In Reading Museum there's a room dedicated to the history of the town's famous biscuit production. Above is a marble bust of George Palmer, one of the partners engaged in the manufacture of this well known brand. In fact George didn't come on the scene until later. It was his cousin, Joseph Huntley who began selling biscuits baked by his son Thomas in the 1820s. Their shop was in London Street and as it was near a coaching inn where coaches stopped for a rest Joseph started packing the biscuits in tins made by his younger son to keep them fresh. He then sold them to the coach passengers and this second enterprise led to the foundation of the Reading firm of tin box makers, Huntley, Bourne and Stevens.
the London Street bakery and shop
In 1841 George Palmer became a partner of Thomas Huntley and with his expertise as a businessman the factory was established by the River Kennet and near to the railway line. After Thomas Huntley died in 1857, George was joined in the firm by his brothers William, Isaac and Samuel. The enterprise was the first steam powered biscuit factory in the world and the most important biscuit works in England. In 1841 the firm had 41 employees and by 1914 there were several thousands working there producing 200 varieties of biscuit. It was the time of change and growth for the market town as people moved into the area from the countryside to find work. Soon workers' houses were built nearby particularly in the area by the river called New Town. My great grandfather, a countryman from a Hampshire village, who had been a stable lad on the Wellington Estate eventually moved to Reading and settled there. He didn't work in the factory, but was employed as a sawyer in the timber yard located by the Kennet on the factory site which took up many acres of land and he lived with his family in east Reading near the Royal Berkshire Hospital whose foundation was established in that same era of town expansion.
This ceramic sign of the 1850s would have been made for display in grocery shops and features an early view of the factory.
On the banks of Kennet's River,
In Reading's famous town,
Stands a massive pile of buildings
Of fame and world renown.
Should a stranger ask the business
Of the place, what may it be?
Say, 'tis the biscuit city
Of the famous H & P.
William Barker, Huntley & Palmer worker, 1883
One of the tin biscuit boxes
"Breakfast Biscuits Give You Vim
Make You Fit And Keep You Slim"
A catchy slogan - I'm not sure that it would work for me. I could do with a biscuit or two right now with a nice cup of tea. Sadly they wouldn't be H & P biscuits.
H & P merged with Peak Frean in 1921 to form Associated Biscuit Manufacturers Ltd. and after the late 1940s the production was reduced. In 1972 the company announced that it was leaving the town and would concentrate on existing sites and manufacture elsewhere. The expense of re-equipping outdated machinery and the difficulty in recruiting staff brought about this decision. In 1977 the King's Road factory was demolished and in its place the huge administrative offices of Prudential Assurance plc were built. H & P company offices remained until they too were demolished in 1991. All that is left is the facade of one small section of the original establishment (photo below) taken on a sunny day when visiting the town.
.....and below on another visit.
The River Kennet, King's Bridge and opposite are the Prudential Buildings.
On the extreme left Greenslades & Co Ltd. Printing Works would have stood there.
My paternal grandmother lived in a Georgian building like these in King's Road. Her house was opposite to these ones, but amazingly was demolished, I think it must have been in the 1960s and modern buildings (more offices and flats) took their place. For some reason the above buildings must have been listed under a protection order. I remember going to the dental practice in one of them.
As for my grandmother's home, I remember many times staying overnight. As a child the rooms seemed huge and there were many of them. There was a flight of stone steps leading to the front door of the first storey and a big garden at the back with a wooded area at the end. This was in the 1950s when it was common for families in town to share one large dwelling and pay rent. My twice widowed grandmother lived in the basement which had a big kitchen range, her married daughter, husband and child lived on the next floor and an unmarried daughter lived at the top of the house and as I remember another unmarried friend also lived there. Later family members qualified for social housing or bought their own house. At the time I lived with my parents in the house bought by my other grandparents when they sold the bakery business and moved outside the Borough of Reading until we also moved home.
More about Reading Museum's collection of Huntley & Palmer artifacts another time.
