Bite Size: Striking Gold

A John Gold & Sons of Balclutha crown cap soft drink bottle, probably 1920s. Image courtesy of Graeme, aka grayman on Trade Me, The Oddity, Waikouaiti. 

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This one really had me stumped this morning. Thinking at first it was a soft drink, being a typical early crown-cap bottle – I had no records coming up anywhere for a “John Cold”, which by now I know means something is not right. Then I noticed it stated “baker” in the embossing. What kind of product could it be? Tomato sauce was the first thing that crossed my mind. All that fruit and sugar used to make preserves goes hand in hand with with baking and confectionery . Dozens of searches in my usual go-tos were fruitless (sorry!), and that’s just not possible. Eventually I struck Gold. Literally. The name is spelled wrong on the bottle!

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The Waitomo departing New Zealand for the U.K. in April 1915 with two bakers aboard: John Gold and Edgar (sic) Gold.

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John Gold was operating in Clutha in the first quarter of the C20th. He was born in Scotland, 1873 where he won the majority of his thirty plus medals for his fine baking skills. He had arrived with his family in 1908 which included wife Margaret Boyes Gold, and offspring James and Edward Boyes Gold (1896-1968) who formed with him John Gold & Sons in the mid-teens. He possibly also had daughters Annie and Mary, Records of the family coming into Wellington on the “Tongariro” show two females whose names both begin with M. A later record shows John leaving on the “Waitomo” in 1915, no doubt on one of his many trips back to the U.K. for shows and conventions, with an Edgar, also a baker (obviously a mistake with the name). First residing in Dunedin, he came to Balclutha in early 1915 and purchased the business of A. Hutton in Clyde Street, in early February 1916. He immediately developed a beneficial strategic relationship with a client – The Dominion Pressed Yeast Co (later D.Y.C Vinegar, which many will remember) – enough so that they wrote a glowing testimonial for his bread in 1916 which was used publicly as an advert.

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L: A John Gold & Sons of Balclutha crown cap soft drink bottle, probably 1920s. Image courtesy of Graeme, aka grayman on Trade Me, The Oddity, Waikouaiti. R: Advertisement for  J (John) Gold’s baked goods with testimonial from D.Y.C, Clutha Leader, 21 April 1916. Image Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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By the mid 1920s his importance was such that he was vice-president of the New Zealand Master Baker’s Association. He continued to operate through the 1920s and died age 64 in 1936. As I say earlier, I was guessing the container was for tomato sauce – as that is often associated with bakers, pastry cooks and confectioners – and I have run across quite a number of them that had lines of sauces, chutneys and jams. However, very occasionally in the past John Gold & Sons soda syphons have turned up at auction mentioning his plethora of British awards – along with other crown cap bottles – that indicate they definitely dipped their toe in fruit cordials, soda, and soft drink manufacturing at some point. All these items are considered very rare so I would say it was a brief foray. Interestingly, John Gold & Sons crown caps are also known with a misspelling – some with “medalist” and others “medallist”. Grammar was clearly not this family’s strong suit. The AGM markings on the base of one indicate it was likely manufactured post 1922. A scarce tan-top jug issued as a promotion by the business indicates they also had a branch at Milton for some time. It’s still just weird there’s no mentions of the family’s association with soft drinks, cordials, soda or sauces anywhere. a a a

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Bite Size: Frisco Candy Kitchen

Karangahape Road, Auckland, by W. T.Wilson, May 1910. Frisco Candy Kitchen at right showing hoarding advertising American Boss, Swales’s speciality. Image courtesy of  Alexander Turnbull Library, ref PA5-0015.

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A friend, knowing I am interested in such things, sent me a picture today regarding the Frisco Candy Kitchen, and asked if I knew anything about it. Yes I was familiar with it, as it appears in at least three photos taken in the early part of the Twentieth Century of the Newton, Auckland area and I had noticed it in passing. I hadn’t ever paused on it and wondered what the back story was – however I rarely encounter a dud – and yet again there is an interesting tale behind it, or at least I am actually able to find some material on something so obscure. The Frisco Candy Kitchen was on one of the corners of Pitt Street and Karangahape Road (this intersection seems to have been popular with photographers for postcard snaps), in the 1900s and 1910s and was owned by C. E. Swales. However one image, by Henry Winkelmann shows it may have been in operation into the 1920s.

