 
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Hoffmann Chelmsford

March 3, 2016, 2:58 am
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The Hoffmann Manufacturing Company was the first ball bearing factory in the UK; established in 1898 in Chelmsford, Essex by Cousins Geoffrey and Charles Barrett and bankrolled by American ball bearing machine manufacturer Ernst Gustav Hoffmann from whom the company took its name.

The firm expanded rapidly and soon achieved world renown for its precision-made bearings boasting accuracy better than 1 / 10,000 of an inch (2.5 micrometres) for all its products. Hoffmann bearings were later used in the first transatlantic flights and extensively on machinery in the First World War. From the early 1900s, Hoffmann supplied all the major car manufacturers including Rolls Royce, Bentley, Daimler and Austin.

During the Second World War the Hoffmann Bearings Factory was a big part of the war effort. Special bearings were produced for control pulleys and hinges. There were 1,000 Hoffmann bearings in a Spitfire fighter's engine and 4,000 in the engines of the legendary Lancaster bomber. Unsurprisingly, the Germans bombed the Chelmsford factory several times. The worst single loss of life took place on 19thDecember 1944 when 39 people were killed and many more injured, when a V2 rocket hit a street near the factory.

From the 1960s Hoffmann's fortunes went into decline, mainly due to the increasing competition from Japanese made bearings. In 1969 the company merged with Ransome & Marles Bearing Co. and Pollard Ball and Roller Bearing Co. to become Ransome Hoffmann & Pollard (R. H. P.). The factory in Chelmsford was wound down in the 1980s and finally closed down in December 1989. Most of the factory was demolished in 1990 and the site is now occupied by the Rivermead Campus of the Anglia Ruskin University.
                                         Hoffmann War Effort poster
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London & Lisbon Corkwood Co. Ltd.

March 9, 2016, 4:43 am
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The London & Lisbon Corkwood Co. Ltd. was established at 28 Upper Thames Street in London in 1864. The company owned forests in Portugal and had a factory in Lisbon which made cork products such as barrel and bottle corks, window baskets and edging for garden beds.

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H. Faulder & Co. Ltd. / Squirrel Confectionery Co. Ld.

March 9, 2016, 4:43 am
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Henry Faulder & Co. was established as a wholesale grocer's and confectionery business in Stockport, Lancashire. By 1893 the company was based at the Model Fruit Preserving Works at Norris Bank. In this year Henry Faulder wrote a book snappily titled Improved means for closing jars and other vessels containing preserved fruit, jellies and other similar confections.

By 1913 the company had expanded and diversified and was registered as Henry Faulder & Co. Ltd., chocolate and cocoa manufacturers, Stockport. At this time the firm had a works at Brighton Road, another at Warren Street and offices at 83 Petersgate.

In 1930 the company was renamed the Squirrel Chocolate and Confectionery Co. Ltd. In 1936 the main works were renamed as the Squirrel Confectionery Works and the site was acquired by Cadburys for use as a distribution depot at the end of the year. The firm later became Squirrel Horn and made sweets such as cherry lips and floral gums. Squirrel's sweets are currently produced by Tangerine Confectionery in Dorset.

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National Magazine Co. Ltd.

March 9, 2016, 4:43 am
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National Magazine Co. Ltd. (Nat Mags) was a magazine publisher based in London. It was established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst and was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation.

William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher who built up the largest newspaper chain in the United States and whose methods profoundly influenced American journalism. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. Moving to New York, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World that led to the creation of yellow journalism – sensationalized stories of dubious veracity. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. Through his newspaper empire, Hearst exercised enormous political influence, and was famously blamed for pushing public opinion with his yellow journalism type of reporting leading the United States into a war with Spain in 1898. Hearst's life story was the main inspiration for the development of the lead character in Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane.

In 2006 Nat Mags expanded into digital media by purchasing women's portal website Handbag.com. Nat Mags soon launched its digital arm Hearst Digital to act as an umbrella for Handbag and its other web acquisition, Net Doctor. Nat Mags merged with Hachette Filipacchi Médias UK in 2011 to form Hearst Magazines UK.
              William Randolph Hearst (29.04.1863 – 14.08.1951)
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T. Forman & Sons

March 9, 2016, 4:44 am
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Thomas Forman established a printing company at 14 Long Row, Nottingham, in 1848. The firm focused on newspaper and book production. In 1861 the first issue of the Daily Guardian appeared, followed in 1878 by the Evening Post. In 1872 Thomas's two eldest sons, John and Arthur were made partners in the business which became styled T. Forman & Sons.

The company expanded and in 1919 printing was moved to purpose-built new premises in Hucknall Road. By this time Thomas Forman of Nottingham was a renowned name in the world of printing. Customers included the Cunard Steamship Company. Prestigious brochures were produced for the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and other ships in the Cunard fleet, together with menu cards and programmes. Catalogues were produced for mail order companies such as Littlewoods. Formans also printed 16 sheet posters for bill boards, and labels for many major companies. Formans printed timetables for Thomas Cook & Son on a regular basis, race cards, and part of the Electors Register for Nottingham City Council. The Horticultural Advertiser was printed by Formans for 76 years until publication ceased in 1960.

