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(10) by
Tom Martin
J.
Lyons & Co Ltd - Overseas Activities
My
name is Alfred Thomas Martin better known
within Lyons as Tom Martin. I joined Lyons
in 1947 as Assistant Export Manager, under
Wally Cooper, and later became Manager.
These notes are not intended to be a
detailed history of the Lyons' overseas
activities, but rather an anecdotal
account of some of the operations with
which I was associated and the people I
met in the course of my travels and
duties.
The
Export Department
The
Export Department was formed in 1922 to
service the company's overseas operations
during its rapid business expansion
following the First World War. When I
joined in 1947 this department had two
distinct functions: The servicing of
overseas subsidiary companies; and the
sale and management of export goods from
UK factories. At this time the export
personnel included Bill Stumbke, Head
Clerk, (assisted for a time by Ron
Russell) who was responsible for export
sales, via agents. Syd Cates, who worked
in the same department, was responsible
for transportation and shipping of factory
goods to foreign countries, and for the
ordering, collating and shipping the needs
of Lujeri tea estates and the Cocoa Buying
Office in the Gold Coast (supplying
anything required for business or personal
use that was not available locally). John
Harvey assisted in this operation, helped
later by Jim Rothery, who eventually
managed the shipping section until 1964,
when he transferred to Greenford. Geoffrey
Jacobs joined the department and was
responsible for the sale of pure coffee to
the American serviceman's PX operation in
Germany. He was also responsible for other
export markets and he too stayed on until
1964. Henri Levi was also on the sales
team for a time.
In 1960 the department was reorganised. The overseas
subsidiaries came under the control of
John Simmons' Comptrollers Department at
Cadby Hall - he had led the team that
designed and built the LEO computer - and
exports were absorbed into the Tea
Division under Christopher Salmon. I
remained as Export Marketing Manager. The
export function was expanded to handle
more products to more overseas markets.
Under Gilbert Boreham, who had overall
responsibility for overseas product
development, Geoffrey Jacobs, Dick Carden,
Eric Watson, Steve Bingham and others were
allocated areas to develop. Consequently
they spent a great deal of their time
travelling. These activities included,
among others, the sale of tea and coffee
to Germany via a business venture with
Herman J. Schmidt, Hamburg. The Schmitt
company eventually became a Lyons
subsidiary.
The sale of Lyons tea in Kenya was conducted through
Stansand (Tea Brokers), a jointly owned
company of Lyons, and a local company in
Kenya, Manji (Packers and Distributors),
serviced the retail markets there. When
the operation started, Geoffrey Jacobs and
I visited Nairobi to present the first
packets of tea, which had been packed
locally, to the then acting Prime
Minister, Joseph Murumbi. The combined
operation with Manji was later enhanced to
produce a range of Lyons bakery
merchandise.
Lyons French Coffee was the leading brand in the Gulf
States. It consisted of a mixture of real
coffee and chicory which gave the drink a
bitter taste. On the other hand, the Chico
Brand (an instant coffee with blended
chicory) became more popular in West
Africa. The Government of Ghana entered
into a joint venture with Lyons whereby
locally grown coffee would be processed at
Greenford and sold in Ghana as instant
coffee under the brand name of One Time -
One Time was an expression used in Ghana
meaning 'instantly'. The local marketing
was undertaken by agents Alan &
Elliot.
A regular shipment of custard powder was made to Punta
Arenas, South America, and I often
wondered what they did with it!
Lyons Pure Coffee was sold in the Mediterranean markets
with Malta, Egypt and the Lebanon being
the most profitable countries. Coffee was
also sold in Sweden and Norway.
The export department was also appointed to market
Sutherland Pastes overseas until they were
taken over by Quaker Oats.
J.
Lyons & Co (Ireland) Ltd
The
Irish drink more tea, per capita, than any
other country in the World, including
China. It is not surprising therefore that
Lyons should become involved. Their
company was originally based in
Marlborough Street, Dublin, blending and
packing Lyons Tea. Their Green Label tea
was the preferred blend, as it had been in
the UK, and it soon dominated the market.
Patrick Mulligan and Gerry Cadden were
involved in the early development of the
business. Later, under the directorship of
George Patterson, Jimmy O'Meara was
responsible for sales. The business
flourished until the factory in
Marlborough Street was in danger of
collapsing. A purpose built factory was
commissioned at Goldenbridge, Inchicore,
and the company moved out of Dublin City
to the outer precincts. Tex Cooper was the
Tea Blender having moved, like George
Patterson, from Lyons' subsidiary in
Canada.
J.
Lyons & Co (Canada) Ltd
The
company was based at Cadby Hall, Toronto.
In the early days Syd Sampson left for
Canada to set the operation up and
remained there for many years as Managing
Director. He was followed by other
Managing Directors which included: Harold
Brinjes, Jim Blakey, George Patterson and
Peter Hill who was later appointed
Managing Director of J. Lyons & Co
Inc. Jack Gledhill was the Managing
Director of the Canadian company when I
last visited in 1964. Tex Cooper was Tea
Blender until he moved to Dublin. Of the
local staff I recall Al Martin, he served
for many years, and Hamish Watters who
joined as a Blender after Tex Cooper left.
