SMITH KENDON LIMITED {MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS/ CONFECTIONERS}

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 B/SK
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SMITH KENDON LIMITED {MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS/ CONFECTIONERS}
Date(s)	: 1825-1942
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 4.56 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, manufacturing chemists and confectioners, 1825-1942. The records consist mainly of financial records including indexed ledgers, stock books, annual financial statements, cash books, inventories, advertising cards, leases and licences.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

B/SK/01-42: Legal and Administrative; B/SK/43-222: Financial.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in 1958.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Further records of Smith Kendon can be found at ACC/2522 and ACC/3085.

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