Swales’ Confectionery, Thames: an early mention of ice cream, and a first appearance of American Boss.  Thames Star, 23 October 1903, Page 3. Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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Charles Edward Swales was born in New Zealand in early 1871 to Councillor John Clemshaw (1827-1909)  and Lucy Swales (nee Jones, 1828-1907) who had arrived on The Shalimar in 1859 and settled in Ponsonby. His father, considered a gentleman by the time he retired in the mid 1890s, began as a plumber and tinsmith in Young’s Alley off Wellesley Street, then in retirement represented Auckland city for a number of years and sat on the boards of Ponsonby Highway and Hospital Charitable Aid, the Streets Committee, the Ponsonby School Committee as well as being a trustee of the Wesleyan Church. In other words a quite prominent and respected family. They lived in Dedwood Terrace, near the corner of Caroline Street, for over 45 years, being some of the oldest residents of the area (Dedwood was Ponsonby’s earlier name and I wish they had kept it; Tim Burton would move straight in). Charles’s siblings were John William (1861, a plumber and gasfitter who inherited his father’s business), Richard Henry  (known as Harry, 1863, later a well-known merchant and military tailor on Victoria Street West), Annie Maria (1865), Sarah Ann (1869), and Frederick James (1873).

Looking east from Pitt Street along Karangahape Road, showing Frisco Candy kitchen on right. Photo by Henry Winkelmann, 1919. Image courtesy of Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1-W1682.

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However as I started to follow the trail backwards I found that Swales had an earlier career as an “art photographer” first in the city’s main road, Queen Street, as a young man – at number 322 in the mid-1890s; then in Pollen Street, Thames, Coromandel soon after; he appears there in 1896. Newspaper adverts of 1897 mention his “many years of experience at leading Auckland studios.” Between May and December of that year he closed his business, called for tenders, rebuilt his studios and re-opened. The last advert for his career behind the camera that I can find appears on the last day of August 1899, and seemingly his work in that area finished up by the end of 1900 at latest. In 1902 he married Ellen Thorburn (1879-1956).

“F. H. Creamer, a noted walker.” New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 8, 1 May 1900, Page 623. The only image I could find of a photo taken by Swales. Image courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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By mid 1902 an ad appears for C.E. Swales, confectioner, in Pollen Street, offering ice cream. So his learning curve lasted no more than two years at the very most. I’d be interested to know which confectioner he quickly learned his trade with, though. It is very likely he served an apprenticeship with Charles Palmer or Collins Bros also both of Pollen Street, which I previously covered here.

C. E. Swales’s “Elite Studio” Auckland Star, 26 February 1895, Page 8. I was wondering why this address sounded familiar; my grandfather had his factory at 323 Queen Street. Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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I am placing bets it was Palmer that Swales studied the art of candy making with – simply because they were a much bigger and longer established business – who also advertised ice cream they were making, from at least 1891. This mention, by the way, is the fourth-earliest historical evidence I have run across of commercial ice cream making for retail in New Zealand thus far. Although admittedly, an objective look at the overall history of this genre in New Zealand has not really been focussed on by myself – just pockets here and there. It makes Swales the sixth-earliest mention. Anyway, it’s interesting to ruminate on – besides both areas being considered “creative” – what the inspiration was for the change to such a dramatically different field.

Looking east along Karangahape Road, from the corner of Pitt Street, showing Frisco Candy Kitchen on right. Photo by Frederick George Radcliffe, 1907. Image courtesy of Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A4724.

