The company was established as a distributor of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, in London in 1864, by George Gray and G. M. Barrow. In 1887 Samuel Barrow and G. H. Ballard were taken into partnership and the firm became titled Barrow, Lane & Ballard. The company supplied vast quantities of dried fruits and nuts to all the principal distributing houses throughout the UK, Europe and the United States.Today, the company operates as a subsidiary of Loudwater Management Ltd., and offers cashews, brazil nuts, walnut kernels, almonds, pecan nuts and peanuts, as well as sunflower seeds for the bird feed market in Europe.
The company used a handstamped security overprint on the 1d lilac. The stamp pictured also has a BL/&B perfin.