In the 1920s T. Forman & Sons was headed by James Forman and his son Dudley Perry Forman. James Forman died in 1931 but the business remained in family hands until 1960 when it was acquired by Mardon, Son & Hall, jointly owned by the Imperial Tobacco Group and the British American Tobacco Co. During the 1960s and 70s, Formans specialised in the production of cartons for the pharmaceutical industry as well as cosmetic cartons. The company was also involved in the toy industry, producing intricate designs for companies such as Denys Fisher and Meccano. In 1984 Formans was sold on to Robert Maxwell's British Printing and Communications Corporation. The business was sold again in 1989 to a London group of managers, and finally closed in 2000. 
    Thomas Forman print works in Hucknall Road, Nottingham.

 
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Premier Motor Policies Ltd.

March 17, 2016, 6:40 am
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                                                             Premier Motor Policies Ltd. was established in 1919 at Melbourne House, Aldwych in London to provide motor insurance. From 1922 policies were guaranteed by Eagle Star & British Dominions insurance company. The company became Premier Motor Insurance Co. Ltd. in 1967 and continued to trade until 2003.
 
The overprint shown here is also known on SG 506.

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Cater, Stoffell & Fortt Ltd.

March 17, 2016, 6:41 am
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By the end of the 19thcentury, three successful companies in Bath combined to form Cater, Stoffell & Fortt, who would go on to become one of the most important retail businesses in the city. The company's interests included a wine and spirits business, a cutlery shop, a delicatessen, a soft drinks factory, a restaurant, an outside catering business, a biscuit factory, and a bottling plant for the city's mineral water at the Roman Bath spring. The firm boasted that it offered everything “from fishfingers to foie gras and custard powder to caviar.” It appears that Cater, Stoffell & Fortt Ltd. traded until some time in the 1980s.

Cater's biscuit factory produced the popular Bath Oliver biscuit. It was a hard, dry biscuit made from flour, butter, yeast and milk, invented by Dr. Willian Oliver in c.1750. When Oliver died he bequeathed the recipe for the now famous Bath Olivers, to his coachman Mr. Atkins, along with £100 and ten sacks of flour. Atkins promptly set up a factory to make the biscuits, and quickly became rich. The Oliver biscuit recipe eventually passed on to James Fortt and when he joined the partnership of Cater, Stoffell & Fortt, the company continued with the production of the biscuit. 

 
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S. T. & B. Ltd. (Spencer, Turner & Boldero Ltd.)

March 17, 2016, 6:42 am
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In 1855, three independent master linen drapers named William Spencer, Henry Turner and William Boldero, joined forces to create a large retail and wholesale drapery business. The new company was called Spencer, Turner & Boldero and was based at 70 Lisson Grove, London.

The firm expanded rapidly and flourished as retail drapers. However, the drapery business started to decline towards the latter part of the 19thcentury and to compensate for the loss in trade, Spencer, Turner & Boldero diversified to become wholesale traders in a wide variety of products. In 1894 the company was described as “textile and general warehousemen, drapers, outfitters, carpet and furniture dealers”, with over 7000 customer accounts and 800 employees.By 1900 the directories list the firm as linen drapers, upholsterers, carpet factors, tea merchants, wine and spirit merchants, warehousemen and “complete home furnishers”.

During the Second World War, the warehouse of Spencer, Turner & Boldero at Ashbridge Street suffered bomb damage and was subsequently demolished. The company is last recorded in 1969.

 








 
                    Spencer, Turner & Boldero, Lisson Grove, 1910.

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Mac Iver

March 17, 2016, 6:44 am
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The MacIver family were pioneers in steamships and operated coastal steamship services from Glasgow as early as 1831. Brothers David and Charles MacIver were closely associated with Samuel Cunard in the formation of the Cunard Line. David MacIver, a nephew of the original founder, was admitted into the Cunard partnership in 1863, but left the company in 1874 to found his own steamship line. His earliest ships were registered under the name of Birkenhead Shipping Co. Ltd., and these were followed by a number of one ship companies, all managed by David MacIver & Co. In 1894 a new company was registered in the name of David MacIver Sons & Co. and all subsequent ships were registered in this ownership.

In its early days, the MacIver Line had no regular routes, but in 1885 a regular trade was established between Liverpool, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Rosario. David MacIver Sons & Co. were taken over by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. in 1919 and the name of the company was changed to David MacIver & Co. Ltd. Although owned by Royal Mail, the ships continued to sail under their old colours and Liverpool management. In 1932 all the MacIver ships were transferred to the Royal Mail line and their grey hulls and red funnels were changed to the black hull and bluff funnel of Royal Mail. At this time, the MacIver Line lost its identity and went into liquidation.
 
