Price's Candles

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Price's Candles is a United Kingdom manufacturer and retailer of candles, founded in 1830. Its full name is Price's Patent Candles Ltd. The fim is headquartered in Bedford and holds the Royal Warrant for the supply of candles.

[edit] History

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Price's Candles was founded by George Wilson in 1830, and originally consisted of a candle factory at Vauxhall, London and a crushing mill upstream at Battersea, York Road (later moved to Liverpool). Palm trees from West Africa were used for their palm oil, and George Wilson used sulphuric acid to remove the brown colour. There was limited dockside facilities at Battersea so the factory was moved to Liverpool. In 1840 there were 84 staff, and by 1855, 2,300. William's son James Wilson was concerned to provide all the boy employees (over 1,000) with a bible, a hymn book and an arithmetic book in their own locked drawer. James was an evangelical Christian and by providing free breakfasts and suppers and free baths he was a pioneer in workers' welfare. The famous novelists Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote enthusiastically about these reforms. By 1900 it was the largest manufacturer of candles in the world.

There were 130 different types or sizes of candle and 60 different permutations of material.

Price's supplied "edible candles" for Captain Scott's final expedition to the South Pole. In 1919 the company was bought by Lever Brothers Ltd. In 1991, Shell, the eventual owners of the company, sold it back to a private buyer. It is now the largest candle manufacturer in the UK. The Battersea site is now a candle retail outlet. For the technological point of view they are important in the History of candle making.