1768
Richard Tapper Cadbury was born in Exeter.
1794 Richard Tapper came to Birmingham Richard Tapper Cadbury came to Birmingham having trained as a draper with his friend and fellow Quaker Joseph Rutte (Joseph left the business after 4 years). Richard became a respected citizen in Birmingham; involved in public affairs on the town council; serving on the Boards of the General Hospital, Eye Hospital and the Institutions; and becoming an active promoter of the railways.
1802 John Cadbury was born in Birmingham, leaving for Leeds 16 years later to apprentice as a tea dealer.
1824 John Cadbury returned to Birmingham and started a business next to his father's drapers shop in Bull Street, selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. The emphasis was on quality.
1831 The manufacture of drinking chocolate and cocoa began in a small rented factory in Crooked Lane, Birmingham.
1842 By this time John Cadbury sold 16 types of drinking chocolate and 11 cocoas.
1847 A larger factory in Bridge Street, Birmingham, was rented and John's brother Benjamin became a partner.
1849 John and his brother Benjamin, pulled out of retail, passing this side of the business to a nephew, Richard Cadbury Barrow.
1854 Cadbury Brothers opened an office in London and received the Royal Appointment as Cocoa Manufacturers to Queen Victoria. The mid 50s were hard and the brothers nearly wound up the business.
1860 The Cadbury Brothers dissolved their partnership.
After the death of his wife and a long illness, John stepped down and Richard and George took over in 1861.
1864 The company moved into profit and the brothers, Richard and George, looked for ways to set their business apart.
They bought a Van Houten Press - it would help them produce pure cocoa butter, and meant there was no need to add starchy ingredients.
1865 The Cadbury Brothers launch of Cocoa Essence, a new unadulterated product. "Absolutely pure and therefore Best".
1869 Cadbury became the first business to put pictures instead of printed labels onto chocolate boxes.
1873 With the success of the chocolate business, the Cadbury brothers stopped selling tea and coffee and concentrated purely on chocolate.
1875 The first Easter eggs were produced.
1878 The Cadbury Brothers bought 4.5 acres of land in the countryside and set about developing a "Factory in a Garden".
1879 Building began in January and was completed in the autumn. 'Bournville' came from Bourn, the name of the stream running through the estate, and ville, the French word for town (all things French were considered very a la mode at the time).
1886 Cadbury became one of the first firms to open dining rooms with kitchens and with food on sale.
1887 It was a rule of the company that women had to leave work when they got married, and wedding gifts of a bible and a carnation were given to women who left to get married. This was on the insistence of George Cadbury who didn't want to take mothers away from their children, and who believed there were plenty of lazy husbands who would be content to send their wives out to work instead of working themselves.
1889 After devoting the rest of his life to civic and social work, John Cadbury died.
An export department was set up in Bournville.
1895 The purchase of Bournbrook Hall Estate enabled the factory to be enlarged. Existing workers' gardens were extended and a proper men's sports ground was developed.
1896 The men's Athletic Club was formed.
1897 A savings account was opened for every employee. Those employed for 3 years or more received 20 shillings, everyone else 10 shillings.
Cadbury produced its first milk chocolate but it was coarse and dry - no comparison to the Swiss chocolate made by Daniel Peter, which used condensed milk. George Cadbury went to Switzerland to learn about this and then installed a milk condensing plant at Bournville. The new chocolate bar was an improvement but still no rival to the Swiss chocolate. Work continued on milk chocolate.
1898 Workers' hours were reduced from 53.5 to 48 per week.
1899 Richard Cadbury died at the age of 63.
The business became a private limited company, Cadbury Brothers Ltd, by which time the Bournville factory had trebled in size and employed over 2,600 workers.
The Girl's Athletic Club was formed.
1900 George Cadbury founded Bournville Village Trust. This included 330 acres of land, providing spacious and sanitary houses. By 1915 Bournville's infant mortality rate was down to 47 per 1,000 live births: in central Birmingham the rate was 187 per 1,000.
1902 Men's and Women's Suggestions Committees were set up, formalising a process that already existed. In 1893 women had voted in favour of starting work later than 6am and leaving later each day.
Cadbury was offered an estate on San Thome (a West African island). Investigations showed that the estate used slave labour, so Cadbury instead looked to the Gold Coast (Ghana), where the quality of cocoa was at the time perceived as poor. In 1909 William Cadbury visited Odumassi and learnt that the chief there personally supervised cocoa production, so in 1910 Cadbury starting buying cocoa from Ghana at market price.