                                              Advertisement 1903

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Railway Company Overprints

March 23, 2016, 3:08 am
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Several railway companies  were commercial overprint users at some point in their histories:
 

The Canadian Pacific Railway  (CPR) was established in 1881 and is now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885, making it the first transcontinental railway in Canada. The company's UK offices were at Pall Mall, London and the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool.

Two versions of overprint are known :

OVERPRINT                                             STYLE      SG. CAT.

CANADIAN / PACIFIC / RAILWAY              Hv3a           357, 442, 465
CANADIAN / PACIFIC / RAILWAY CO.      H3va           488, 506, 518


  
The Furness Railway Company operated from 1844 until 1924. More details here.
Just one overprint has been noted for this company, pictured here.



The Great Southern & Western Railway was an Irish gauge railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. More details here.
The overprint pictured has been recorded only on SG 172. 
 





The Great Northern Railway was established in 1846. The main line ran from Kings Cross London to York, with a loop line from Peterborough to Bawtry, and branch lines to Sheffield and Wakefield. GNR became part of the newly formed London & North Eastern Railway in 1923. Again, just  one overprint on one issue is known.




 The Great Western Railway linked London with the Midlands, the South-West and West of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833 and operated from 1838 until 1948. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways.

The company is known to have used two types of handstamped overprint  on the 1d lilac Inland Revenue stamp. It seems unlikely that these overprints served as a security device, as the stamps shown here have already been perfinned and I have yet to see any examples without a perfin. In any case they  make an interesting addition to a collection of commercial overprints. 


The London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Companywas created in 1859 when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London commuter network. The company existed until 31st December 1922 when its assets were merged with those of other companies to form the Southern Railway.

The overprint pictured on SG 172 has also been reported on SG 488.



 The Midland Railway was established in 1844. It had a large network of lines centred on the East Midlands, with its headquarters in Derby. Initially, connecting Leeds with London via the East Midlands, it went on to connect the East Midlands with Birmingham and Bristol, and with York and Manchester. In 1922 the  company became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

Just the one overprint on SG 421 is known for this company.



 The North Eastern Railway was formed in 1854 by the amalgamation of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway; the York & North Midland Railway; the Malton & Driffield Railway; and the Leeds Northern Railway. The NER had a relatively compact territory extending through Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland, in which it had a near monopoly. In 1928 NER amalgamated with other railway companies to form the London and North Eastern Railway. Its main line survives to the present day as part of the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh.

One overprint on the 1d lilac Inland Revenue stamp is recorded for this company. The overprint legend includes the word allotment. At this time the company owned some of the land alongside the railway tracks. Some of this land was made into allotments and rented to gardeners, with revenue stamps subsequently required to pay the duty on the receipts for the payment of rent.





 
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J.S. Smith, Druce & Co. Limited

April 5, 2016, 9:17 am
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J.S. Smith, Druce & Co. Ltd. was a company of distillers which was established in London in 1785. The company operated the Phoenix Distillery in Mile End and was the sole distiller of “Cream of the Valley” gin. The firm also dealt in fine cognac, brandy, rum, cordials and whisky.


                                     Receipts from 1899 and 1904


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Howse Mead & Sons

April 5, 2016, 9:18 am
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Howse Mead & Sons traces its history back to 1796, when William Barber established the firm at High Street, Borough, making it one of the oldest established woollen merchants in London. In 1824 the company was known as Barber & Davis, and in 1829 as Barber, Davis & Howse. In 1847 the firm was styled Barber, Howse & Mead before finally becoming Howse Mead & Sons in 1861. In 1902 the company was being run by Frederick Mead from 18 St. Paul's Chuchyard, London. The company were manufacturers and wholesalers of woollen cloths and fabrics and at this time even had branches in New York, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Bucharest.

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Midland Bank Ltd.

April 5, 2016, 9:20 am
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Midland Bank Ltd. was founded as the Birmingham & Midland Bank in 1836 in Birmingham. In the 1830s and 40s the bank occupied an important niche in Birmingham business, particularly in the discounting of bills of exchange for its customers. Links with local industrial and commercial concerns were especially strong and by the 1850s the bank's customers included railways, utilities and municipal corporations. Over the next fifty years the bank expanded by opening new branches and absorbing many other local banks, changing its title to the London Joint City & Midland Bank Ltd. (L. J. C. M. B. Lt. overprint) in 1918. In 1923 the name Midland Bank Ltd. was adopted, and by 1934 it was the largest deposit bank in the world. In 1992 Midland Bank Ltd. was taken over by HSBC Holdings plc in one of the largest acquisitions in banking history.


Midland Bank was famous for its golden griffin logo, surrounded by golden coins, originally introduced in 1965 on a black, then later blue background.
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