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In October 1903 Swales offers “all kinds of confectionery and sweets”, as well as something called “American Boss.” The Wilson image of 1910 shows a hoarding on K Road painted with the slogan “The original American Boss” over the Frisco Candy Kitchen shop. Obviously Boss was a kind of candy as I have references to “American Boss” being sold by Waughs confectioners in the 1910s and “Boss Balls” by The Bluebird confectionery in the 1920s. However I’ve been unable to find out anything more about it, as far as a recipe or even any mention, so I am speculating this recipe was some kind of Australasian corruption of a foreign treat that was popularised down under – rather like Sally Lunns and others which were given their unique twist and name, then adopted wholeheartedly. About this time of the first American soda fountains in Aotearoa there seems to have been a trend for things Yankee.

A variety of services at Swales’s studios. Thames Star, 5 January 1897. Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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By 1905 Charles and Ellen were back in Auckland living with his father; John Swales, now referred to as a ‘gentleman’, had acquired another home for his retirement at 6 Yarborough Street, Ponsonby, and Harry was living in the former family home. Charles would have established the Frisco Candy Kitchen that year. From this time on, he listed his occupation as ‘confectioner’ but  interestingly, he was never too far away from photography; later on the second floor above Frisco Candy Kitchen was occupied by snappers – at various times both Rowland Chubb who ran the British Photographic Studio, and Frederick Harmer ‘s Childhood Photographic studios, also known as Peter Pan Portraits, were in situ.

From left: John Clemshaw Swales, Richard Henry ( Harry) Swales’s shop, and Harry Swales. Ironically I wasn’t able to find a picture of Charles Edward. Portraits from The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1902, courtesy of  NZETC (New Zealand Electronic Text Collection), Victoria University of Wellington Library. Middle image looking south east  from corner of Albert St down Victoria St West towards Albert Park, showing premises of R. H. Swales, tailor.  He had been running this business for nearly twenty years by this time. Photo by Henry Winkelmann, 1907. Image courtesy of Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1-W1441.

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Charles and Ellen’s only known child was John Louis Swales (b 1910). Seemingly they were prosperous from the sweets business for Charles and Ellen owned more than one residence; by at least 1915 they had acquired a property at Victoria Road, Mount Eden, and an advert of that year offers for lease a five room house near Three Lamps (Ponsonby) and asks for applications to be made to Frisco Candy Kitchen. Obviously they had inherited the Dedwood Terrace house post their father’s death and were managing it as a rental property.

Swales’s Pollen Street premises closes and re-opens. Clockwise from top L: Thames Star, 31 March 1897, Page 3; 11 December 1897, Page 4; and 18 March 1897, Page 3. Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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There are advertisements seeking staff from at least 1906 to 1915. Several of them which ran seeking “a smart young lady for the shop” were dated late 1911. That smart young lady was Phyllis Adelaide French, later the subject of a notorious case of tragic demise. She was successful in obtaining the position and worked for Swales until mid-April of the following year when she stopped turning up for work, a note being sent that she was unwell with the flu.
A few days later, she was dead – seemingly the victim of peritonitis attended to far too late to save her. This was caused by a terribly botched abortion she obtained when she became pregnant, after an affair with a married man from Christchurch – while they were both living in a boarding house in Union Street. Swales was named as a witness to appear at the inquest. You can read articles outlining in detail the court proceedings here and here. It’s an interesting look into the stigma of becoming pregnant out of wedlock and how it was dealt with in secrecy and shame, a century ago – with disastrous results. How times have changed.

 The successful applicant died while in Swales’s employ. New Zealand Herald, 29 November 1911, Page 1.Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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It was an interesting moment when I realised that Phyllis was the very person who had filled the position being advertised earlier. Sometimes you get an objective peek in on history, and feel like you’re kind of privy to a weird sequence of events that fall like dominoes – and nobody else could have known they were going to be related.

Frisco Candy Kitchen at the intersection of Karangahape Road and Pitt Street, in 1919. From a Souvenir Folder of Auckland, published  in the early 1920s by Tanner Bros Ltd. Image courtesy of Hayden Oswin.

