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F. Kendall and Son, Brewers' Chemists of Stratford-upon-Avon

Description

Records of the firm of F. Kendall and Son, their subsidiaries and agencies, with some personal papers.

  • Finding No

    DR197

  • Date

    1845-1966

  • Extent

    315 items

  • Status

    open

  • Level

    collection

  • Associated people

    F Kendall and Son,

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    Enquire about this object

Related material

DR 315/1: Records from the offices of F. Kendall and Son, 1775-1974, rescued on closure of the firm by Frederick Morris, Company Secretary.

Admin History

Frederic Kendall (1809-1883) moved to Stratford, taking over, in 1836 the chemist's shop at 36 High Street, formerly run by S.C. Price. The business prospered and in 1838 he moved to more spacious premises at no. 33 High Street where he could more easily manufacture his preparations. In 1841 he was one of the founding members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Always interested in the preservation of foodstuffs, by 1866 Kendall was manufacturing bisulphite of lime, used largely in the brewing industry. After complaints about the `noxious effluvia', this part of the business was moved to the old lime-works near the canal. The chemist's shop in High Street was handed over to his assistant Richard Hawkes in 1873 and Kendall carried on his pioneering work in the application of science to brewing, with increased manufacture of sulphites, bisulphites of lime and other alkalines. After his death in 1883 the brewing chemicals business, allied to the analysis of water for brewers, was carried on by his son George Frederic as F. Kendall Son and continued to trade until the 1970s, being registered as a limited liability company in 1902. Not all the firm's customers were brewers, but they formed the bulk of the trade, the principal local customer being Flower and Sons, whose old brewery site Kendalls took over in 1910. The business also had offices in France and agents in Australia.