INDUSTRIES 



Twyford, Messrs. H. Hewett & Co. ; at 

 Mortimer, Messrs. Mosdell & Pagze; at 

 Donnington, Mr. E. E. Palmer ; at Buck- 

 land, Messrs. Phillips & Sons, Limited. It is 

 not intended in this section to record the 

 names of all the Berkshire brewers, but enough 

 has been said to prove that the industry is 

 widely extended throughout the county, and 



shows no sign of decay. One important firm 

 states that it has quadrupled its output during 

 the last thirty years. Whatever may be the 

 effect of the new Licensing Act it appears 

 unlikely that the industry will suffer any real 

 diminution, or that the reputation of the 

 Berkshire ales, especially those of Windsor and 

 Reading, will be seriously affected. 



BISCUIT MAKING 



Reading has for several years been recog- 

 nized as the chief home of the manufacture of 

 biscuits, and the works of Messrs. Huntley 

 & Palmers, Limited, have attained a world- 

 wide reputation. This industry is entirely of 

 modern growth and has increased with 

 extraordinary rapidity during recent years. 

 The history of the rise and development of 

 the industry is not devoid of interest. In 

 1830 Messrs. Joseph Huntley & Son were 

 established as biscuit bakers in London Street. 

 At that time the only kind of biscuits which 

 were known were what are called ' captain's 

 biscuits.' The late Mr. George Palmer in 

 1841 joined Mr. Thomas Huntley in partner- 

 ship, and by sound judgment and good sense 

 contributed largely to the laying of the 

 foundations of the trade. Some new varieties 

 of biscuits were invented, but little progress 

 was made in the expansion of the business 

 until the abolition of the Corn Laws, and the 

 introduction of free trade in wheat during 

 the year 1846 improved the conditions of the 

 industry and made it possible to sell biscuits 

 at a small price. The demand rapidly in- 

 creased, and it was soon found to be impossible 

 to make by hand a sufficient number of 

 biscuits in order to satisfy the wants of the 

 public. It was then determined by the firm 

 to try and invent some machine in order to 

 help the manufacture. Mr. George Palmer 

 designed and planned the first biscuit-making 

 machine, by which the biscuits could be cut 

 out and stamped with far greater speed than 

 by mere hand labour. The machine was the 

 forerunner of still more ingenious mechanical 

 contrivances, which are now in use in the 

 Reading factory. 



At the time of the great exhibition of 

 1851 the firm only employed 200 workpeople. 

 Eleven years later the number of persons 

 engaged at the works had been doubled. In 

 1867 it was nearly 1,000. At the time of the 

 Paris Exhibition of 1878 nearly 3,000 persons 

 were employed, while at the present time the 

 total is between 5,000 and 6,000 hands. 



The buildings have also increased in the 

 same proportion from the modest factory in 



use half a century ago to the present large 

 pile of buildings situate in the King's Road, 

 and extending a long distance towards the 

 lines of the South-Eastern Railway. The 

 river Kennet flows between the two sections 

 of the property owned by the firm and is 

 spanned by many bridges. 



In 1857 Mr. Huntley died, but Mr. George 

 Palmer was assisted in the continued develop- 

 ment of his business by his two brothers, Mr. 

 Samuel and Mr. William Isaac Palmer, who 

 had previously joined the firm. The success 

 of the industry and its extraordinary growth 

 were mainly due to the inventive genius, 

 energy and application of these three gentle- 

 men. 



The firm was converted into a private 

 limited company in 1898, and the directors 

 are Messrs. George William Palmer, Alfred 

 Palmer, S. Ernest Palmer, Sir Walter Palmer, 

 M.P. for Salisbury, Charles H. Palmer, 

 W. Howard Palmer, Albert J. Palmer, and 

 William Bullivant Williams. The firm have 

 their own railway within the works, which is 

 connected with the lines of the three railway 

 companies having stations in Reading. 



It is beyond the scope of this history to 

 describe minutely the operations of manu- 

 facturing companies, or to give accounts of 

 their machines and factories. But as the 

 works of Messrs. Huntley & Palmer differ 

 greatly from ordinary enterprises it may be 

 well to furnish a short sketch of the work done 

 in this Reading biscuit factory, where more 

 than four hundred varieties of biscuits are 

 manufactured, besides a large assortment of 

 cakes. The principal feature of the first room 

 in the factory is the revolving pans in which 

 the material for the different kinds of biscuits 

 are mixed into dough. The dough is placed 

 in one of the huge rolling presses and cutting 

 machines, and after passing through it 

 emerges in the required shape of biscuits ; 

 these are transferred to the ovens on trays, 

 and by means of revolving bands are passed 

 through the heated chambers, and emerge 

 duly baked. The speed of the passage 

 through the ovens can be carefully regulated, 



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