A visitor's department set up at Bournville, which by 1939 was dealing with 150,000 visitors per year. Visitors were taken on tours of the factory and village, told about its history and provided with refreshments (increasingly stringent health and safety rules meant that this had to finish around 1970).
1905 A Men's Committee and then a Women's Committee was set up. Their work influenced many government decisions. Both committees met weekly and representatives were elected.
Cadbury Dairy Milk was launched. It was going to be called Cadbury's Dairy Maid but the name was changed 6 weeks prior to launch.
1906 Bournville Works Educations Committees formed. Within 4 years all young workers had to attend evening classes until 18. (This became voluntary in 1913).
Bournville Cocoa came on sale in response to a demand for a cocoa flavoured with spices and with an intense taste (which came from treatment with alkalis).
1908 Bournville Chocolate was launched - the original dark chocolate.
1910 The number of employees at Bournville had grown to 5,300.
1911 All workers, men and women, were given holidays with pay and included in the company pension scheme.
A milk condensing factory was opened outside Bournville, meaning milk could be handled "on the spot".
1913 A second factory was set up in Gloucestershire. This meant that both factories were situated by canals, ensuring economical transportation.
1914 Cadbury's Dairy Milk had become the firm's biggest line.
During the war Cadbury supported the war effort. Over 2,000 male employees joined the armed forces and Cadbury sent books, warm clothes and chocolate to the front. Cadbury even augmented the Government allowances to its workers' dependants. At the end of the war soldiers were taken care of: returning to work; being sent on educational courses; or being looked after in convalescent homes.
1915 Milk Tray was launched. Chocolates were put onto trays in special 5.5lb boxes and sold loose to customers, at 3.5d per lb. A deep lined box was introduced in 1916 and a 1lb box in 1924.
1916 Cadbury took over Fry's. Fry's had been the market leader for the whole of the 19th Century and dated back to 1756, when Joseph Fry set up business as an apothecary and maker and seller of chocolate. Fry's suffered from inefficient buildings and outdated machinery, and was no match for the well-planned and efficient factory in Bournville. In 1923 Somerdale - a new factory - was built in the country.
1919 Workers hours were reduced to 44 per week as Saturday ceased to be a full working day.
1920 Cadbury's Flake was launched.
1922 George Cadbury died.
1923 Cadbury began to sell whipped fondant eggs - the first ever Cadbury Creme Eggs!
1924 Fry's Turkish Delight was launched.
1928 Cadbury Dairy Milk with Fruit & Nut was launched.
The first poster appeared announcing that there were "1½ Glasses of English Full Cream Milk in Every ½lb of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chcocolate".
1929 Crunchie was launched.
1932 Bournvita made with malt extracted from barley, full-cream milk, the finest cocoa and eggs, was launched.
1933 Cadbury's Dairy Milk with WholeNut was launched.
1934 A free miniature animal was given away with the purchase of a specially designed tin of cocoa.
1936 Following the success of the 1934 promotion, Cococub Club was launched and within 2 years there were 300,000 members receiving the monthly magazine.
1938 Cadbury's Roses assortment and milk chocolate marzipan eggs were launched.
10,000 men and women were employed at Bournville alone.
1939 1939-45 Cadbury contributed to the war effort in many ways, from converting parts of the factory to workrooms (manufacturing all kinds of equipment such as milling machines for rifle factories) to the production of pilots seats for Defiant fighters. Its workers also ploughed up football pitches to grow crops, and during air raids the company's St John's Ambulance unit played a vital role, whilst others helped to distribute cups of hot cocoa to helpers after attacks.
1948 Fudge was launched.
1958 Picnic was launched.
1960 Cadbury's Buttons were launched.
1967 Cadbury's Mini Eggs were introduced.
1969 Cadbury merged with Schweppes.
1970 Curly Wurly was launched.
1971 Cadbury's Creme Egg as we know it today was launched.
1976 Cadbury's Caramel and Double Decker were launched.
1983 Wispa was launched.
1985 Boost was launched.
1987 Twirl was launched.
1988 Cadbury purchased Lion Confectionery.
1989 Cadbury purchased both Trebor and Bassett.
Cadbury's White Buttons were launched.
1990 Cadbury World Visitor Centre opened and welcomed 400,000 visitors in first year.
1992 Timeout was launched.
1993 Cadbury opened the world's largest and most advanced chilled warehouse in Minworth, Birmingham.
1996 Fuse was launched and 40 million bars were sold in the first week.
Cadbury's sponsorship of Coronation Street began.
1999 Cadbury's Miniature Heroes and Cadbury's Giant Buttons were launched.
2001 Cadbury's Brunchbar, Dream and SnowFlake were all launched.
2002 Boost with Guarana was launched.
|