The company blended and packed tea for sale throughout
Canada. I always seemed to visit Canada in
winter, which meant wearing galoshes in
the snow. My footwear was always left in
the company's cloakroom and over a five
year period, when visiting the company, I
could always depend on them being there
when I wanted them.
J.
Lyons & Co (Pty) Ltd
The
South African company developed when John
Long was despatched to Cape Town complete
with a loaded Lyons tea van to start an
export business. As the business grew a
company was formed and a factory was built
to blend, pack and distribute tea
throughout South Africa. The factory was
built at Pinetown, Natal, and a sales
office was also opened in Johannesburg.
Later the factory was moved to Saxonwold,
Transvaal. The Managing Director was Louis
Tamine who extended the business into
Rhodesia where, in time, a company was
established and a local factory built to
satisfy this market.
J.
Lyons (Rhodesia) Ltd
This
company, formed in about 1949/50, blended
and packed tea for sale in North and
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It was
based in Beatrice Road, Salisbury (now
Harare), and Gordon Garden was the first
Manager who worked under the direction of
Louis Tamine. Among the Managing Directors
which followed were: Woodhouse, who came
from Horniman's, and Richard Charles. The
company also had a sales office in
Bulawayo. Some tea was shipped direct from
the company's Lujeri Estate in Nyasaland
(now Malawi). In addition to tea, an
ice-cream unit was opened and this was
sold throughout the country mainly by
tricycle sales. Diversification into other
grocery lines followed. Later an
association was formed with Brooke Bond
and the company name was changed to
reflect this.
J.
Lyons & Co Inc.
The
products from the company's UK factories
were sold into the USA via an import agent
until the first American company was
established in 1950. Based in New York,
the company was registered as J. Lyons
& Co. Inc. and it came under the
control of Kenneth Gluckstein. Nigel Corke
and I were despatched to set up the first
office and Nigel remained as Office
Manager. Located on the same floor as the
agent, Mr Adelman, we first had to obtain
furniture, equipment, stationery, set up
banking and legal facilities and install
telephones.
Our main business was associated with the sale of imported
Lyons products. With rationing in the UK,
a gift parcel scheme was introduced into
leading US department stores. These orders
were sent to London where the Export
Department arranged the necessary packing
and despatch of the parcels to UK
addresses.
In February 1952 Lyons bought the American companies of E.
C. Rich Inc. and US Spices Inc. The firm
of E. C. Rich had, for 80 years, been the
leading name in crystallised fruit, ginger
and wine jellies in the United States. E.
C. Rich was a New York based company and
US Spices later moved to Lebanon, New
Jersey. Peter Hill OBE moved down from Canada and took control.
The company outgrew its New York premises and moved to 812
Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, New York. A
production line was installed here to
manufacture Lyons Mint Chocs and a base
established for the sale of imported
products from Lyons.
A few comments about the people involved. Of the E. C.
Rich staff, Johnny was a genius sugar
boiler, Pauline Tipley was Peter Hills
secretary, Kay Moorfoot ran the office. Mr
Money from Lyons' Laboratories spent much
time recording the recipes. Gerry Cadden
helped on sales for a time. George Cooper
was Production Manager at the Jersey City
plant and Jack Gledhill helped with
marketing problems from time to time.
An operation was started to earn dollars for J. Lyons
& Co Inc. with Joe Wertheim, of O. H.
Clapp & Co, responsible for the sale
of bulk, unblended, teas in the US. These
teas were shipped through a complicated
arrangement via Rotterdam and involved Tea
Buying (Greenford), myself in Export
Department and Joe Wertheim in the US.
Profits from this operation were shared
between Messrs Clapp and Lyons Inc.
While in America I would like to say that I accompanied
many of the Lyons Directors on numerous
visits throughout the country studying
various projects that Lyons had shown an
interest in. One interesting project was
the investigation of the Hamburger market
and in December 1955 I spent three weeks
researching fresh and frozen hamburgers.
This involved visiting manufacturers,
sales outlets and eating hamburgers for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Needless to
say I cannot stand the sight of them, even
after all those years. I was privileged to
join Julian and Brian Salmon, together
with Denis Byron, when Lyons negotiated
the purchase of the Wimpy Hamburger
business from Eddie Gold in Chicago. Later
I was involved in the establishment of
Wimpy International Inc.
My involvement in the development of the American
businesses ceased after 1960. However, I
remained active in export sales to the US
and particularly in co-operation with
Calvert Vavasseur & Company in New
York and Reece Finer Foods of Los Angeles,
visiting them often.
Cocoa
Buying. Accra, Gold Coast (Ghana)
This
operation was administered by the Export
Department and was managed in Accra by Mr
Higginson who spent many years there until
his retirement. When he retired the
function was taken over by Richard
Charles. Richard managed the business
until the Ghana Government nationalised
cocoa buying. The business in the Gold
Coast was conducted in an uncomplicated
way. Buyers would set off into the bush
with their car boots loaded with cash.