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It’s unknown exactly when Swales finished up the Frisco Candy Kitchen. In 1917 he enlisted in the army indicating his occupation as ‘sugar boiler’; And at various times after this they seem to switch between the Mount Eden and Ponsonby addresses, until 1928 when a new residence at 768 Manukau Rd, Royal Oak and a new premises, at 17 Victoria Avenue, Remuera, is registered. The latter seems to have been a retail shop so indicates that Frisco probably closed in the mid 1920s. Charles and John Louis were both recorded as ‘shop assistants’, along with Ellen, at Victoria Ave as late as 1935 when Charles passed away at 64 years. He died at Ruawai, a small township located 30 km south of Dargaville in Northland; I have no information on why he was there when he passed away.  Ellen and John Louis continued to run the Remuera shop until the end of WWII;  after which Ellen opened a new premises at Horoeka Avenue, Mt Eden. They stayed at this address until the end, running a business from here until it closed around 1956 when she died, followed by her son seven years later.
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Biscuit Bitchfight

I ran across this little series of ads, below, by chance whilst looking into Hudson’s (the famous biscuit and chocolate brand) and found them quite amusing.
In them, two rival Invercargill bakers go at each other over a perceived trademark infringement; duelling in ink on newsprint rather than with the sword. Well, they do say the pen is mightier. If it was today there would be high-powered lawyers involved, adjusting their silk designer ties (or over-size pearls, if it were Gloria Allred) before stepping up to the mike to address the press with a statement outside the court for whichever major foodstuffs corporation they happened to be representing in the battle. Because nothing is small any more. But back then in simpler times – yet more unusual circumstances perhaps – they chose to take public pot-shots at each other in the local newspaper, to settle their beef.
What amounted to a particular name stamped onto the finished product was a bone of contention for these two early Invercargill bakers. Of course in the Nineteenth Century, and well into the Twentieth – the moniker “Excelsior” was up there with Lion, Acme, Peerless and Anchor et al as the most worn out, ubiquitous product names. For example, there were over time, and possibly even at the same time, at least four or even more different brands of biscuits with this name.

Gallacher vs. Booth:  Southland Times,8 September, 1880 .

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The three ads all ran on the same page in the same column, of the same issue which gives rise to the question – how had A. F. Gallacher known about J. C. Booth’s ad prior to publishing, in order to respond? It did flash across my mind that it may have been a stunt, and did a journalist at the paper perhaps have a helping hand in fanning the flame? Once this clicked I became even more curious as to whether this was just some sort of elaborate publicity gig between the two of them.
Actually, at no point during my researches have I found a mention that Gallacher used the Excelsior name once for anything. I have no reason to doubt that he did otherwise Booth would not have written the letter in the first place. Or was it all a beat-up?

Booth ran the exact same standard ad as this one for his Excelsior factory a couple of hundred times through 1880 and 1881, with no variation. So what happened before and after his apparently short stint? I was curious about the two fellows involved and their history, and it looked at first like I was going to get nothing on either of them. Then like always there’s a small chink, you wedge open the door that appears – and it’s like a torrent of badly stacked papers in an over-stuffed cupboard, that have had the door forced closed on them – when you open it, everything falls out on your head and onto the floor in a mess.

So J.C. Booth was James Charles, known as Charles or Charlie. He was born in the small village of West Hythe, on the edge of Romney Marsh, England in 1852. In 1871 there is the first record of him working as a bakers assistant (officially, a servant) for Thomas Gee in Dover Pier, Dover (now simply known as The Pier, it was not at the sea but some way inland).

James Charles Booth, baker, 1852-1917.

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He also spent some time residing in St Mary just east of Romney as a baker’s assistant. He obviously undertook this for a number of years in order to gain the experience needed to later strike out on his own. However between then and leaving the country, there’s record of him working as an agricultural labourer (probably because being a servant “officially”, was also officially a shitty job). Perhaps he wanted experience in cultivating and processing grains which would have been a bonus in knowledge. Likely he remained in Kent during this period. In early 1874 Booth left from The Downs, on the Kent Coast on the Wennington , and arrived to Wellington in April. He immediately found work as a baker in Invercargill. Wasting no time he married Mary Hinson Wright (1854-1925) before the year was out at the Wesleyan Church there. In 1882 Booth took part in the international exhibition of Christchurch with a display of wares. Along with Aulsebrook’s they were described as “… colonial manufacturers of this class of goods (who) seem to hold their own against outside competition”, high praise in the days when the country was only just beginning to break away from importing just about everything – and all goods from “home” were seen as superior, no matter what the quality in comparison.

