BOVRIL LIMITED

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 E/BOV
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: BOVRIL LIMITED
Date(s)	: 1797-1959
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.16 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Bovril Limited | food manufacturers

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Bovril Limited are now owned by Unilever. The following history is from the Unilever website (accessed Oct 2009): "Way back in 1871, Napoleon ordered a million cans of beef for his hungry army. A Scot, John Lawson Johnston, rose to the challenge with his invention "Johnston's Fluid Beef". This was renamed Bovril back in 1886, and so the beefy drink we know and love was born. 16 years later, on Christmas Day of 1902, and far, far away near the South Pole, Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton supped on a cup of Bovril after a chilling 4-hour march. By 1909, it wasn't just explorers and soldiers that took strength from Bovril; hundreds and thousands of football supporters up and down the country were gulping down steaming hot cups of Bovril. In fact, by this time, Bovril was so popular with Brits that an electric advertising sign was erected in London's Piccadilly Circus. By 1968, the Bovril empire owned Argentinean beef ranches that totalled the equivalent to half the size of England. Production was also moved from London to its current home in Burton on Trent." (http://www.ubfoods.co.uk/brands/foodbrands/bovril.aspx).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Bovril Limited, 1797-1959, comprising leases, mortgages, conveyances and other legal documents relating to the ownership of premises on Old Street, Bunhill Row and Banner Street, Finsbury, Islington and Farringdon Street, City of London.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

In 3 sections: papers relating to Old Street; papers relating to Bunhill Row and Banner Street and papers relating to Farringdon Street.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated to the Greater London Record Office [now LMA] on 23 August 1973 (AC/73/062)

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

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