Fry's Cream Easter Egg, 159g

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As chocolate-making continued to progress, other chocolate shaped treats started to appear, including those shaped like animals.

It's not known exactly when people started to decorate their eggs, but research has pointed to the 13th century, when King Edward I gave his courtiers eggs wrapped in gold leaf. In 1847, the Fry's chocolate factory on Union Street, Bristol, moulded a chocolate bar suitable for large-scale production. [1] [3] The firm began producing the Fry's Chocolate Cream bar in 1866. [1] Although it was not unheard of cacao being consumed in solid form, [9] Fry's is considered the first chocolate bar suitable for widespread consumption. [2] [3] [10] Over 220 products were introduced in the following decades, including the UK's first chocolate Easter egg in 1873 and Fry's Turkish Delight (or "Fry's Turkish bar") in 1914. [11] In 1896, the firm became a registered private company, run by the Fry family, with Joseph Storrs Fry II, grandson of the first Joseph Storrs Fry, as the chairman. [12] As Quakers, Fry’s were one of the leading voices in the movement to abolish slavery. However in 1908 there was a major scandal with Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree being accused of buying slave grown cocoa beans from Sao Tome and Principe, a Portuguese owned island off of Angola. Cadbury took the major role in defending the 3 companies and in the end, they were found not guilty. Despite this, all 3 stopped buying beans from this island. The deal is available of Easter eggs bought at Aldi, Tesco, Asda or any other supermarket, customers just have to keep hold of their receipt, Wales Online reports. In October 2007, Cadbury announced plans to close the Somerdale plant, the historic home of the Fry's Factory, by 2010 with the loss of some 500 jobs. In an effort to maintain competitiveness in a global marketplace, production was to be moved to a new factory in Poland. Another motivational factor was the high value of the land. Labour MP for Wansdyke, Dan Norris, said, "News of the factory's closure is a hard and heavy blow, not just to the workforce, but to the Keynsham community as a whole". [14]They also designed colourful adverts for their products in posters and postcards, some of which are on display in the Victorian sweet shop at Preston Park Museum. Today it is common practice to give children, and fortunately adults too, chocolate eggs and chocolate gifts at Easter. Why is this and from where did it arise? Chocolate remained expensive into the 19th century, when Fry's (now part of Cadbury) made the first solid chocolate bars in 1847, revolutionizing the chocolate trade.

While it is true that Quakers in the UK, like the Fry and Cadbury families, helped lead the anti-slavery movement, it is also correct to say that not every Quaker held this view, particularly in America. Records relating to both the business and the family are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 38538). Some records concerning the role of J. S. Fry & Sons within Cadbury are held with the Mondelez International repository at Cadbury's UK headquarters in Bournville. [16] In popular culture [ edit ] Advertisement with the distinctive "five boys", displayed in the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery Don’t forget to get everything you need in for your Easter tea though. Our range of Easter cakes make a delicious addition to your finger food buffet after a delicious Easter roast. Cadbury Brothers Limited first registered with us on 13 June 1899, with 5 members of the Cadbury family listed as the governing directors. In a similar way to Fry’s, several decades later on the 4 January 1970, the company passed a special resolution to change its name to Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited. This remains its name today, still being an active company on the UK register – alongside multiple limited companies with the Cadbury name. You can view their long filing history, including the original 1899 incorporation documents, on Companies House Service. Breast milk is the best ‘whey’ – academic explains breastfeeding benefits and why mothers shouldn’t be embarrassed

During the 1950s Fry's was the fastest-growing chocolate firm in Britain, thanks to old favourites being revitalised and new lines introduced. By the end of the 1960s Cadbury's and Fry's had fully merged and several old-classics, such as Five Boys, disappeared or took on the Cadbury name. It was only in the 1960s and 1970s that supermarkets began to offer chocolate eggs at a cheaper price, hoping to profit off the Easter tradition.

