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London Metropolitan Archives

SMITH KENDON LIMITED {MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS/ CONFECTIONERS}


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/2522

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: SMITH KENDON LIMITED {MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS/ CONFECTIONERS}

Date(s): 1826-1987

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 3.05 linear metres

Name of creator(s): Smith and Co x Smith Kendon Ltd | manufacturing chemists and confectioners

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The origins of Smith Kendon can be traced back to 1780 when William Smith set up business producing confectionery in Fell Street in the City of London. The firm remained a family business operating under the name Smith and Co. and in the 1860s, following a fire which destroyed the Fell Street site, moved to 128-132 Borough High Street, Southwark, where it remained until 1974.

Samuel Smith made the firm's products more medicinal in character. For a short time a factory operated in Messina, Italy producing liquorice but this along with the home production of spices and jams had all ceased by 1914.

Contracts with the Armed Forces kept business going during the Second World War and products such as 'Altoids' ensured the firm's continued success. In 1948 Smith and Co. became a limited company under the name of Smith Kendon Ltd. The additional name was simply an amalgam of 'Ken' and 'Don', the names of the two Smith brothers. In 1974 the firm moved from the Borough High Street to Brigend, Glamorgan. In the same year Smith Kendon was presented with the Queen's Award for industry. The company is now owned by an American firm, Beatrice Foods, but products can still be bought under the traditional Smith Kendon name.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Smith Kendon Limited, 1826-1987. The collection mainly comprises the papers of Donald Smith and his capacity as Managing Director and Chairman of Smith Kendon Limited, including papers relating to the formation of the business such as articles of partnership and certificates of registration; deeds and other legal documents relating to property owned by the company; insurance policies; inventories; correspondence; minutes of meetings; Donald Smith's business diaries; sales figures; financial accounts; papers relating to stock and stock control; papers relating to sales; papers relating to products including recipe books; advertising; reports; staff records and papers relating to the Second World War.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Articles of Partnership ACC/2522/1-12; Property ACC/2522/13-62; Minutes: ACC/2522/63-73; Business diaries ACC/2522/74-113; Finance ACC/2522/114-175; Stock control ACC/2522/176-183; Sales ACC/2522. Also: Products; Advertising; Second World War; General Correspondence; Reports and Memorandum; Staff; Miscellaneous.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the depositor.

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received in 1987.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

Other deposits relating to Smith Kendon Ltd can be found at references ACC/3085 and B/SK.

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: July to October 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Advertising | Communication process
Articles of partnership | Documents | Information sources
Business records | Documents | Information sources
Company directors | Business people | People by occupation | People
Confectioners | Food industry personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Deeds | Documents | Information sources
Drugs | Pharmacology
Industrial facilities | Facilities
Manufacturers | Industrial personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Pharmaceutical chemists | Chemists | Scientists | Scientific personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Sales | Trade (practice)
Company archives
Financial accounts
Property

Personal names

Corporate names
Smith and Co x Smith Kendon Ltd | manufacturing chemists and confectioners

Places