They would meet local farmers, pay for
their crop - which had been previously
pledged and delivered to Accra where it
was bagged and held in large warehouses
ready for shipment. There was no record of
anyone ever have been robbed. An office in
Tackoradi was managed by a senior cocoa
buyer.
Lujeri
Tea Estate, Nyasaland (Malawi)
The
tea growing estate was administered by the
Export Department subsidiary companies
division. The manager of the estate was
John Ramsden.
Overseas
Trading Corporation (1939) Ltd
In 1826 John
Horniman had founded a tea-packing
business in the Isle of Wight primarily
for home sales. John Horniman's sons moved
the business to Wormwood Street (and
Shepherdess Walk), London, at the end of
the nineteenth century and in 1917 Lyons
took a controlling interest in W. H. and
F. J. Horniman & Co. Ltd. The first
export tea-packing trade in Jersey had
been established in April 1876 by Thomas
Cook, an export merchant in Reading, with
flourishing markets in South America and
the Far East. He had arrived in Jersey
with William Brett to set up a business
packing and exporting tea, presumably to
escape the extortionate excise duties at
home. Cook rented premises in Commercial
Buildings, Old Harbour, St Helier, from
where his tea-packing business was
launched, with William Brett in charge of
the day-to-day management until November
1884, when he was succeeded by Joseph
Walker, Cook's brother-in-law. After
Thomas Cook was killed in a hunting
accident in 1890, the business passed to
Joseph Walker, who, with his five sons,
continued to enlarge the business.
While
Thomas Walker (one of Joseph Walker's
sons) and William Bruce Douglas, a
director of W. H. & F. J. Horniman
& Co. Ltd (now in the hands of Lyons),
were homeward bound on the same ship from
South America, they discussed the
possibility of a merger between the two
firms. This culminated in the formation of
the Overseas Trading Corporation Ltd,
registered in Jersey on 31 January 1920,
to acquire the tea export businesses of
Horniman's, J. Lyons & Co. Ltd
(subject to reservation in some of the
English-speaking countries), Walkers Ltd
and its Argentine subsidiary, Walker
Hermanos Limitada.
In
1940 the German Army occupied Jersey and
confiscated the tea stocks. Those staff,
who had not escaped to the UK, stayed on
in a gallant effort to continue to serve
the island.
Unblended
teas, shipped from Greenford, were packed
in teabags, tins and elaborate packets
with labels in many languages for export
to over 100 countries. In 1964 I was
transferred to Jersey and was appointed a
director. My responsibilities varied over
the years from marketing, buying, factory
management & reorganisation,
computerisation and directorships of
subsidiary companies. When Tetley Tea was
bought I was appointed director of the
Tetley overseas companies. With Paul
Newton, of the Secretary's Office, we
spent much time negotiating with the
subsidiary companies in Sweden, Jamaica
and Portugal to change the shareholding
structure enabling Lyons to have overall
control.
I
would like to mention a few names of
people I worked with in Jersey. They were
Ron Hart, Peter Minchiner, Gerald
Harrison, Christopher Sheehan, Brian
Davies and in particular my most efficient
secretary, Pat Bosio.
Lyons
also had Italian connections and I was
involved in setting up, in 1972, an
agreement between Buitoni Perugina,
Peruga, Italy, and the Jersey Trading
Corporation of Luciaana owned by Franco
Camici, to distribute Lyons tea through
the Buitoni sales network. The Jersey
Trading Corporation had hitherto packed
and sold Lyons tea in Italy.
In
Paris, France, the Overseas Trading
Corporation had a subsidiary under the
title, Th�© Lyons
(Soci�©t�© Anonyme Francaise
Pour Marque Th�© Lyons). I was a
director of that company for many years
assisted in its development and
particularly the enlargement of tea and
infusions in France. The products were
packed in Jersey and shipped to the
warehouse in Avenue Parmentier, Paris. The
French operation had a network of salesmen
throughout
France. Monsieur Flon and Maurice Brechard were fellow
directors.
Following
negotiations in 1967-9, the Japanese Meiji
Seika food and confectionery company came
to an agreement with the Overseas Trading
Corporation to sell Lyons tea through
their network. The tea was supplied by
Lyons' subsidiary company in Colombo,
Heath & Company. It was blended and
shipped direct to Tokyo, from Ceylon, and
then packed for sale by Meiji Seika.
Following this study I undertook, on
behalf of Lyons, preliminary studies of a
number of tea, coffee and infusion
companies in France, Germany and the Low
Countries, with a view to possible
acquisition.
I
retired in April 1976 which ended a career
of 29 happy years with the company.
Looking back on my travelling career I
never want to see another airport lounge
or have any desire to fly again. What I do
cherish, however, are a number of
'crossing the line' certificates I was
presented with by so many airlines.
Although I might give the impression of
being thoroughly fed up I did enjoy the
job immensely.
A. T. Martin
(Tom)
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