Glasgow Pie House opens, Southland Times, 11 August 1881.

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The following year he left Invercargill leaving his debtors to pay a certain John Hare. most of his children with Mary were born before moving on to the North Island; Alice Mary 1876, Eliza Jane 1877, James Charles Jr. 1879, William Stephen 1881, and Florence Louise 1883. Three more offspring followed the relocation – Ruby Ellen Jane 1885, Cecil Frank 1887, and Omega in 1889. None of the eight births appear to be registered. Before the end of 1883 he was working as a mill hand and baker at Nicholson’s Mill, Northland. Not long after he listed his occupation as “farm owner” of Kent Farm, in Booth Road, Kaipara. And here he stayed working as a dairy farmer except for a trip to Britain (London and Kent) and Australia (Brisbane) in 1894. He was done in by a stroke and buried Port Albert Public Cemetery in Northland, aged 65 years. So that’s him.

A. F. Gallacher had a much more tumultuous time (mostly his own doing I think). Andrew Francis Gallacher, baker and confectioner, was born 1844 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. I do not know when he immigrated; but a list of unclaimed letters in the Otago Daily Times , notes one for an Andrew S. Gallacher in June 1864 (a mistake I think), and then again in April 1865 for Andrew Gallacher. Nor do I know much of his career before he comes to our attention – however I probably still have more details of his life of pie than the former party. He married Jessie Fraser in New Zealand in 1871 and had the following children with her; William John Gallacher born Dunedin in 1872, Samuel Joseph 1879, James Ernest 1880, Margaret Elizabeth Anne 1873, Jessie Henrietta 1874, and Catherine 1875.
In 1875 the first mention of his business is the opening of the Gallacher & Co’s “Inverness Bread and Biscuit Manufactory” in Dee Street opposite Yarrow, Invercargill, with a J.A. Frederic as partner, a “commodious premises” with dining rooms for coffee and pies.

Opportunity and talent: Gallacher catering for local events March 1881, Southland Times; and showing off his decorating skills in the Southland Times, 9 March 1882.

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They offered the Dee Street leasehold for sale at auction, not long after a new bakehouse had just been erected. Together they went bankrupt in 1876 – Gallacher was discharged in 1877. By this year Gallacher and his wife are living at Leven Street, Invercargill when a son is born, and by 1878 the couple are living in Spey Street, Invercargill when a daughter is born – neither are registered, yet the other five children were – indicating that they both died soon after childbirth.
By around 1878 Gallacher had re-opened a business “Glasgow Pie House”  in partnership with Andrew Anderson, which was situated one away from the corner of Esk Street and the West side of Dee Street, next to Sloan’s Theatre (none of these buildings stand today). The premises again had separate bakery ovens.
In July 1879 he parted ways with Anderson officially, and the business was split with Gallacher retaining the pastry and confection business and premises while Anderson, specialising in bread, kept that part for a time. So it was a financial, rather than physical, separation. By 1882 he was running pastry, jam, confectionery and refreshment lines as well as catering for events like the One Tree Point Station Races. In the middle of June 1882 had purchased the Railway Refreshment Rooms and opened a branch of his business there.

The Glasgow Pie House on the west side of Dee Street, looking north from Esk Street. Image courtesy of Kete Christchurch, Ref LC 993.185 EAR.

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In December 1882 Gallacher offered Glasgow Pie House for sale, to concentrate on wholesale endeavours, according to his statement. The advert insists the business is going well, and quite established with a roaring trade. Although he is asking for tenders, It makes it clear he is selling the premises and the business but not the fitting out and equipment.
An ad of January 1883 is seeking quantities of fruit for the “Invercargill Biscuit, Confectionery and Jam Factory“, and specifies a premises now in Tweed Street owned by Gallacher and a Jason Gilmour. Tweed street of course was where J C Booth’s set-up the “Excelsior Steam Biscuit Factory” was located. I have to wonder if they bought it from him when he left Invercargill in 1882, it’s quite likely.

