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Combatting over indulgence is not a Field Savory of Savory and Moore who new concept and one of the most popular acquired the UK licence to sell Seidlitz THE BRANDS THAT products during the 19th century was an powders in their stylish pharmacy in New , effervescing salts, called Seidlitz Powders. Bond Street in London from 1849 to 1968. This was a potent mixture of sodium The success and demand forSeidlitz bicarbonate, potassium sodium tartrate and Powder resulted in many chemists tartaric acid. Mixed with water, it was drunk producing their own versions and even in while effervescing. Due to its action as a a song entitled ‘ Love is a Seidlitz Powder’ mild cleanser they were a popular remedy being written, composed and sung by Walter for excessive eating, constipation and as a Dowling in 1908. general digestive aid. This fizzy health restoring sensation was time forgot Taking their name from a village in not without its problems and there were Bohemia where the water is said to contain reported deaths from internal ruptures , food historian and similar minerals and compounds, Seidlitz associated with over-dosing on Seidlitz Seren Evans-Charrington Powders were widely used and made the Powders which just goes to show that over- passionate collector of packaging, timewarps fortune of the fashionable chemist, Thomas indulgence in anything is a bad thing. us back to rediscover some once celebrated household grocery names from bygone days.

WORDs and photos: SEREN EVANS-CHARRINGTON

e all have our they create, having a well-established favourite brands pedigree. These, along with big brands and manufacturers such as Lyons, Lea and Perrins and of a product and Tate and Lyle, are the companies that Windeed many brands and trademarks we feel a nostalgia towards and they have become part of our everyday have firmly claimed their positions as language. Terms such as aspirin, pillars of the British larder. thermos and even heroin were But what of the brands that fell from all originally legally protected the grace of our tables and that have trademarks, but have subsequently been forgotten? You don’t generally lost legal protection as trademarks hear the phrase “a glass of Mariani by becoming the products common wine to soothe your nerves’’ or, “wash name. Manufacturers such as your pans with Monkey Brand”, but Colman’s, Heinz and Oxo conjure up both were once popular and everyday instant connotations of the products’ brands that still leave a legacy today.

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“Oxford gave the world marmalade and a Their recovery after the War proved to be manner, Cambridge science and a sausage.” slow, with branding gradually becoming Palethorpes was a name once familiar in more sophisticated with the emergence of households across the country and around larger companies, supermarkets and other the globe. The company was founded in promotional avenues, particularly television. 1852 and by 1896 it boasted that it was the Their bold claim as the ‘largest makers’ was largest sausage maker in the world. From now becoming a faded memory. Under the humble beginnings in a small butchers shop deepening pressure to survive in an ever more in Birmingham the business had grown and competitive market place, in 1967 Palethorpes the reputation of its tasty meat products were relocated to purpose built premises in Market far reaching, indeed its Royal Cambridge Drayton. This move was to spell the end of the sausages were considered a premium brand original Palethorpes as they buckled under and 2,500 lbs of them were aboard the Titanic the financial strain of the re-location costs. when she sailed on her maiden voyage. The Financial difficulties led to the business being name Palethorpes was synonymous with bought by a series of bigger food brands and quality and innovation. the original company ceased trading in 1991. In the First World War Palethorpes thrived, Palethorpes now continues as a value brand supplying canned meat products to the name for some supermarket sausage rolls, Tell British Army, but whilst they may have fed pies and pasties, but its prestigious and proud us to victory in World War I the Second history has been long forgotten. us your World War spelled a change in their fortunes, favourite with rationing severely restricting trade. Get in touch to tell us your memories of forgotten brands! Email us at hello@ prettynostalgic.co.uk .

Benjamin Brooke’s Monkey Brand was of a monkey dressed in human clothing that factory in Philadelphia, USA and exported the a nifty household cleaner that bore the slogan captivated the Victorian imagination. The product to Britain, using the name ‘Benjamin “It Won’t Wash Clothes”, a somewhat unusual personification of animals was very popular Brooke’. Lever Brothers bought the company slogan for a soap, but then Monkey Brand Soap and featured in many illustrated books and in 1899 and transferred the production of was a ‘scouring soap’ as opposed to a ‘soft soap’ pieces of art and their appeal was not restricted Monkey Brand Soap to on the and was the Victorian equivalent of a scouring to children. Today we still have a liking for Wirral, retaining the name ‘Benjamin Brooke’ pad. Containing pumice, this soap was highly humanised animals and we readily lap up to promote the Monkey Brand Soap both in the versatile and ideal for pot washing and other advertising campaigns that feature everything States and in Britain. domestic cleaning chores. from chimpanzee tea parties to Meerkat’s in Whilst Monkey Brand Soap has long been The soap proved a popular product, smoking jackets. obsolete it left behind a fascinating and almost probably as a result of the strong advertising, Monkey Brand Soap was introduced by surreal advertising campaign that reveals a lot which usually featured line engraved images Sidney & Harry Gross who opened a small about Victorian tastes and social order.

