Price's Candles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Price's Candles, founded in 1830, is a United Kingdom manufacturer and retailer of candles. Its full name is Price's Patent Candles Ltd. The firm is headquartered in Bedford and holds the Royal Warrant for the supply of candles.
It is now the largest candle manufacturer in the UK. They hold an important place in the technological history of candle making.
[edit] History
Price's Candles was founded by William Wilson in 1830, and originally consisted of a candle factory at Vauxhall, London and a crushing mill upstream at Battersea, York Road. Palm trees from West Africa were used for their palm oil, and George Wilson used sulphuric acid to remove the brown colour. Limited dockside facilities at Battersea caused the factory to be moved to Liverpool. In 1840 there were 84 staff, and by 1855, 2,300. By 1900 it was the largest manufacturer of candles in the world.
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. However, the Battersea site is now closed.
There were 130 different types or sizes of candle and 60 different permutations of material. Price's Candles supplied "edible candles" for Captain Scott's final expedition to the South Pole.
[edit] Owners
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, a pioneer in workers' welfare. The famous novelists Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote enthusiastically about these reforms.
