Spillers & Bakers, Cardiff Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Guildy.
SPILLER & BAKER on one side and part of CARDIFF on the bottom of the other side.
Company No: 155962; Spillers and Bakers Ltd. Incorporated in 1919. Source - Board of Trade: Companies Registration Office: Files of Dissolved Companies held by The National Archives, Kew. Registered 11/6/1919. “To carry on business as millers and corn and flour merchants, bread and biscuit bakers, and manufacturers of food for animals, and … also in manures, sacks, and barrels, hay, straw, and moss litter.” Several of the directors of this company were directors of similar companies showing a Cardiff origin:- The Cardiff & Channel Mills Ltd. , Cardiff. The Turog Brown Flour Co. Ltd., Cardiff. Spillers Flour Mills Ltd., Cardiff. Spillers Milling & Associated Industries Ltd., Cardiff. Spillers Grain Co. Ltd., Cardiff. Voluntary liquidation Winding-up meeting held on 17/1/1928.
This history located by Paul Cannon. Compiled by Paul Townsend, "The one-man business of Joel Spiller of 1832 has therefore grown into the nationwide organization of Spillers to-day. From Bridgwater and Bristol it spread to Cardiff, where the rapidly expanding coal trade gave it an unexpected impetus. The firm of Spiller and Browne was then founded.
In 1855 the firm began to manufacture ships' biscuits, and were the first in the market with this novel line. Grain offices were opened at Burton, Gloucester and Plymouth about the same time.
In 1882 the Cardiff mill was burnt and rebuilt on the latest lines. Five years later two larger mills were secured in Cardiff.
In 1889 the business was converted into a Limited Company under the title of Spiller and Co. (Cardiff) Ltd., and in the same year the name was changed again into Spillers and Bakers, as the firm joined forces with William Baker and Sons of Bristol.
In the 'nineties a separate business was formed under the name of Spillers Nephews for the manufacture of biscuits and cake
In 1896 the main firm spread its influence to Newcastle-upon-Tyne by purchasing the Phoenix Mills of Messrs. Davidson, which were immediately remodelled.
In 1900, as a wind-up of the old century, a grain office was opened in London, which is now the centre of the company's operations.
With the opening of the new century, the highly successful Turog Brown Flour Co. was launched.
In quick succession biscuit factories were opened at Newcastle-on-Tyne and London, the Cardiff Channel Mills were formed, "Uveco" cereals acquired, and a cattle-food plant established in London.
The control of Nicholas Nagle and Co of Manchester followed.
In 1913 the incorporation of Victoria Foods, and the linking of certain grain businesses under the title of Spillers Grain Co.
Finally, the head office of the entire group was moved to London in 1916 as a preliminary to the programme of planning that was in store as soon as the Great War, then raging, should draw to an end.
The first great step heralding the expansion of Spillers on modern lines, and dividing its history into two main eras, took place in 1919. In 1919 its title was changed from Spillers and Bakers, into Spillers Milling and Associated Industries, which embodied several associated companies, and the new post-war phase of the absorption of similar and allied industries commenced.
The first arrangement was entered into in 1920 with the well-known firm of W. Vernon and Sons, Birkenhead and London. This business was even older than that of Spillers and Bakers, being established over one hundred and fifty years previously. Equally progressive also with three large modern mills and a firm reputation in the household of its product Millennium Flour.
This was followed by an amalgamation with F. A. Frost and Sons, Chester. The founder of this firm, quite apart from his fame as a miller, had certainly contributed to the diversion of all English-speaking peoples as the original of the folk-song "The Miller of Dee."
They were followed by the acquisition of the important firm of John Jackson and Sons of Manchester and Bolton. Jacksons' is a household word in Manchester and throughout Lancashire, and "Ambrosia" Flour, which is the chief product of their mills, is the basis of much of the Lancashire man's food.
Two further amalgamations followed quickly — Rishworth, Ingleby and Lofthouse of Hull and Watson, Todd and Co of Birmingham.
In 1927 the name of the main firm was changed to its present designation of Spillers Limited. Amalgamations and absorptions of a minor character have continued.
Recently the goodwill and trade marks of the animal foods section of the Thames Milling Co were purchased.
More recently the business and goodwill of John White and Sons (Glasgow), and the Craighall Milling Co, also of Glasgow.
1933 -The latest acquisitions have been the share capital of Stoate and Sons of Bristol, and the important animal food business of Rowland Brothers and Co of Avonmouth.
Stoate and Sons of Temple Back Bristol
(this building was demolished to make way for the new Temple Back development. For many years the top floor was used as a night club "Top-Cat Club")
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In 1912 the business Stoate and Sons had outgrown the Watchet site and a new mill was built at Temple Back in Bristol. By this time the huge demand for white flour meant that the ‘roller milling’ system had taken over from the traditional method of grinding the corn between stones.
Leonard Stoate (son of James Stoate) was the technical director of this new mill and saw the enterprise grow through much transformation and expansion of market area.
The business amalgamated with Spillers in 1933 but the family were still actively involved in operations. Brothers David and Norman (sons of Leonard Stoate) carried the family into its fourth generation of milling. Norman Stoate, started out on his own at Cann Mills (the present site) in 1947 taking on what was a country mill supplying animal feed to the many local farmers. Cann Mills was recorded in the Domesday Book and one of five mills within a mile on The Sturkel, a tributary to the River Stour.
By 1975 Spillers the company owned and operated 4 canned pet food factories and 4 biscuit and meal factories in the United Kingdom. Since then the smallest of the biscuit and meal factories (Avonmouth) has ceased production.
1979 Acquired by Dalgety