58 Pretty Nostalgic Pretty Nostalgic 59 is no longer made for the employing 10 women in the production British market but it was one of the first process and by 1875 he opened a In 1863 a French chemist named Angelo bottled at Broadland Wineries Ltd., Norfolk. So commercially made soap powders. The factory at Bank Hall, . Mariani concocted a special Bordeaux wine. you can still enjoy a taste of history – whether brand came from humble origins being Hudson's soap became a successful He marketed it as a tonic wine that would you're suffering from a nervous disposition firstly brandedHudson’s Soap and made and trusted brand and delivered restore health, energy, strength, and vitality or not. Wincarnis is now a blend of enriched by chemist and druggist R. S. Hudson household names including "Rinso" and called it “Vin Tonique Mariani”. It was wine and malt extract infused with an array of in the back of his shop in High Street, and "Omo". Hudson’s Soap became part very popular with many famous drinkers botanicals including gentian root, mugwort, West Bromwich. In 1837, Hudson began of Lever Brothers in 1908, but Rinso including Queen Victoria, Pope Pius X, and angelica root, balm mint, fennel seed, coriander manufacturing the soap with a mortar remained a household favourite, with Thomas Edison. His Holiness Pope Leo XIII seed, peppermint leaves, cardamom seeds and and pestle and as the powder enjoyed children even playing skipping games to was such a fan of the wine that he carried a hip cassia bark. The drink now enjoys popularity commercial success by 1854 he was a rhyme about the brand: flask of this medicinal tipple and his devotion all over the world and is excellent in cooking; to this restorative saw him award Mariani a particularly favoured in many recipes in Asia. Vatican Gold Medal, as well as providing many I do feel the need to experiment in the kitchen, advertising endorsements. purely in the name of research of course. The recipe forMariani involved taking Whilst some brands disappear into obscurity, A p e n n y a p a c k e t o f R in s o standard Bordeaux wine and allowing coca “Wine is the most others evolve to suit the ever-changing O v e r a p a c k e t o f R in s o leaves to soak in it; the alcohol of the consumer market or else are swallowed by U p p y a p a c k e t o f R in s o wine acted as a solvent which extracted healthful and most larger manufacturers and transform beyond D o w n y a p a c k e t o f R in s o cocaine from the leaves, giving the wine a hygienic of beverages.” all recognition. If you think back to your own D a s h y a p a c k e t o f R in s o cocaine content of around 7.2 milligrams childhood there are probably so many products Archy a packet of Rinso per ounce. Vin Mariani was bound to Louis Pasteur you can recall that have now disappeared and have a wide reaching appeal and was there are so many that deserve to be mentioned S. Pemberton from Atlanta was advertised as certain to give drinkers the feeling of here, but alas I fear documenting them all may ‘the great nerve tonic’. Pemberton took the renewal it promised, for when cocaine take a lifetime. recipe and added the essence of and alcohol meet inside the body, Vin Mariani kola nut to give it a unique and distinguishing they create a third unique drug called flavour. Among many fantastic claims, it was cocaethylene. Cocaethylene works noted as being “ like cocaine, but with more a most wonderful invigorator of .” When in 1885 Atlanta County euphoria. With exhilaration sexual organs passed prohibition ordnances banning the abound it is easy to see how Special wartime was produced during production or sale of alcohol, Pemberton Rinso this drink became a pervasive WWII that gave special directions for fuel reworked his recipe by replacing the wine brand that was heavily in saving use, to help with the war effort, but the with carbonated water and ‘ demand and it may explain Coca Cola : The 1950s spelled a new age of washing powder ’ was born.Today the rules why the Victorians were so Temperance drink and a plummet in sales of . New kid on on advertising products with purported health Rinso industrious. the block, , manufactured by rival benefits are strictly regulated and with the Tide Procter With this rising demand , proved to be much more popular. invention of regulation went the wonderfully & Gamble and success for was re-branded, reformulated, and Vin elaborate claims of life sustaining tonic wines. Rinso came competition heavily marketed before it finally disappeared Mariani Whilst the golden age of tonic wines has faded, as other manufacturers from British shelves forever in the mid 1970’s. one British brand, is very much still created their own coca Wincarnis Though not made to the original formula the alive; it is now labelled explicitly as a tonic wines. Pemberton’s brand name is still manufactured for wine and is produced by independent family Rinso made foreign markets, so you may see its name-sake French Wine Coca run distiller, blender and bottler Ian Macleod by the pharmacist John on your travels abroad. Distillers Ltd, who were established in 1933, and

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