Nigel Britton
My great, great grandfathers, Edwin Samson Moore and Edward Eastwood established their Midland Vinegar Company in 1874 at Aston Cross Birmingham England. Their business was the manufacturing of vinegar of which they claimed to be the largest producer in the world. In 1899 they bought the rights to a Nottingham grocers [Frederick Gibson Garton] HP Sauce in an apparent cancellation of a debt he had with them. Messrs Eastwood and Moore went on to develop the sauce into the world wide icon and British institution we all know and love today.
Nigel Britton's book is the history of the Midland Vinegar Company and HP Sauce Limited from 1874-2013. With over 260 pages, 150 illustrations and photographs his book reveals the true meaning of the acronym HP. It deals with all the rumours and myths that have surrounded the "sauce" and all the characters involved in its success. He gives the reader an in depth history of not only HP Sauce but also other family business's that Nigel's relations ran during the Victorian and Edwardian period. Amongst them "Britains Toys", [Britains lead soldiers - plastic farm animals] The "BRITTON" cycle pump, and how that invention with Dunlop's tyres, revolutionised the bicycle. Edward Eastwood's railway wagon company of Chesterfield who manufactured millions of railway wagons used to transport coal and goods across the country and world during the Victorian "railway mania" period, how that company financed HP Sauce and its eventual success. Nigel is a cousin of the TV celebrity presenter and author Fern Britton. With all these connections interlinking, Nigel's book is a history of Victorian family business's and the influence they have had in our daily lives.