In 1878 Joseph Storrs Fry II and Francis James Fry took over but didn't see eye to eye. They only communicated by letter! During this time they faced stiff competition from Cadbury Bros. of Birmingham. The city-centre location of Fry's was unsuitable for bringing in fresh milk so they used dried milk as a substitute. Meanwhile, Cadbury's were introducing new products and using modern technology. The first ever chocolate bar suitable for widespread consumption having been created by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1847, in Union Street, Bristol, England. "Sweet sweets nostalgia". BBC News. 28 May 2008 . Retrieved 30 May 2008. For the Victorians, chocolate was much more accessible but still something of an indulgence. Thirty years later, in 1873, Fry's developed the first chocolate Easter egg as a luxury treat, merging the two gift-giving traditions. Fry, alongside Cadbury and Rowntree's, was one of the big three British confectionery manufacturers throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and all three companies were founded by Quakers. [4] [5] The company became a division of Cadbury in the early twentieth century. The division's Somerdale Factory near Bristol was closed after the 2010 takeover of Cadbury's by Kraft Foods Inc. [6] [7] History [ edit ] Fry and Sons Manufactory, Nelson Street, Bristol, 1882 Across Europe, eggs were also given as a tithe (a sort of yearly rent) to the local church on Good Friday. This might be where the idea of giving eggs as a gift comes from. The practice died out in many Protestant areas after the Reformation, but some English villages kept the tradition going until the 19th century.Around the world, the likes of France and Germany had been making chocolate eggs for many years before the UK, but these eggs had been made from solid chocolate. Fry’s had been the first to figure out how to use moulds and make hollow eggs. This had been achieved through the Fry family’s innovations in making chocolate by mixing cocoa fat with cocoa powder and sugar. This made a smooth paste which could be poured into egg moulds. Left): Advertisement c. 1910; (right): Drink FRY'S pure breakfast COCOA. "No Better Food". Advertisement for Fry's on the cover of The Strand Magazine, September 1917 Following Joseph Storr II’s death in 1913, and the introduction of the world-famous Fry’s Turkish Delight a year later, the company merged with former rivals Cadbury in 1919. Four years later they were fast outgrowing their city factory and a new one was built and opened six miles away at Somerdale, Keynsham. Its dormant status can be explained by the fact that in 1919, J. S. Fry & Sons merged with the increasingly popular chocolate company, Cadbury.

Chocolate was soon a fashionable drink for the aristocracy, often given as a gift thanks to its high status, a tradition still followed today. It was also enjoyed in the newly opened coffee houses around London. Coffee and tea had also only just been introduced to England and all three drinks were rapidly changing how Britons socially interacted with each other. More practically, eggs were a staple part of everyone’s diet – rich or poor – and crucially they were forbidden during Lent. This enforced abstinence explains their prominence in Shrovetide customs immediately before Lent, and at Easter when they make a return to the table. Eggs were given as gifts, paid as rent to social superiors in the medieval manor, and given to the church. In some farming communities, eggs functioned as a minor currency, and since hens were looked after by women within the household economy, this gave them a modest but regular income, as well as a rich source of protein with which to supplement their family’s diet. Modern slavery is still a problem in cocoa production and important steps are being taken by manufacturers to help eradicate it from the chocolate industry once and for all. Near the start of World War I, the company was one of the largest employers in Bristol. Joseph Storrs Fry II died in 1913. In 1919 the company merged with Cadbury's chocolate and the joint company was named "British Cocoa and Chocolate Company". Under Egbert Cadbury the Fry's division began from 1923 to move to Somerdale, Keynsham, just outside Bristol. After 1981 the name Fry's was no longer in use at Somerdale; however, the factory was still a major producer of Cadbury's products.

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Generations of Bristol families produced Fry’s and Cadbury’s chocolate treats - like Chocolate Cream, Turkish Delight, Curly Wurly, Crunchie - at the Keynsham building until it closed its doors in 2011. Bought out by Kraft Foods, who had originally agreed to keep the factory open, chocolate production was transferred to Poland, putting more than 500 local people out of work. In England, the most popular way of decorating was with petals, which made colorful imprints. The Wordsworth Museum in the Lake District still has a collection of eggs made for the poet's children from the 1870s. On the BBC television programme Being Human, an old Fry's Cocoa billboard hangs prominently on the side of the B&B where the main characters reside in Series 3–5. The billboard is a nod to the show's original Bristol location. [17]