Loudmouth strikes again: at least he apologised, I guess. Southland Times, 19 May, 1882.

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By the middle of February 1883 Gallacher had apparently moved on from the Glasgow Pie House, selling up to an S. Langford (a presumably later photo shows R Johnson’s name emblazoned on the building, likely after Jessie Gallacher sold the business post her husband’s death). In March 1883 he filed for bankruptcy for a second time. At a meeting of creditors his ownership of a house in Winton is mentioned – although I suspect the family may have lived above the shop for at least a couple of years during financially strained times.

One of a legion of notices to appear in the papers pertaining to Gallacher’s legal woes. Southland Times, 13 October, 1883.

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At a March 8 meeting of the creditors that was reported in the papers in an article entitled “A Reckless Trader”, “…it was brought out that he had but a very imperfect idea of his business at any time. The biscuit factory, had been losing at the rate of £6 -10 per week. The creditors expressed the opinion that the debtor was totally unfit to carry on a business, and hoped that the case would act as another warning to the people to be cautious as to whom they gave credit. One creditor signified his intention of proposing when the proper time arrives that the trustees represent the matter clearly before the Court, with the view of getting a punishment inflicted upon the debtor for the loose manner in which he had carried on his business.”

Ouch, but I think we kind of get the idea of what kind of person he was as far as business practices – all over the place and somewhat irresponsible. Further to that, in June 1882 he had been back in the Resident Magistrate’s Court charging an apprentice, an A. Rogers, of desertion. In response, Rogers testified that complainant had failed to supply his contract, that as a minor his mother never signed one, and that he did not get proper shelter with the roof leaking on to his bed. Gallacher scoffed that a nail hole in the roof was causing the issue but the amount of water that came through it was “very trifling”. The judge discharged Rogers and advised him to complete his apprenticeship. Whether he did I don’t know, but any amount of rain on your bed is just not cool.

Glasgow Pie House shown next to the corner of Dee and Esk Streets. I was really surprised to find not one but two images of this obscure business. Year unknown, but note the name above the door is now R. Johnson. I’m guessing first half of the 1890s. Image courtesy of Kete Christchurch, Ref  LC 993.185 EAR.

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In November 1885 his wife Jessie announced a move back to the Glasgow Pie House in Dee Street. She apparently had a shop elsewhere that she was running, as well as the Railway Refreshment Rooms (who knows what happened to that). I suspect it was all in her name due to her husband’s history of legal troubles. In December it was advertised as re-opened – “The real old shop , a good dinner every day for one shilling, in the old Premises”  yet, again advertised in name under A. F. Gallacher. I’m at this point confused how someone who has gone bankrupt twice and actually sold the lease once and  the business twice still owns the business and in the same premises no less. Who knows what actually happened amongst all of these goings-on. The paper often only gives you the fragments (that’s assuming one finds all of them) and  – If you’re not on the spot, it’s too hard to figure out how it played.

Gallacher’s earlier endeavour also ended in financial disaster. Southland Times, 29 December, 1875.

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Gallacher continued with the business through 1886, receiving permission from the local council to erect a sign for his business on the opposite side of the street. He passed away in 1887 at 43 years old and was buried at St. Johns Cemetery, Invercargill. They were still living in Dee Street at this time. A couple of years after his demise his wife Jessie bogarted on the Pianoforte teacher’s fees for the lessons of her two of her daughters, even though in the middle of 1887 she had collected £300 on her husband’s life insurance policy from Mutual Life Australasia. In November 1889 it was settled in the plaintiff’s favour by default as she did not turn up to court for the hearing. She later moved to Christchurch, sometime before 1896, where she saw out her “twilight” years and died in 1900 at 51 years old, residing at 33 Worcester Street.

Just saying – they sound a bit dodgy really. I wouldn’t be surprised if J. C. Booth had good reason for his accusation after all.

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