Category:Huntley and Palmers Biscuits

Scale model Huntley and Palmers enamelled tinplate model railway poster [image info]

1930s: Huntley and Palmers promotional General Omnibus biscuit tin [image info]

Depiction of the Huntley and Palmers factory, apparently staffed by elves [image info]

The biscuit tin as we know it seems to have originated with biscuitmakers Huntley and Palmers (H&P), or more specifically, with Joseph Huntley's son (confusingly, also called Joseph). Their biscuit business was strategically placed in Reading on the main road from London to Bath, and found itself doing a goodly amount of business supplying provisions for peckish travellers. Being on a major route between London and Bath meant that it was obvious that the factory could do even more business by supplying both cities, if only they could solve the problem of creating packaging that was rigid and robust (to avoid broken biscuits), while also being airtight, lightweight, and easy to open, and this is where Joseph (junior)'s tin containers with push-fit lids came into their own.

Huntley, Boorne and Stevens (HBS)

The resulting tin-box manufacturing business, Huntley, Boorne and Stevens (HBS) of Reading, became a major manufacturer of all forms of lithographed tinplate container, and their associated company Huntley and Palmers ended up with what they claimed was the world's largest biscuit factory.

While HBS produced most of H&P's biscuit tins, HBS it was an independent company for some years, supplying other manufacturers and businesses, while H&P also bought in some of their tins from other tinplate makers. The result was a thriving creative ecosystem of designers and makers, with major artists often employed to wreak their magic to produce designs and illustrations that could transform simple tinplate into works of mass-producable art.